USC baseball advances to super regionals for first

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — As Augie Lopez trotted around the bases late Monday night time, the small contingent of USC followers may finally be heard at Blue Bell Park.

With one towering blast to proper subject, the Trojans’ designated hitter silenced Texas A&M’s rowdy twelfth Man.

Lopez’s three-run home run helped the Trojans beat Texas A&M 7-1 to attain the NCAA super regionals for the first time in 21 years.

Lopez silenced most of the sellout crowd of 7,042, making it simple to hear USC followers serenading him during the College Station Regional Final.

“Augie! Augie! Augie!” USC followers chanted after Lopez returned to the dugout.

It took a while, but the offense confirmed up to propel USC to the Chapel Hill Super Regional against North Carolina. The 12-time national champions superior out of a regional for the first time since they performed against Oregon State in the 2005 super regionals.

“I think this year getting to a super is special,” said coach Andy Stankiewicz, who is in his fourth season main the Trojans. “This is a special place. USC, I’m telling you, it’s different. …

“We want to put a nice name back on USC baseball. That’s been part of the plan since we got here. We knew it was going to take time.”

The Trojans (47-16) positioned six gamers on the all-tournament crew. Lopez was joined by catcher Isaac Cadena, second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias, third baseman Kevin Takeuchi, outfielders Andrew Lamb and Walter Urbon and pitcher Andrew Johnson.

“Yeah, I could hear them,” said Lopez, who was named the most excellent participant of the College Station Regional. “I think the rest of the ballpark went pretty silent, but I knew my family was up there. And I could always hear them no matter where we’re playing. So it’s always great to hear the crowd having our back.”

Until Lopez’s blast, Texas A&M right-hander Clayton Freshcorn had slowed down a USC offense that had scored 48 runs mixed while successful three consecutive video games out of the losers’ bracket, including 14 on Sunday night time against Texas A&M (41-16), to power the winner-take-all remaining.

USC right-hander Grant Govel, who had thrown 89 pitches over 5⅔ innings on Friday, retired the first seven Aggies before Bear Harrison hit a solo home run in the third.

Govel held the Aggies to three hits and one run over 4 innings with 4 strikeouts. Chase Herrell adopted with 3⅔ scoreless innings while scattering three hits and hanging out two. Sax Matson added one-third of an inning.

USC nearer Adam Troy, who grew up in the Houston suburbs, pitched a scoreless ninth with his household cheering in the stands three days after he gave up a successful home run.

“We wanted to get on the board early, and we didn’t,” Texas A&M coach Michael Earley said. “They did a good job. I thought we hit some balls hard, but maybe not enough. They pitched really well.”

The Aggies ran out a menace in the fourth. Chris Hacopian drew a leadoff stroll. Ben Royo stored the inning alive with a two-out single to left. Jorian Wilson adopted with a single to shallow right-center subject. Covarrubias was positioned completely to subject the ball in the outfield, but his throw to first wasn’t in time.

Fortunately for the Trojans, Adrian Lopez alertly threw home to simply nail Hacopian by a number of ft to end the inning.

Covarrubias tied the rating 1-1 with an RBI single to left-center in the fifth. One out later, Covarrubias stole second. Augie Lopez broke the tie with a single to right-center.

Two innings later, Lopez crushed his three-run blast. The Trojans added two more runs in the eighth.

“We had our fans, our parents right here,” Stankiewicz said. “They got that little section in the corner. They were outnumbered. That’s part of it too. We want to make them proud. They came a long way to watch their boys play baseball and support us.

“That’s a rewarding feeling when our fans can come in here and sit in the stands. They’re outnumbered. They try like crazy to cheer. This is a cool moment for them too. We’re happy that they can celebrate this with us.”