Resurgent Ethan Hedges homers twice to power USC baseball past Saint Mary’s in NCAA tournament
USC’s Augie Lopez hits a home run against Saint Mary’s at the Corvallis Regional of the NCAA baseball tournament on Saturday night. The Trojans won 6-4. (Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
Shotgun Spratling (LA Times) — CORVALLIS, Ore. — Saint Mary’s coach Eric Valenzuela knew who he didn’t want to beat him.
Before Saturday night’s matchup with USC, Valenzuela named Ethan Hedges as the scariest hitter in the Trojans’ lineup even though the midseason All-American hadn’t played to the same standard in the second half of the season.
Hedges was hitting .415 with 22 extra-base hits, including 11 home runs, and 39 RBIs through USC’s first 32 games. Since April 8, Hedges had lacked the same electricity. Over a 25-game span, he batted .247 with just five extra-base hits and 17 RBIs.
Still, the fear was there for opposing coaches. Hedges showed why Saturday.
He broke out with a two-homer performance, including the go-ahead long ball, to power USC to a 6-4 victory and into the Corvallis Regional final. The Trojans (37-21) are one win away from their first super regionals appearance since 2005.
USC’s Adrian Lopez (5) forces out Saint Mary’s Diego Castellanos out at first base on Saturday. (Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
“He was just in situations where we really had to go after him a little bit,” Valenzuela said. “I mean, if you make a mistake to a good player like that, he’s going to make you pay for it, so he hurt us today.”
Hedges provided the opening salvo, sending a hanging slider clanging off the barely occupied metal bleachers in left-center field for a first-inning solo homer. USC coach Andy Stankiewicz saw it as a positive sign Hedges may be rounding back into his first-half form at the right time.
“He uses the middle of the field so well. That’s his strength,” Stankiewicz said. “But we’ve been talking about if a slider or off-speed stays middle in, go ahead and get some good ball flight to the pull side.”
When Hedges recognized the pitch’s spin and saw it up in the zone, he punished it, driving the ball an estimated 399 feet to the left-center field bleachers.
USC left-hander Mason Edwards pitched an efficient 5⅓ innings, needing just 64 pitches before he was removed after giving up his sixth hit.. Two of those cleared the Goss Stadium wall, giving Saint Mary’s (36-25) an early 3-1 lead, but USC showed the resiliency that has been a key element of the program under Stankiewicz the last three years.
“Throughout this year, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs,” Hedges said. “But we know with each other, we’re right where we want to be and have the guys to do it.”
With two outs and seemingly no momentum in the fourth inning, USC’s Abbrie Covarrubias got on base by beating out a high chopper to shortstop. Freshman Augie Lopez tied it two pitches later when he demolished a fastball, putting it on top of the scoreboard in right-center field.
USC pitcher Mason Edwards delivers against Saint Mary’s in the Corvallis Regional on Saturday. (Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
Hedges’ second blast of the game — a fifth-inning fastball he smacked over the right-center field — gave USC a 4-3 lead.
The Trojans led 5-3 heading into the eighth when things got dicey. Saint Mary’s loaded the bases with a pair of soft singles to right field and a four-pitch walk. A sacrifice fly brought Gaels three-hole hitter Aiden Taurek to the plate. USC ace reliever Brodie Purcell got Taurek to ground into a fielder’s choice, but then Stankiewicz made the intriguing decision to pull the right-handed Purcell, the Trojans’ workhorse out of the ‘pen all season, in favor of left-hander Caden Hunter despite a right-handed hitter due up.
“When he came to the mound, I said, ‘This is why you came here.’ He had a big smile on his face and said, ‘Absolutely man, let’s go.’ said Stankiewicz, who mentioned Hunter’s ability to attack with more velocity as an impetus for the move.
USC’s Abbrie Covarrubias tags out Saint Mary’s Cody Kashimoto at second on Saturday. (Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
Hunter, who had worked as a starter this season until the last couple weeks, struck out Saint Mary’s cleanup hitter Ryan Pierce on a 95-mph fastball after pumping multiple 96- and 97-mph offerings — his hardest pitches of the season — earlier in the count. The Trojans added an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning before Hunter dismissed Saint Mary’s final three hitters to collect his first Division I save, putting the Trojans on the doorstep of advancing to a super regional and being one of the final 16 teams remaining.
“We’ve heard coach say 1,000 times that it’s time to get this program back to where it has been,” Hedges said, “and I think this year we’ve really got all the pieces to do that. We’ve shown that we have the talent to do that.”
USC advances to the Sunday night regional final at 7 p.m. PDT where it will await the winner of Sunday afternoon’s 3 p.m. matchup between top-seed Oregon State and No. 4 seed Saint Mary’s. If USC were to lose Sunday, a winner-take-all game will be played Monday.
latimes.com
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USC can’t get anything going against ORE ST today so far. The Trojans are losing 5-0 as the Beavers come to bat in the bottom of the 5th. USC has hit into three double plays and looks punchless.
Update — Trojans lose 9-0. USC hit into a whopping five double plays.
USC finished the season 37 – 23, the most wins since 10 years ago when they went 39-21 under Dan Hobbs, who was fired in 2019 after three straight losing seasons.
Disappointed the team didn’t show a better effort than being simply dominated both games against OSU. Is this the best of Stankie’s coaching-managing ability? I will be interested to see what next season’s team looks like if he is brought back.
It was brutal. Can I take my headline back? 😂 😂
Today’s winner-heads-to-the-Super-Regional USC/ORE ST game is at 3 p.m. and will be on ESPNU.
In the Sunday double header, OSU scored 34 and gave up 4! Aren’t their arms tired swinging those bats?
How badly do our players want to make it to the next level? For OSU, presently, their baseball program is their shinning light to matter nationally. OSU’s small ball in the early part of last night’s game did the Trojan’s in. Stankie better be up on his managerial know how tonight. Get the team mentally prepared in playing error free ball and making timely hits.
USC is getting hammered by ORE ST 9-1 in the top of the 6th.
The Trojans have been getting runners on base, but their nine hits so far have never come at clutch times.
USC vs ORE ST now starts at 7:45 pm to give the Beavers a little rest. ESPN+
USC hasn’t played ORE ST (43-13/19-3 at home) this season.
Top of the 9th, Oregon St pouring it on, 20-2. Guess they won’t make the 7pm start with USC. Hope they blow their wad against St Mary’s.