USC squanders late lead, falls to Texas State in NCAA regional opener

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — After spending most of Friday night wasting scoring opportunities, Adrian Lopez and his USC teammates headed into the ninth inning with plenty of confidence. Unfortunately for the Trojans, Texas State wasn’t done yet.

Lopez gave the Trojans the lead in the eighth inning with a home run at Blue Bell Park, but USC couldn’t close out the opener of the NCAA tournament’s College Station Regional.

Texas State’s Chase Mora greeted USC closer Adam Troy with a monstrous two-run home run to left field in the top of ninth, propelling the Bobcats to 5-4 upset before a crowd of 6,956.

“To take the lead right there late, we’re riding high feeling real good and confident going into the ninth,” Lopez said. “I think … the ball fell how it fell. It is what it is. But we’re pretty stoked and excited going into the ninth with the lead.”

Texas State coach Steve Trout mused that it felt as though the Bobcats were “on the ropes” all night. As trite as that might sound, he’s right.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, they never could deliver the knockout punch. Texas State wasn’t as forgiving. Mora was sitting on Troy’s fastball, and he pounced for his 11th home run of the year.

“Sure enough,” Mora said, “I got the pitch I was sitting on and made a good swing.”

Troy’s blown save was a major part of the story. He arguably wasn’t the biggest reason USC lost, though. The Trojans had plenty of chances. They wasted most of them, leaving 13 men on base on a night they struck out 12 times.

Moreover, the Trojans wasted a major bases-loaded scoring opportunity when Isaac Cadena was picked off at second base for the second out of the fifth. Walter Urbon then flew out to right to end the threat.

“We got picked off there at second base with one out,” USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said. “That was kind of a gut shot. We have to be better on the bases. We have to be a little more aware when we get off the bag there.

“I thought we executed fine to get runners where we needed to get them. The second part is we got to get them across home plate. That’s the part we didn’t do as well tonight.”

The Bobcats’ shaky defense spotted USC two unearned runs. The Trojans will surely lament, however, stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first seven innings.

The Trojans will now prepare to face Lamar University, which blew a five-run lead in a 7-5 loss to host Texas A&M earlier Friday.

If Stankiewicz’s Trojans return to the College World Series for the first time since 2001, the 12-time national champions must do it out of the losers’ bracket.

“We’re just going to battle our tails off to keep showing up,” said Abbrie Covarrubias, who gave the Trojans a 3-1 lead with a home run in the fourth inning. “We’re in the fire, so we’re just going to battle our way through and pour our hearts out really.”

USC right-hander Grant Govel, an All-Big Ten First Team selection, settled for a no-decision after giving up three runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts over 5 ⅔ innings.

He was relieved by freshman left-hander Sax Matson with one on and two outs in the top of the sixth. Matson escaped unscathed in the sixth, but he was relieved by right-hander Andrew Johnson with one on and two outs in the seventh.

The Trojans, who reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, have lost four of their last five games.

“We left some runners in scoring position,” Stankiewicz said. “I’d like to have those back. But they made some pitches when they needed to.”

Stankiewicz, Adrian Lopez and Covarrubias are adamant that they believe in Troy, who has a team-leading 12 saves this season. No other Trojan has more than three saves.

“He’s been our guy, like coach said,” Lopez said of Troy. “He has a number … of saves. We trust him with everything we have. I wouldn’t want anyone else throwing the last couple pitches of the game. Going tomorrow, everyone’s available. If he’s back in that same situation, I’m just as confident as ever.”