USC baseball upends Saint Mary's in the NCAA tournament thanks to a pair of home runs from Ethan Hedges.
Informal Recap of USC's Corvallis Regional Victory
Let's talk about that thrilling USC vs Saint Mary's game from Corvallis that went down a few days back. Coach Eric Valenzuela knew Ethan Hedges was the guy he didn't want to face, and for good reason. Hedges had been tearing it up in the first half of the season, with a .415 batting average, 22 extra-base hits, and 39 RBIs.
But things hadn't been the same for Hedges since April 8. He struggled in the second half, hitting just .247 with five extra-base hits and 17 RBIs over a 25-game span. Still, the fear was palpable among opposing coaches, and Hedges showed them why on that Saturday night.
He broke out with a two-homer performance - including the go-ahead long ball - to power USC to a 6-4 victory. The Trojans (37-21) are now one win away from their first super regionals appearance since 2005.
"He was just in situations where we really had to go after him a little bit," said Valenzuela. "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 made his presence felt right from the opening salvo, sending a hanging slider flying off the left-center field bleachers for a solo homer. USC coach Andy Stankiewicz saw it as a positive sign that Hedges was rounding back into his first-half form at the right time.
"He uses the middle of the field so well," 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 spotted the pitch he knew would be spinning towards the middle, he unleashed a brutal drive that sent the ball an estimated 399 feet to the left-center field bleachers.
USC left-hander Mason Edwards pitched an efficient 5 ⅓ innings, needing just 64 pitches before being removed after surrendering his sixth hit. Two of those left the Goss Stadium wall, giving Saint Mary's an early 3-1 lead, but USC showed the resiliency that has become their trademark under Stankiewicz in 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 managed to get on base by beating a high chopper to shortstop. Freshman Augie Lopez tied the game two pitches later when he demolished a fastball, sending it skyward to the right-center field scoreboard.
Hedges blasted his second home run of the game in the fifth inning, giving USC a 4-3 lead. The Trojans led 5-3 heading into the eighth, but things got dicey when Saint Mary's loaded the bases. However, USC ace reliever Brodie Purcell stuck to his guns and got Gaels three-hole hitter Aiden Taurek to ground into a fielder's choice.
Coach Stankiewicz then made the intriguing decision to pull Purcell, the Trojans' ball-buster 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,'" Stankiewicz recollected, "He had a big smile on his face and said, 'Absolutely man, let's go.'"
Hunter, who had been working as a starter this season, struck out Saint Mary's cleanup hitter Ryan Pierce on a 95-mph fastball after a series of 96- and 97-mph offerings earlier in the count. The Trojans added an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning before Hunter eventual shut the door on Saint Mary's, with the team now standing on the threshold of advancing to a super regional and becoming 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 moves on to the Sunday night regional final at 7 p.m. PDT, where they'll await the winner of the Sunday afternoon 3 p.m. matchup between top-seed Oregon State and No. 4 seed Saint Mary's. If USC were to lose on Sunday, a winner-take-all game will be played on Monday.
By the way, did you know Ethan Hedges has a batting average of .302 in the 2023 season overall, and he's slugging .421 with an OPS of .832 in 49 games played, 190 plate appearances, 159 at bats, 31 runs, 48 hits, 7 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 26 RBIs, and 3 hit by pitches? His walk-to-strikeout ratio is a decent 27:27.
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The victory over Saint Mary's in the Corvallis Regional means USC is one win away from their first super regionals appearance since 2005, with Ethan Hedges playing a crucial role in their success. Hedges, who has a .302 batting average in the 2023 season, displayed his power by blasting two home runs in the game, including the go-ahead long ball. Meanwhile, UCLA's softball team also secured a victory, advancing to the Women's College World Series after a win over South Carolina.
