USC Baseball Hosts Washington at Great Park, UC Irvine at LMU

THIS WEEK: The USC baseball team returns to Great Park in Irvine for a three-game series with Washington starting on Friday. USC will then host No. 16 UC Irvine at LMU on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup.

GAME SCHEDULE:
Friday - USC vs. Washington (Irvine, Calif.), April 5, 6:30 p.m. (USC Live Stream)
Saturday - USC vs. Washington (Irvine, Calif.), April 6, 2 p.m. (USC Live Stream)
Sunday - USC vs. Washington (Irvine, Calif.), April 7, 1 p.m. (USC Live Stream)
Tuesday - USC vs. UC Irvine (LMU), April 3, 6 pm (USC Live Stream)

PROBABLE PITCHERS:
Friday - USC: RHP Caden Aoki (2-3, 4.66 ERA) vs. WASH: RHP Jared Engman (0-5, 5.29 ERA)
Saturday - USC: RHP Jared Feikes (1-1, 4.00 ERA) vs. WASH: RHP Calvin Kirchoff (2-1, 5.87 ERA)
Sunday - USC: RHP William Watson (0-0, 1.86 ERA) vs. WASH: RHP Spencer Dessart (2-2, 5.27 ERA)

SCHEDULE UPDATE: Starting this weekend against Washington, USC has moved its Saturday home games to 2 p.m. (excluding the regular-season finale against Utah, which remains at 1 p.m.). USC has home series remaining against Washington, Sacramento State/Santa Clara (April 19-21), Cal (May 3-5) and Utah (May 16-18). All four series will be at Great Park in Irvine.

BROADCAST INFO: All four games will be broadcast on the USC Live Stream. Links to the broadcasts are available on the baseball schedule page at USCTrojans.com.

FOLLOW: Fans can also follow the action through live stats on USCTrojans.com. Live, in-game updates will be available for all games from @USC_Baseball on X 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 X, @sctrojans_baseball on Instagram and USC Trojans Baseball on Facebook.

SERIES VS WASHINGTON: USC is 43-47 all-time against the Huskies. The Trojans have been swept each of the last two seasons by Washington, dropping all three in Seattle last year. USC also fell to Wasington in the Pac-12 Tournament to end their season. The teams will continue their series in the Big 10 next year as both teams are making the move to the conference.

SERIES VS UCI: USC is 34-40 all-time against UC Irvine. The Trojans dropped both contests against the Anteaters last year, losing an 8-7 ballgame at home and falling 5-4 in 10 innings on the road. The Trojans and Anteaters play twice this season, once at LMU and once at UCI.

UCSD SHUTOUT: The Trojans posted their first shutout of the season on Wednesday against UC San Diego, holding the Tritons to just two hits in a 5-0 win at LMU. Tyler Stromsborg tossed 6.0 innings in the start, facing just two batters over the minimum, Michael Ebner tossed 2.0 hitless and scoreless relief innings and Josh Blum struck out three batters to close things out in the ninth. Kevin Takeuchi led the way offensively with three hits and three RBI in the game.

LAST WEEK VS OSU: USC won both of its games against then-No. 2 Oregon State this past week, with the finale getting rained out on Saturday. The Trojans won the opener in dramatic fashion, picking up a 2-1 win thanks to a walk-off single from Brayden Dowd in the bottom of the ninth inning. Caden Aoki tossed 6.0 brilliant innings in the start as the USC pitching staff held the Beavers to one run on four hits. It was the first time Oregon State had been held to one or fewer runs since April of 2023.

The second game of the series was a blowout for the Trojans, with USC winning 17-4. The Trojans broke the game open with 10 runs in the fifth inning and the USC pitching staff again held the Beavers in check with four runs on six hits. It was the most runs Oregon State had given up since 2022 and the 13-run margin was the largest defeat for the Beavers since 2012. The two victories marked the first series win over Oregon State for USC since 2019. It also marked the second straight year that the Trojans have picked up a series win over a Top 2 opponent, with USC taking two-of-three from No. 2 Stanford last year.

TUESDAY VS FRESNO STATE: The Trojans picked up a dominant midweek win over Fresno State their last time out, beating the Bulldogs 10-1 at Great Park in Irvine. Four USC pitchers combined to hold Fresno State to one run on six hits and two walks. USC broke a 1-1 tie with a six-run sixth inning.

SERIES AT UCLA: USC had a promising start to its rivalry series at UCLA last weekend, beating the Bruins 15-2 in the opener. The Trojans lost a tight one on Saturday, 7-6, and then fell in the finale, 6-3, however. The 15 runs in the opening game win were the most for a USC team against UCLA since 2002 and the 13-run margin of victory was also the best since 2002.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

The Trojans come into play this weekend having won 4 of their last 5 and 7 of their last 10. Since starting the season 3-11, the Trojans have gone 9-5.
The Austin Overn triple machine keeps rolling as he has four triples this season, good for the most in the Pac-12 and eighth most in the country. Overn set USC's single season triples as a freshman last year with 14, and is now just two away from tying the program's career record at 20.
Overn also has 30 runs scored on the season, good for 3rd in the Pac-12. His 10 stolen bases are 3rd most in the Pac-12.
Jacob Galloway has been leading the Trojans at the plate all season, hitting .353 on the year with a team-high 27 RBI. Galloway also leads the team with a 1.031 OPS. He owns 8 Multi-hit games, 7 multi-RBI games and had a 22 game hitting streak earlier this year, all good for team highs. Galloway has reached base in all 28 games so far this season.
Since being inserted into the starting lineup at Stanford, Brayden Dowd has been on a tear at the plate. He now leads the Trojans with a .357 batting average, and in 14 games he has 6 RBI and 8 runs scored. Dowd was the hero in the opener against Oregon State, hitting a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth.
Caden Aoki has now put together three straight stellar starts following the worst start of his career four weeks ago against Arizona (2.2 IP, 9 ER). He had his best start of the season in a 5-2 win at Stanford, tossing 6.0 innings and giving up just one run on four hits and then matched that performance last week against Oregon State. After giving up a run in the second inning, Aoki allowed only one runner past first base the rest of his outing. He followed that up with 6.0 IP, 5H, ER, 2BB, 4K against UCLA. Aoki was through six scoreless innings before giving up a solo-homer in the seventh against Oregon State. He also had a career-high 8 strikeouts against the Beavers. Over his last three starts, Aoki has lowered his ERA by over 2 full runs.
Xavier Martinez leads USC with 14 pitching appearances this year, good for 5th in the Pac-12 and 39th in the country.
Trojan closer Josh Blum has struck out 24 batters in just 14.1 innings pitched this year, holding opponents to a .128 batting average. He has struck out 43% of the batters he has faced (24-of-56).
USC is 3rd in the Pac-12 with 30 stolen bases this year.
USC owns a .975 fielding percentage, 3rd best in the Pac-12.

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Players Mentioned

Caden Aoki

Josh Blum

Brayden Dowd

Michael Ebner

Jared Feikes

Jacob Galloway

Xavier Martinez

Austin Overn

Tyler Stromsborg

Kevin Takeuchi

William Watson