This weekend, Stanford baseball will welcome USC to The Farm. Stanford comes in at 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-12 while USC comes in at 4-12 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-12. Game one will be on Friday at 6:05 PM PT. Game two will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT. Game three will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. All three games will air on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio
Last time out: Stanford took two out of three games on the road at Washington last weekend to open up Pac-12 play. If you missed the recaps from the first two games, click here.
As for game three last Sunday, Washington dominated Stanford 9-2. Stanford sophomore righty Nick Dugan (3-1) picked up his first loss of the season in a starting role. It just wasn’t Stanford’s day, but they at least took the series, so overall a good weekend. Washington just came out and played more desperate on that final day as teams often do on the verge of being swept.
Probable pitchers: For Friday, the probable starting pitching matchup is Stanford sophomore righty Matt Scott (2-2, 3.63 ERA, 37K) vs. USC junior righty Caden Aoki (0-3, 7.71 ERA).
For Saturday, the probable matchup is Stanford freshman lefty Christian Lim (1-2, 4.96 ERA, 24K) vs. USC senior righty Tyler Stromsborg (0-3, 5.59 ERA, 19K).
For Sunday, the probable matchup is Stanford sophomore righty Nick Dugan (3-1, 7.36 ERA, 20K) vs. USC redshirt sophomore righty Eric Hammond (1-2, 7.47 ERA, 10K).
On USC: The Trojans are off to a rough start. They got destroyed in the MLB Desert Invitational by BYU, Grand Canyon, and Ohio State. Most recently, they took one out of three at home against Arizona before falling to Cal Baptist on Tuesday.
The top contact hitter for the Trojans is sophomore catcher Jacob Galloway, who is batting .383 for two home runs, 13 RBIs, a .550 slugging percentage, and a .458 on base percentage. He’s doing all he can to give the Trojans some offense.
And then same goes for their top power hitter, sophomore outfielder Austin Overn. He is batting .237 for four home runs, and eight RBIs for a .508 slugging percentage and a .348 on base percentage. He’s also doing a good job of providing some offense for the Trojans.
The issue is they aren’t getting much help from the rest of their teammates. There just isn’t much depth in this Trojans lineup.
As a team, the Trojans are batting .225 for nine home runs, 61 RBIs, and 71 runs for a .338 slugging percentage and a .325 on base percentage. Their opponents are batting .268 for 20 home runs, 94 RBIs, and 108 runs for a .427 slugging percentage and a .374 on base percentage. As for pitching, the Trojans have a 5.53 ERA while their opponents have a 3.82 ERA.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is make sure they play sound defensively. USC is not a good offensive team and will likely need some help if they are to generate much runs. As long as Stanford defends and pitches well, they’ll be in a good spot to win this series. This is a series where Stanford shouldn’t feel much offensive pressure. Just play good defense and let the hitting flow from there.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is make sure they are the ones to strike first. USC doesn’t have much confidence right now. If Stanford can be the team that is striking first by being the first team to score, that’s going to deflate the Trojans and remove a lot of hope for them.
Finally, Stanford needs to do make sure that they are finding the long ball. A big reason why teams are beating USC is they are hitting more home runs than them. If Stanford wins the long ball battle, they should win this series with ease.
Prediction: I think Scott will pitch well on Friday. I think Dugan will bounce back on Sunday. The question is will Lim pitch well on Saturday. I think he will. He seems to be settling in. I think across the board the starters will all do their job and they’ll get the run support they need. That’s right, I’m calling a sweep. I think Stanford will sweep USC 3-0 this weekend.
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