What might go down as the most devastating inning in USC baseball history started with a routine out.
Trojans closer Adam Troy induced a ground ball to second base to start the bottom of the ninth inning with his team leading by a run Sunday, putting the Trojans two outs from the College World Series.
Troy had already been something of a hero in the decisive game of this NCAA Tournament Super Regional against North Carolina.
After relieving Sax Matson in the eighth inning and throwing a wild pitch, the hard-throwing right-hander was not in a great spot. There were runners on second and third with two out.
No matter. Troy struck out the next batter.
What happened next, after that out to open the ninth, could leave the Trojans with colossal regrets in addition to a crushing 4-3 loss that ended their season amid a wild celebration by the Tar Heels inside their home stadium.
“As the head coach you think, dang it, what could I have done differently, what should I have done differently to help change the outcome?” USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said. “So I will have to figure that out, and I will.”
Where does he start?
With the bases empty and one out, North Carolina’s Cooper Nicholson hammered the second pitch he saw high into the air down the left field line. With Troy trying to coax the ball out of play by waving his arm, it barely hooked foul.
Down 0-and-2 in the count, Nicholson took two balls, fouled off another pitch and took two more balls to draw a full-count walk.
That brought up Carter French, who proceeded to take three consecutive balls.
Having lost faith in his closer’s ability to throw strikes, Stankiewicz made the rare move of pulling Troy in the middle of an at-bat, turning to Chase Herrell.
“Just felt like we brought in Chase, we would throw strikes,” Stankiewicz said.
Herrell did just that, delivering two strikes to run the count full before French ripped a full-count pitch through the right side of the infield for a single, putting runners on first and third with one out.
Jake Schaffner then hit Herrell’s next pitch for a run-scoring sacrifice fly to center, tying the score at 3.
Suddenly struggling to find his command, Herrell walked Gavin Gallaher on five pitches to put runners on first and second.
To that point, North Carolina had been dreadful with runners in scoring position in the three-game series, going 2-for-25.
It appeared momentarily that they might go 2-for-26 when Owen Hull, who had already hit three doubles Sunday, hit a pop-up into foul territory.
USC third baseman Maddox Riske, who had entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, sprinted toward the brick wall on the edge of the stands. He couldn’t make the catch, the ball landing just out of his reach.
Hull then delivered the stuff of ecstasy or agony, depending on one’s perspective.
Crushing Herrell’s next pitch deep into left-center field, Hull watched as center fielder Kevin Takeuchi tried to make a sliding catch on the warning track. Despite a valiant effort, Takeuchi could not come up with a ball that one-hopped the wall to drive in the winning run.
As the Tar Heels celebrated on the field, the Trojans sobbed, so many dreams having died in an awful instant.
“It hurts,” Stankiewicz said. “This is a tough way to end a season.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
