The USC baseball team concluded its season today by getting swept at Arizona this weekend. The Trojans finished 20-36 overall and 10-20 in the Pac-12. They did not make the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight year. So this is not really about the firing of Frank Cruz just before the season started.
It’s more about the athletic dept.’s philosophy toward baseball. Does the sport matter? It really doesn’t if you go by the recent coaching hires since Mike Gillespie was fired.

Baseball is not a money-making sport so USC seems averse to going after a big-name coach. That means the school with the most national titles in the nation makes baseball less of a priority than Oregon, which hired the highly respected George Horton and paid him accordingly.

USC is now at another crossroads. Will it promote Coach Dan Hubbs or go hire a big-name coach? That’s all you need to know to see how important baseball is.

The Trojans’ No. 2-ranked doubles team advanced to the finals with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Kata Szekely and junior Brynn Boren of Tennessee. Christian and Santamaria face Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton of UCLA in the finals tomorrow.

Winners

Desean Holmes

Wide receiver is still a sophomore but picked up scholarship offer from USC.

Annie Park

Freshman wins NCAA individual golf title and leads USC to its third team title. And she graduated from high school a year early.

Continue reading “Winners And Losers Of The Week” »

Quarterback Max Wittek is working with campers this weekend at the Steve Clarkson QB retreat in San Diego. Among those also at the camp are UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley and former USC QB Matt Leinart.

Sprinters Aaron Brown (20.47) and Bryshon Nellum (20.58) advanced in the 200-meter West Regional heats today to the NCAA championships. The women’s 4x100m relay team of Loudia Laarman, Melia Cox, Jenna Puterbaugh, Vanessa Jones also qualified for the NCAA championships with a time of 44.38.

It’s not every day USC offers a player from Indiana but WR/TE Austin Roberts (6-2, 220) of Carmel, Ind., was offered by the Trojans today. Roberts is ranked the No. 1 player in Indiana by Rivals.com.

Curiously, it does not appear Notre Dame has offered him a scholarship.

USC’s No. 2-ranked women’s tennis doubles team of Sabrina Santamaria and Kaitlyn Christian advanced to the NCAA championships semifinals with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Rachael White and Melissa Kopinski of Illinois today at the University of Illinois.

The former Texas Tech defensive tackle, who visited USC last weekend, is visiting Miami this weekend, according to CBS Sports.

Point guard Josh Perkins will visit USC next weekend. Perkins announced Friday he is transferring to Huntington Prep in West Virginia from Regis Jesuit in Denver. USC coach Andy Enfield watched Perkins play last month.

Just a follow-up: Freshman Annie Park won an NCAA individual title and NCAA team title today in women’s golf. And she graduated from high school a semester early.

So how about getting her a poster like this one that celebrated early enrollees before they played a single down. As Lane Kiffin might even say, “performance, not hype.”