Two outs and nobody on? Not a big deal for a USC baseball team that’s been trained to be present-minded.
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“That’s not a death sentence,” Trojans junior Kevin Takeuchi told reporters. “We just go out there, take it one pitch at a time, try and get on base and pass it to the next guy.”
That’s the mindset that could be the key to rebounding from a 7-5 Big Ten Tournament semifinal loss to UCLA as they head into their 21st College World Series appearance.
USC is one of four Big Ten teams to qualify for the field of 64 in the NCAA Tournament, earning an at-large bid after posting a 43-15 record and finishing tied for third with Oregon at 20-10 in the conference standings.
This is the Trojans’ first 40-win season since 2005 and the most wins in a season since 2001.
They’ll start in Texas with the College Station Regional, where they’re slated to play Texas State (36-24) at 6 p.m. Friday.
No. 12 national seed Texas A&M and Lamar University of Beaumont, Texas, will also play in the regional. Only one team will advance to the Super Regionals, which will be held at a site to be determined.
USC’s Mason Edwards (8-0), Andrew Johnson, Chase Herrell and Ben Cushnie combined for a shutout of Michigan State in the Big Ten quarterfinals, with Edwards recording six strikeouts while allowing just two hits in four innings of work before a 90-minute rain delay.
Johnson and Herrell each threw two scoreless innings and Cushnie finished off the ninth inning to preserve USC’s 10th shutout of the season.
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Edwards, a junior with a 1.43 ERA, was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and ranks fourth in Trojans history with 160 strikeouts on the season. The Palisades Charter High product and Johnson (6-2) and Grant Govel (10-2) lead a rotation backed by a deep bullpen. Govel joined Edwards on the All-Big Ten first team.
“It’s always good to go and pick whoever pitcher you have in the bullpen and be like, ‘Yeah, this guy can get us out of it and go long into the game,’” Edwards said.
USC led UCLA, which earned the No. 1 national seed, in the ninth inning of the conference semifinals before Mulivai Levu hit a walk-off, three-run home run to get the Bruins the win and move on to win the entire tournament.
Takeuchi owns the second-best batting average on the team (.305) behind Jack Basseer, an All-Big Ten second-teamer who is slashing .356/.446/.678 on the season.
Texas State is one of nine schools that will comprise a new-look Pac-12 Conference next year, but this season, they were fourth-place finishers in the Sun Belt Conference regular season.
The Bobcats are making their seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They earned an at-large bid to the College Station Regional after falling 7-4 to Louisiana, which ranks No. 33 in the RPI rankings, in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals.
Second-team all-conference outfielder Rashawn Galloway leads the team with a .324 batting average and a .594 slugging percentage. Texas State lacks pitching depth, however, and none of their three starters own an ERA lower than 4.01.
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NCAA College Station Regional
Who: USC (43-15) vs. Texas State (36-24)
When: 6 p.m. PDT Friday
Where: Blue Bell Park, College Station, Texas
TV: ESPNU