California Baptist University
University of Southern California
BASE Preview: USC Welcomes the Lancers for Tuesday Night Match-Up
3/11/2024 4:45:00 PM | Baseball
RIVERSIDE – The California Baptist Lancers will return to Irvine, California, on Tuesday evening for another midweek tilt, only this time against USC. CBU is currently in the middle of a three-game winning streak, courtesy of a sweep against Seattle U, and brings an 11-5 overall record to the table. The Trojans enter the week 4-11 and are coming off their first PAC-12 win from the weekend, taking down Arizona 4-1 on Sunday.
THE LANCERS AT A GLANCE
California Baptist started Western Athletic Conference play over the weekend and came out with a dominant start against Seattle U. The Lancers swept the Redhawks on home turf, highlighted by a tenth-inning walk-off home run from Connor McGuire. Solid pitching solidified another pair of wins on Saturday and Sunday for the Lancers, putting them at the top of the conference standings with Grand Canyon.
Home 𝙎𝙒𝙀𝙀𝙋 Home!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Hf00KLpZrH
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 10, 2024
Michael Carpentier continues to be a commanding presence on the field for the Lancers, as he continues to lead the squad with a .379 batting average and WAC-leading 25 hits. The senior catcher has been raking in the doubles this season as well, hitting the 16th most in the nation. On the pitching side, CBU's staff has the eighth-lowest ERA in the nation at 3.06. Gary Adcock's pitchers have been extremely impressive this season, between Brandon Downer's three-hit Sunday against Seattle and breakout freshman Lukas Pirko dominating the mound from Opening Day.
SERIES INFORMATION
Opponent: University of Southern California
Dates/Times: Tuesday, March 12th (6:30 p.m.)
Location: Irvine, CA (Great Park Stadium)
Video: USC Livestream
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
SERIES NOTES
This will be the first time these two squads have ever met in the history of their programs. The Lancers are no stranger to PAC-12 teams and have already faced Utah this season, dropping a pair of competitive games to the Utes during their season opener. Regarding common opponents, USC already played Grand Canyon this season and fell to CBU's Western Athletic Conference foe 8-1 during the MLB Desert Invitational.
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THE TROJANS AT A GLANCE
The Trojans have yet to find their rhythm this season as they enter the new week with a 4-11 overall record. USC did manage to snag the Sunday match-up against Arizona to avoid being swept and left the weekend with a 1-2 conference record. The squad's best series this season was against Portland after they took a pair off the Pilots for their first pair of back-to-back wins this season.
Leading the way offensively for the Trojans are Jacob Galloway and Kevin Takeuchi. Galloway leads the squad with a .393 batting average, tallying 22 hits, four doubles, and a pair of home runs. The sophomore also leads the team with 12 RBI and is currently slugging .571 with an on-base percentage of .471. As a pitching staff, the Trojans own a cumulative 5.69 ERA. USC's go-to pitcher is Tyler Stromsborg, who thrown 19.2 innings of action paired with a 5.95 ERA.
