USC Baseball Picks Up Dramatic 12-11 Win Over Santa Clara

Saturday, April 20

Irvine, Calif.

2:00 PM

USC

19-20

Santa Clara

18-17

Santa Clara

USC

Photo by: Chris Mora

USC Baseball Picks Up Dramatic 12-11 Win Over Santa Clara

April 20, 2024 | Baseball

Box Score Highlights Box Score (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. – The USC baseball team erased a six-run deficit in a wild back-and-forth contest against Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon, picking up a 12-11 nonconference win at Great Park.

The Trojans scored twice in the eighth, getting the game-winning run on a squeeze bunt by Dean Carpentier. USC moves to 19-20 with the win, while Santa Clara falls to 18-17.

USC trailed by six runs in the third inning and were down by as much as five in the seventh, but scored seven runs over their final two frames to grab the come-from-behind victory. The Trojans had a season-high 17 hits in the game, with seven players recording multi-hit games. Ethan Hedges and Carpentier each had four RBI days.

After the Broncos scored six runs in the third, USC trailed 7-1, but the Trojans rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the inning. Jacob Galloway and Carpentier each had RBI singles, and Hedges had a two-run double to make it 7-5. Following three more Santa Clara runs, the Broncos took a 10-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh. This time the Trojans put up five runs to tie it. Hedges and Carpentier each had two-run doubles in the inning, and Abbrie Covarrubias brought home the tying run on a grounder to second.

USC still had work to do, however, with the Broncos scoring on a sacrifice fly to make it 11-10 in the eighth. Ryan Jackson led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and then scored on a grounder to second, beating out the throw to home. Carpentier was next up and with Hedges on third, he laid down a sacrifice bunt to the right side to plate the winning run.

Josh Blum tossed a scoreless ninth to seal the win, striking out one and getting a groundout to second to end it. Mason Edwards also had a key relief outing for USC, tossing 2.2 innings and giving up just one unearned run. Brodie Purcell picked up the win as the pitcher of record in the eighth.

TOP PERFORMERS

Dean Carpentier: 2-for-4, 4 RBI, R
Ethan Hedges: 2-for-4, 4 RBI, 3R
Ryan Jackson: 3-for-5, 3R
Mason Edwards: 2.2 IP, 0H, 0ER (1UE), BB, 4K

COMING UP
USC closes out the weekend against Sacramento State on Sunday at 1 p.m. Links to follow all games can be found on the baseball schedule page at USCTrojans.com.