A slightly unconventional pitching move by Andy Stankiewicz worked out.
A conventional one?
Disastrous.
With his team holding a one-run lead with one out in the ninth inning of its NCAA Tournament opener on Friday night, the USC baseball coach went to his closer.
Adam Troy, one of the top relievers in the game, couldn’t get the job done.
The hard-throwing right-hander gave up a two-run homer, consigning the Trojans to a 5-4 loss to Texas State at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park that sent them into an elimination game in the College Station Regional.
Only a few minutes earlier, USC (43-16) appeared bound for a different outcome.
Adrian Lopez’s solo homer to right pushed the Trojans into a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning before things quickly deteriorated in the ninth.
Justin Vossos led off with a chopper to USC third baseman Maximo Martinez, who couldn’t field the short hop cleanly and was charged with an error.
After Vossos advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, Stankiewicz replaced reliever Andrew Johnson with his closer.
Chase Mora then belted Troy’s second pitch over the wall in left-center field, allowing Mora to place an inflatable donut-holed pool toy over his body in the dugout as part of a celebration ritual.
Mora came up big again with two out in the bottom of the inning when he made a diving catch of Dean Carpentier’s line drive with the potential tying run on second base. The Trojans finished the game 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.
Stankiewicz had opened the game by going with Grant Govel, his No. 2 starting pitcher, in a move that would preserve ace Mason Edwards for an anticipated showdown against top-seeded Texas A&M on Saturday.
Govel did his part in a sharp outing, allowing 4 hits and 3 runs in 5⅔ innings. But after the bullpen couldn’t hold the late lead, Edwards will be pitching just to keep his team’s season going.
What it means
USC must now win four consecutive games to advance to its first Super Regional since 2006.
Turning point
The Trojans had everything going their way when the fielding error to open the ninth inning opened the door for Mora’s game-changing homer.
MVP: Chase Mora
It’s not often that someone hits a go-ahead homer and makes a game-saving defensive play in the same game, much less the same inning.
But that’s exactly what Mora did after coming up big twice in the ninth.
Honorable mention must go to Texas State right fielder Rashawn Galloway, who robbed USC’s Kevin Takeuchi of a run-scoring extra-base hit in the sixth inning when he ran down a towering fly ball while crashing into the wall.
Did you see that?
Home plate umpire Connor Hoagland was momentarily stunned in the third inning when he took a foul ball off his facemask, which came loose and fell to the ground.
Hoagland needed a few minutes to recover before play resumed.
Up next
The Trojans will play Lamar at 1 p.m. Pacific on Saturday. The game will be broadcast by ESPN+.
