Trojans host UConn, No. 14 Vandy, Head to UCLA

THIS WEEK: The USC baseball team plays in the Southern California College Baseball Classic this weekend along with UConn, No. 14 Vanderbilt, and UCLA. The Trojans will host the Huskies on Friday night at Great Park, followed by Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday the Trojans will travel to face UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Trojans are coming off a weekend series split with Rice, with Saturday's game being rained out, and a midweek victory at Cal State Fullerton.

GAME SCHEDULE:
Friday - USC vs UConn (Irvine, Calif.), Feb 28, 6:30 p.m. PT (B1G+)
Saturday - USC vs Vanderbilt (Irvine, Calif.), Mar 1, 2 p.m. PT (B1G+)
Sunday - USC at UCLA (Los Angeles, Calif.), Mar 2, 2 p.m. PT (B1G+)

PROBABLE PITCHERS:
Friday - USC: LHP Caden Hunter (1-0, 2.00 ERA) vs. UConn: LHP Gabe Van Emon (0-0, 9.00 ERA)
Saturday - USC: RHP Caden Aoki (0-0, 4.66 ERA) vs. Vandy: LHP Ethan McElvain (0-1, 12.71 ERA)
Sunday - USC: RHP Michael Ebner (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. UCLA: RHP Landon Stump (1-0, 6.00 ERA)

BROADCAST INFO: All three games of the Southern California College Baseball Classic will be broadcast on B1G+. 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 followed at @USC_Baseball on X, at @sctrojans_baseball on Instagram and USC Trojans Baseball on Facebook.

2025 HOME GAMES: For the second season in a row, USC will play the majority of its home games at Great Park in Irvine due to construction on the new Dedeaux Field, which is scheduled to be completed prior to the 2026 season. Most midweek games will be held at LMU. All USC home games this season will be free and open to the public. For more information visit USCTrojans.com/baseballgameday.

FULERTON WIN: The Trojans travelled to Fullerton to play Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday and won 5-3. Michael Edner made his first start of the year, throwing 1 inning, giving up 1 run with 3 K's. Ethan Hedges hit his fourth home run of the year in the first inning, with Kade Higgins hitting his third home run of the season right after Hedges. Garren Rizzo came into the game after Edner and shut down the Titants, throwing 4 innings of 1 hit baseball, striking out a career high 9. Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek hit his first homerun in the 5th to give the Trojans an insurance run, and later in the 8th drove in another run with a RBI single. Ethan Hedges shut the door in the 9th to record his 3rd save on the year.

WEEKEND SERIES VS RICE: USC played a pair of games at Rice over the weekend, with the Saturday contest in the series rained out. On Friday, the Trojans picked up a 7-4 victory in 11 innings, scoring four runs over the final two frames. Rice came back with a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday.

MIDWEEK VICTORIES: Last week at UC Irvine the Trojans picked up their fourth win in a row to start the season, taking down the Anteaters 5-2. Ethan Hedges erased a 2-1 deficit with a grand slam in the sixth inning and Grant Govel picked up the win by tossing 5.0 scoreless and hitless innings to end the game. The Trojans added another game to the win column on Wednesday, taking down CSU Bakersfield 7-0 at LMU. Hedges hit his 3rd home run of the year, while Brayden Dowd hit his 2nd. The bullpen pitched a 2-hit shutout with 6 of the 7 pitchers used recording at least one strikeout. The 7 USC pitchers struck out 12 batters and walked just two.

OPENING WEEKEND SWEEP: The Trojans picked up an opening weekend sweep of George Washington to start the 2025 campaign this past week. USC scored 10 runs in the first inning to take Friday's contest 15-2, then hit four homers on Saturday en route to a 9-8 victory. Brayden Dowd hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning of the finale to secure a 7-5 win for the Trojans.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS UCONN: The Huskies and Trojans have faced off 4 times with UConn winning 3 of the 4 matchups. The last matchup came in 2022, where UConn won 7-1. Current Trojan Senior Fisher Johnson pitched an inning in the contest 3 years ago.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS VANDY: The Trojans and Commodores have played 5 times before this weekend, Vanderbilt having a slight edge in the all-time series (3-2). The last meeting came in 2022 with the Trojans winning 2-1 at Dedeaux Field. USC got an outstanding start from John Beller, who went 8 innings giving up 1 run on 2 hits before Ben Wanger recorded the save in the 9th.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS UCLA: The Bruins and Trojans are long time rivals, dating back to their first matchup in 1928. Over the 423 games played between the schools, USC has had the dominate advantage, going 270-153 against the cross-town rivals. In 2024, the Bruins won the regular season Pac-12 series at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Trojans won 15-2 on Friday night, but dropped the next two games.

2025 PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

Ethan Hedges has started the year off hot for the Trojans in the box, field, and on the mound. The Junior is hitting .406, scoring 11 runs with 13 RBI. He has 4 HR, which is 17th in the NCAA and 4th in the Big Ten. He also has 2 3B, which is 11th most in the country and the most in the Big Ten, and 1 2B, along with 4 walks and a HBP. Against CSU Fullerton, Hedges hit a moonshot to deep left in the 1st inning. Hedges hit a go-ahead grand slam last week against UC Irvine in the 6th inning. Last week on Wednesday, he hit a 2-run bomb to straight away CF. His 30 total bases is 18th in the NCAA. On the mound as the Trojans closer, he was converted 3 of his 4 save opportunities, and his 3 saves is 2nd most in the country. He has thrown 4.2 innings, striking out 4.
Kevin Takeuchi recorded multiple hits in all 3 games over opening weekend and is third on the team with 10 total knocks (10-for-31, .323). He had 3 hits apiece on Friday and Saturday, and 2 on Sunday against George Washington. He has driven in 5 runs and scored 6. Takeuchi has 2 doubles, a triple, three walks and two HBP's as well.
Kade Higgins, a grad transfer from UNLV, has had a power surge to start the year. He had a 4-for-4 game with 2 homers on Saturday of opening weekend, and now has 12 total hits, good for second most on the team. He has launched 3 home runs, with his most recent coming Tuesday against Fullerton hitting one off the light post in RF. Along with his .375 AVG., Higgins' OPS for the season is 1.424.
Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek has started the year batting .323 with 6 walks and a HBP. He hit his first home run blast of the year on Tuesday at Fullerton, smoking a first pitch fastball over the right field fence. His 9 runs scored are 2nd on the team.
Adrian Lopez, a sophomore transfer from LBSU, hit the first home run of the season for USC, with a grand slam in the first inning on Saturday. Lopez had 8 homers for the Dirtbags last year.
Caden Hunter, a junior transfer from Sierra College, has been electric on the mound for the Trojans on Friday nights, pitching to a 2.00 ERA with a WHIP of 0.71. In 9 innings pitched, he has struck out 14, giving up just 5 hits and 2 runs. Hitters are batting .161 against him. The lefty struck out the first 3 batters he faced in his Trojan debut.
In his 2nd collegiate appearance, Grant Govel tossed 5.0 scoreless relief innings to pick up the win against UC Irvine on Tuesday. Govel did not allow a hit, walking 1 batter and striking out 6. He followed up that performance with 2 scoreless innings against Rice. His 7 scoreless innings and 8 strikeouts against UC Irvine and Rice lead him to be named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Garren Rizzo has been clutch to start the season for the USC bullpen. Against Cal State Fullerton he threw 4 scoreless innings, giving up just 1 hit and striking out a career high 9. Last week he came into the game against CSU Bakersfield with 1 out and the bases loaded and got the next two hitters to pop up and then strikeout to leave the bases loaded. He has throw a total of 9.2 innings, with 13 strike outs, 3 hits, and hasn't given up a run. He leads the NCAA with 4 wins to his record, getting credited with a win in all 4 of his appearances.
USC's 4 homers on Saturday of opening weekend were more than any game last season.
The Trojan bullpen has been electric to start the season, with a 2.29 ERA for relievers.
The Trojans' opening weekend sweep was the second in three years under Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz.
As a team, USC is slashing .289/.394/.468 through 8 games.
USC's 7-1 start is the best for a Trojan team since 2018, where they also began the season 7-1.
Stat rankings - 11.7 K's/9: 17th NCAA, 4 triples: 18th NCAA, 11 HR: 33rd NCAA

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Players Mentioned

Caden Aoki

Brayden Dowd

Michael Ebner

Grant Govel

Ethan Hedges

Kade Higgins

Caden Hunter

Fisher Johnson

Adrian Lopez

Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek

Garren Rizzo

Kevin Takeuchi