University Southern California Trojans
Saturday, February 21
Los Angeles, Calif.
6:00 p.m. PT
USC
6-0
4
vs
1
Rice
3-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Rice
0
0
0
0
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1
0
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1
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1
USC
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
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X
4
6
0
Photo by: Katie Chin
USC Baseball Continues to Roll with 4-1 Win Over Rice
February 21, 2026 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – Grant Govel was once again stellar on the mound as the USC baseball team moved to 6-0 on the season with a 4-1 victory over Rice on Saturday night at Dedeaux Field.
Coming off 6.0 hitless innings in his last start, Govel tossed another 6.0 scoreless frames on Saturday, giving up just one hit while striking out a career high 11 batters.
Govel retired the first 11 batters of the game before giving up his first hit of the season in the fourth inning. The sophomore righty worked around the two-out single with a flyout and then gave up just a walk before exiting after the sixth.
Dean Carpentier scored Adrian Lopez on a sacrifice fly in the third to open the scoring and then the Trojans doubled their lead with an RBI single from Isaiah Ibarra in the fourth. Augie Lopez doubled in a run and then Maddox Riske hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 4-0 USC.
Rice scored its first run of the series in the seventh and had the bases loaded with one out in the inning, but Sax Matson got two strikeouts to end the threat and strand all three runners. Adam Troy would toss the final 1.1 innings to pick up the save.
USC's run of superb weekend starts on the mound continued on Saturday as the Trojans' weekend starters have now tossed 28.0 scoreless innings, striking out 46 batters while giving up four hits and six walks. The Trojans shut out Rice, 5-0, last night behind 6.0 hitless innings from Mason Edwards.
TOP PERFORMERS
COMING UP
The Trojans and Owls wrap things up on Sunday at noon at Dedeaux Field. The series finale will be broadcast live on B1G+. USC then hits the road for the first time this season, heading to Cal Poly for a four-game series starting on Thursday.
Coming off 6.0 hitless innings in his last start, Govel tossed another 6.0 scoreless frames on Saturday, giving up just one hit while striking out a career high 11 batters.
Govel retired the first 11 batters of the game before giving up his first hit of the season in the fourth inning. The sophomore righty worked around the two-out single with a flyout and then gave up just a walk before exiting after the sixth.
Dean Carpentier scored Adrian Lopez on a sacrifice fly in the third to open the scoring and then the Trojans doubled their lead with an RBI single from Isaiah Ibarra in the fourth. Augie Lopez doubled in a run and then Maddox Riske hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 4-0 USC.
Rice scored its first run of the series in the seventh and had the bases loaded with one out in the inning, but Sax Matson got two strikeouts to end the threat and strand all three runners. Adam Troy would toss the final 1.1 innings to pick up the save.
USC's run of superb weekend starts on the mound continued on Saturday as the Trojans' weekend starters have now tossed 28.0 scoreless innings, striking out 46 batters while giving up four hits and six walks. The Trojans shut out Rice, 5-0, last night behind 6.0 hitless innings from Mason Edwards.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Grant Govel: W, 6.0 IP, H, 0R, BB, 11K
- Sax Matson: 1.1 IP, H, 0R, BB, 3K
- Kevin Takeuchi: 2-for-3, R, BB
- Augie Lopez: 1-for-3, RBI, R, 2B
COMING UP
The Trojans and Owls wrap things up on Sunday at noon at Dedeaux Field. The series finale will be broadcast live on B1G+. USC then hits the road for the first time this season, heading to Cal Poly for a four-game series starting on Thursday.
Hear from Kevin Takeuchi after the another series win for the good guys ✌️#FightOn x @KevinTakeuchi8 pic.twitter.com/mJAkDHr9Nd
— USC Baseball (@USC_Baseball) February 22, 2026
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Govel, Grant (2-0)
L: Urbancyzk, Ryland (0-1)
S: Troy, Adam (3)
Batting:
RBI: Ashlock, Mason 1
SH: Green, Cole 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Davis, JC 1
Batting:
2B: Lopez, Augie 1
RBI: Lopez, Augie 1 ; Carpentier, Dean 1 ; Riske, Maddox 1 ; Ibarra, Isaiah 1
SH: Riske, Maddox 1
SF: Carpentier, Dean 1 ; Riske, Maddox 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lopez, Adrian 1 ; Takeuchi, Kevin 1 ; Lopez, Augie 1 ; Riske, Maddox 1
CS: Carpentier, Dean 1
HBP: Carpentier, Dean 2
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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LHP
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RHP
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C
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ Baseball
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