It was a wild and unbelievable nine-plus hours of baseball on Sunday for the Trojans' final two games of a historic 2015 season. USC entered the day with its back against the wall, facing elimination once again after defeating UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. The Trojans rallied late against San Diego State to advance to the regional final against Virginia, but fell in extra innings to the Cavaliers in the second game of the doubleheader to end their 2015 season with a 39-21 record.
"There's no reason for them to hang their heads. They had a hell of a year," said head coach Dan Hubbs. "The kids buy into what we do. They believe in it. They live it."
The possibility of staying alive looked grim early on for the Trojans as they dropped to a quick 3-0 deficit against the Aztecs. The Trojans' bats started heating up in the top of the fourth as they put up two runs before Timmy Robinson gave the Trojans the lead in the fifth inning with a monster two-run shot to left field sparking a five-run fifth inning for USC. The Aztecs immediately responded with a six-run inning of their own, taking back the lead and the game's momentum. They rode this hot streak into the seventh inning, putting up three more runs to lead the Trojans 11-7 heading into the eighth.
However, the Trojan team that seems to play best when odds are against them continued to rally in Lake Elsinore with a clutch, two-out, two RBI single from sophomore Jeremy Martinez, cutting the SDSU lead to two. In the top of the ninth with two outs, senior catcher Garrett Stubbs (right) came up clutch for yet another time this post season, ripping an RBI single to narrow the Aztecs' lead to one followed by another clutch two-out, two RBI single from Martinez to keep the hope of a trip to the College World Series alive.
"If that doesn't get you excited about college baseball, I don't know what will," Hubbs joked in between the doubleheader elimination games.
Battling fatigue but riding high on the adrenaline from an epic comeback, USC immediately had to turn around and prepare for its next game against the University of Virginia whom they lost to in the regional opener on Friday. The Trojans' momentum was quickly drained as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but the team with the epitome of the 'Fight On' spirit responded with a five-spot of its own in the first and a four-run bottom of the fourth to lead the Cavaliers early, 9-5.
"There's no quit in any guy on this team," praised Stubbs. "There was never a moment when we thought this game was over."
The Trojans held their four-run lead confidently until the team slowly started to unravel in the top of the eighth when their bats went cold. The Cavaliers quickly tied the game with a three-run eighth inning, and the momentum that had been in favor of the Trojans since the bottom of the first was now in the hands of a program that's won six of its last seven regional titles. Virginia continued its rally, forcing extra innings and ultimately causing the exhausted USC baseball team to crack, scoring five runs in the top of the 11th. It was early Monday morning when the final out was called, signaling a 14-10 loss for the Trojans and the end to their season.
USC finished with its best regular season record since 2001 and its first postseason berth since 2005, something seniors like Stubbs and Dante Flores have been devoting themselves to over the past four years.
"We set out at the beginning of the year to make a mark and that's exactly what we did," said an emotional Stubbs, the Lake Elsinore NCAA Regional MVP, after the game. "I don't think anyone is going to turn the TV off when they're watching USC now."
USC loses seniors like Stubbs - who was 4-for-9 on the day and 9-for-14 over the weekend - and second baseman Dante Flores. However, the team is stacked with young talent like sophomore first baseman Jeremy Martinez who drove in four RBIs in the final game against Virginia alone.
"The future's really bright for us," said Martinez. "There's a lot of young talent on our team... freshmen, sophomores that are going to be more developed, more mature. Again, the future is bright for USC."
Stubbs noted how the experience of this past weekend will only help the young Trojans as they continue to grow and develop into a team that can compete for a trip to Omaha. "You've been here. Now you know what it takes," he said.
"We came into the year and the kids said they wanted to make a mark. They wanted to make a statement and they wanted to get the program back to where it was relevant," said Hubbs. "Well, I think they've done that."
USC is set to return 31 players from this year's squad, pending MLB Draft decisions from some of the team's non-seniors. Regardless, the 2015 season was one for the books, and this past weekend's regional is hopefully just a glimpse of what this program is capable of accomplishing.
Here are the highlights and celebration from USC's comeback victory over San Diego State on Sunday...
Here are the highlights and celebration from USC's comeback victory over San Diego State on Sunday...
