Trojans Face Crosstown Rival No. 15 UCLA on the Road

THIS WEEK: The USC baseball team heads to crosstown rival UCLA for a three-game series against the No. 15 ranked Bruins starting on Friday. USC then hosts Long Beach State on Tuesday.

GAME TIMES: at UCLA - Friday: 7 p.m., Saturday: 4 p.m., Sunday: 12 p.m. | vs. Long Beach State - Tuesday: 6 p.m.

BROADCAST INFO: All four games against UCLA will be shown on the Pac-12 Network, as will Tuesday's home game against Long Beach State. Links to the broadcasts can be found on the baseball schedule page at USCTrojans.com.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: USC: RHP Kyle Hurt (2-3, 4.20 ERA) vs. UCSB: RHP Jake Bird (4-2, 1.65 ERA)
Saturday: USC: RHP Solomon Bates (3-1, 3.11 ERA) vs. LMU: RHP Zach Pettway (5-1, 2.85 ERA)
Sunday: USC: LHP Quentin Longrie (4-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. UCLA: TBA
Tuesday: USC: TBA vs. LBSU: TBA

FOLLOW: Fans can also follow all of the action for all four games through live stats on USCTrojans.com. Live, in-game updates will be available from @USC_Baseball on Twitter as well.

GET SOCIAL: Follow USC Baseball on social media to get updates on everything going on with the team this season. The Trojans can be found at @USC_Baseball on Twitter, @sctrojans on Instagram and USC Trojans Baseball on Facebook.

SERIES RECORDS: vs. UCLA - USC leads 262-137, first meeting: 1928 | vs. LBSU - USC leads 81-47, first meeting: 1960

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans beat LMU in a makeup game on Wednesday, 6-1. USC got two homers from Dillon Paulson in the game and freshman lefty John Beller tossed 8.0 innings, giving up two hits and an unearned run, while striking out nine batters and walking two.

LAST WEEKEND: USC dropped two of three games to Arizona at home last weekend, trading slugfests with the Wildcats in the first two games, before dropping the Sunday decision 4-2.

DODGER STADIUM CLASSIC: USC once again played in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic this year, getting a 3-2 win over UCLA on March 11 in Chavez Ravine. Lars Nootbaar played the hero in that game, hitting a solo-homer in the bottom of the eighth innint ot lead USC to victory. Leading up to the final at Dodger Stadium, the Trojans lost to TCU, 10-1, on March 9 and had their game against Vanderbilt rained out on March 10.

ON THE DEFENSIVE: USC's defense has been spectacular all year, with the Trojans' .984 fielding percentage fourth best in the NCAA and tops in the Pac-12. USC has made just 19 errors in 33 games this year.

BATES' BEST: Solomon Bates had a career outing against Arizona State on 4/7, giving up just one run in 7.2 innings pitched. He struck out a career-high nine batters, walked just two and allowed only one runner past first base while he was in the game. The lone run came around to score after Bates exited. Bates followed that up with 7.0 strong innings against Arizona last weekend, giving up two runs on four hits to move to 3-1.

NO-HITTING THE UTES: Kyle Hurt, Austin Manning and Connor Lunn combined to toss the seventh no-hitter in program history against Utah earlier this year, blanking the Utes 2-0 to start Pac-12 play. Hurt tossed 7.2 no-hit innings before giving way to Austin Manning for the final out of the eighth inning. Connor Lunn then tossed a perfect ninth to close out the feat. Hurt had tossed 117 pitches prior to exiting. It was the first no-hitter of any kind since USC tossed a five-inning no-no in 2000 against Mississippi State. The last nine-inning no-hitter was a combined no-no against Cal State Los Angeles in 1986. It was the first time in program history more than two USC pitchers have combined in a no-hitter and was just the third time the Trojans have no-hit a Pac-12/10 opponent.

HURT NOTES: Hurt picked up Pac-12 and Collegiate Baseball National Pitcher of the Week honors for tossing the bulk of the no-hitter vs. Utah. Hurt took over the Friday starting role prior to the Utah Series and has started the series opener each week since. Hurt also tossed 7.0 scoreless innings against Washington on 3/29, giving up just three hits and striking out eight. He would give up three runs in 7.0 innings at Arizona State on 4/6.

LONGRIE'S TOP OUTINGS: Quentin Longrie picked up one of the biggest wins of his career and the biggest road win of the season for the Trojans when he shut down then-No. 5 Arkansas in front of a record 13,472 in attendance at Baum Stadium on March 3. Longrie tossed 7.1 innings, scattering eight hits and giving up just one run in a 3-1 victory. Longrie tossed 7.0 scoreless against Utah in the first Pac-12 series of the year to lead USC to a 5-2 win.

COLLEGIATE DEBUTS: Nine Trojans have made collegiate debuts this season; Ben Ramirez, Kyle Hurt, John Beller, Brian Gursky, Jamal O'Guinn, Trevor Halsema, Isaac Esqueda, Bart West and Riley Lamb.

STAT QUICK HITS:

Lars Nootbaar's 0.73 walks/game are 6th in the Pac-12.
Kyle Hurt's 6.40 hits/9 are 5th in the Pac-12, Solomon Bates' 6.69 hits/9 are 10th.
Bates' 10.04 K/9 are 4th in the conference.
Bates' 1.04 WHIP is 6th in the league.
Connor Lunn's eight saves are 3rd in the Pac-12 and 20th in the NCAA.
Brandon Perez's four sac flies are 3rd in the Pac-12.
The USC pitching staff's 8.3 K's/9 are 3rd in the Pac-12.

THE ROAD AHEAD: The Trojans head to Oregon next weekend for a three-game series and then host Cal the following week.

CELEBRATE THE 8'S: 2018 marks a special anniversary year, with the Trojans having five championship milestones to celebrate. The USC program won NCAA College World Series titles in 1948, 1958, 1968, 1978 and 1998. USC is the only school that can boast such a feat, with the five titles part of the Trojans' NCAA best 12 overall championships. The program will be celebrating all five of the milestones at a game later in the season and will have content from each one over the course of the year.

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Players Mentioned

Solomon Bates

John Beller

Isaac Esqueda

Brian Gursky

Trevor Halsema

Kyle Hurt

Riley Lamb

Quentin Longrie

Connor Lunn

Austin Manning

Lars Nootbaar

Jamal O'Guinn

Dillon Paulson

Brandon Perez

Ben Ramirez

Bart West