No. 12 USC Baseball Finishes Series with UCLA in a 10-4 Loss

Sunday, April 5

Westwood, Calif.

4:00 p.m. PT

USC

27-6, 10-5

UCLA

29-2, 15-0

USC

UCLA

Photo by: Bryce Dechert

No. 12 USC Baseball Finishes Series with UCLA in a 10-4 Loss

April 05, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

Augie Lopez hit his second home run of the series in the loss.

WESTWOOD, Calif. — Wrapping up the crosstown rivalry series, the No. 12 University of Southern California Trojans (27-6, 10-5 Big Ten) fell to No. 1 UCLA (29-2, 15-0 Big Ten) 10-4 on Sunday, April 5 at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Westwood, Calif.

Despite being a 5-4 game in the top of the sixth inning, the Bruins scored five runs in the last three innings to put the game out of reach. Led by Mulivai Levu's two home runs, the Bruins scored seven of their 10 runs off home runs.

Augie Lopez put USC on the board with a home run to left field — his second homer of the series — in the second inning. But a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the third inning put the Trojans behind 2-1.

In the top of the fifth, Abbrie Covarrubias hit a chopper to UCLA third baseman Roman Martin, who airmailed a throw to first base and allowed Maximo Martinez and Diego Velazquez to score. Yet the lead was short-lived, as the Bruins went yard twice in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.

USC took advantage of more UCLA miscues in the top of the sixth when reliever Elai Iwanaga's pickoff attempt to second base was mishandled, bringing in Kevin Takeuchi to score, pulling the Trojans within one run.

However, the Bruins' bats punished the Trojans in the sixth inning with Levu's two-run home run with two outs. UCLA's Roch Cholowsky then hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 10-4 ballgame. Meanwhile, the Trojans managed just one hit in their last three innings and went down in order in the ninth to cap off the series.

Starter Andrew Johnson (2-1) was credited with his first loss of the season after allowing 10 hits and seven earned runs in 6.0 innings of action, while UCLA's Chris Grothues (1-0) earned the win and Zach Strickland was credited with his first save of the year.

TOP PERFORMERS

Augie Lopez: 2-for-3, HR, R, RBI, BB
Kevin Takeuchi: 2-for-4, R
Maximo Martinez: 1-for-2, R

COMING UP
The Trojans will head north to Santa Barbara to take on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Tuesday, April 6. First pitch on ESPN+ is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT. All pertinent updates can be found on the baseball team's schedule page on usctrojans.com.