Trojans celebrate after defeating the Aggies 7-1 in Blue Bell Park to win the College Station Regional last Monday.NCAA Chapel Hill Regional
USC (47-16) vs. North Carolina (48-11-1), Noon PDT Friday, Boshamer Stadium, Chapel Hill, NC, ESPN2
Jose de Jesus Ortiz (LA Times)/Haley Sawyer (OC Register) — As USC baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz noted the next additions that will be made to USC’s refurbished baseball stadium, he paused Monday night as a train rumbled loudly behind Blue Bell Park.
Stankiewicz, 61, smirked at the fitting metaphor after the Trojans clinched their first NCAA super regional berth in 21 years. He, after all, has rebuilt the USC program over his four seasons as head coach.
“Now we have a beautiful stadium,” he said of Dedeaux Field. “We’re going to have a beautiful clubhouse next year, batting cages and all that.”
As Stankiewicz attempted to utter another sentence, the train’s ear-piercing horn sounded.
Andy Stankiewicz has guided the Trojans to the NCAA super regionals for the first time in 21 years.
“That’s appropriate because we tell people the train’s moving,” Stankiewicz said. “Now we have a train honking its whistle. The train’s moving. We’re certainly excited to see where we’re going.”
The Trojans are definitely going places these days thanks to many players who believed in Stankiewicz’s vision despite knowing their on-campus stadium would be under construction for at least two seasons.
In 2005, USC lost to Oregon State in a Pac-10 matchup at the Corvallis Super Regional. This year, the Trojans head to Chapel Hill to face fifth-seeded North Carolina (48-11-1). The winner moves on to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series, which would snap a 25-year drought for the Trojans.
USC fought its way out of the loser’s bracket in the College Station Regional after dropping its first game to Texas State by one run. The Trojans finished the regional with back-to-back dominant wins over Texas A&M by scores of 14-3 and 7-1.
The Trojans had seven players on the College Station Regional’s All-Tournament Team. Three of them — Abbrie Covarrubias, Kevin Takeuchi and Andrew Lamb — are upperclassmen who could have been tempted to transfer after they learned that they would be without a home field for two years. Junior shortstop Dean Carpentier is another upperclassman who believed in Stankiewicz.
“You talk about just kind of cornerstones,” Stankiewicz said. “Abbrie and Takeuchi … and Dean Carpentier and Andrew Lamb, these guys, they could have left. … They got here when we had a field, and they chose to stay.
“That’s something that I’m grateful for. It just tells you the quality of young men that they are. They’re here. They got two feet in and said, ‘I’m not going anywhere. I want to help build this program. Then to see the success that, not just Abbrie, but all of them have had, they’re great leaders. They lead by example.”
While Dedeaux Field was under construction, the Trojans played most of their home games in 2024 and 2025 at Irvine’s Great Park, 47 miles and another county away. They practiced at East L.A. College.
Yet, they still reached a regional final in 2025. They have gone a step further this year by climbing out of the losers’ bracket in the regional to eliminate Texas A&M and reach a super regional for the first time since 2005.
The Trojans didn’t just climb out of the losers’ bracket. They rumbled through like a runaway train, dominating with 55 runs over four losers’-bracket wins. They scored 21 of those runs over two victories against SEC power Texas A&M in the regional final.
The Trojans made themselves at home while playing in one of the SEC’s most hostile environments. It was as though the Trojans have grown accustomed to making themselves at home on the road in recent years.
Although parts of Dedeaux Field are still under construction, the Trojans were 32-1 there for the best home record in school history. USC (47-16) eclipsed the 40-win mark for the first time since 2005.
“Obviously being able to play at home this year has been a blessing,” designated hitter Augie Lopez said after he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the College Station Regional. “But the last couple of years we’ve just kinda showed up every day — whether that was in Irvine or East L.A. Community College for practice — just with the same mentality of we’re going to show up and put our work in and dominate no matter where we are.
“Just showing up every day and punching that time card and going to work and just putting your head down and knowing that no matter where you are (or) what home field you have or you don’t have a home field, we’re going to get it done and play quality baseball.”
The 12-time national champions will face North Carolina at the Chapel Hill Super Regional in hopes of reaching their first College World Series since 2001. No player on the current roster was alive when the Trojans won their last national title in 1998.
Only a few were even born when USC made its last super regional appearance in 2005 at Oregon State.
“Honestly, it hasn’t hit me until right now, but we’re just feeling absolutely grateful. I’m super blessed.”
“With the history that this program has, it’s been an honor to wear the Trojan brand on the front of my chest,” Lopez said. “Honestly just knowing that this team is the team to bring USC back to the super regional it’s incredible.
The Loyola High product was 2 for 5 with five RBIs and one run while hitting third as the designated hitter. His two-run single gave USC a 2-1 lead over the Aggies, and he went yard in the seventh inning to drive in three more runs for a 5-1 advantage before the Trojans added two more runs to humble the Aggies.
You don’t need to hear the horn to realize USC’s train is moving in the right direction in Stankiewicz’s fourth season at the helm.
UNC will play at home for the second straight weekend after going 3-0 in the Chapel Hill Regional against VCU and East Carolina. The Tar Heels are appearing in their 13th consecutive Super Regional and are going for their 13th College World Series appearance.
They’re hitting .294 as a team with three players are hitting better than .300 – Macon Winslow (.301), Jake Schaffner (.362) and Owen Hull (.372). Pitching-wise, UNC owns the seventh-best team ERA in the nation at 3.85.
Mason Edwards (#30, 8-0), the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and finalist for National Pitcher of the Year, is likely to start Friday, according to game notes released by USC baseball. The Trojans’ southpaw ace has a 1.85 ERA and 1.00 WHIP, which ranks 12th in the country.
latimes.com ocregister.com
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Illinois’ Bret Bielema Tells Notre Dame to ‘Just Join a Conference’ After AD’s Comments
Bielema on X — “Some guys really like to talk about something that could happen and who they might play…. Actually it’s pretty easy just join a conference.”
Andy Staples — “Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua, who used to run NBC Sports, tells senators that the best way to make the most money from TV rights is a super league.
“Then he says he doesn’t want a super league.”
x.com
90 degrees, sunny, light breeze in Chapel Hill tomorrow. Gotta be better than freezing rain at Northwestern in March. Despite their record on the road this team shouldn’t be fazed by it. Couldn’t resist some stats:
Team batting average UNC .294 USC .282
Team ERA USC 3.48 UNC 3.85
RPI UNC 4 USC 9
Looks pretty evenly matched, could be some good games.
This Tar Heel Super Regional series is gonna tell USC a lot about where it really stands.
Actually getting back to the College World Series in Omaha where we dominated like no other for many years is what it’s really all about for a program like SC.
We’ve been dying in the desert for a long time and Stanky has us back to national respectability and outright swag territory if he can get this team past the #5 seed Tar Heels on the other side of the U.S.
As you’ve said, it’s a crazy sport. So let’s make it crazier!