COLLEGE STATION, Texas — As Augie Lopez trotted around the bases late Monday night, the small contingent of USC fans could finally be heard at Blue Bell Park.
With one towering blast to right field, the Trojans’ designated hitter silenced Texas A&M’s rowdy 12th Man.
Lopez’s three-run home run helped the Trojans beat Texas A&M 7-1 to reach the NCAA super regionals for the first time in 21 years.
Lopez silenced most of the sellout crowd of 7,042, making it easy to hear USC fans serenading him during the College Station Regional Final.
“Augie! Augie! Augie!” USC fans chanted after Lopez returned to the dugout.
It took a while, but the offense showed up to propel USC to the Chapel Hill Super Regional against North Carolina. The 12-time national champions advanced out of a regional for the first time since they played against Oregon State in the 2005 super regionals.
“I think this year getting to a super is special,” said coach Andy Stankiewicz, who is in his fourth season leading the Trojans. “This is a special place. USC, I’m telling you, it’s different. …
“We want to put a nice name back on USC baseball. That’s been part of the plan since we got here. We knew it was going to take time.”
The Trojans (47-16) placed six players on the all-tournament team. Lopez was joined by catcher Isaac Cadena, second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias, third baseman Kevin Takeuchi, outfielders Andrew Lamb and Walter Urbon and pitcher Andrew Johnson.
“Yeah, I could hear them,” said Lopez, who was named the most outstanding player of the College Station Regional. “I think the rest of the ballpark went pretty silent, but I knew my family was up there. And I could always hear them no matter where we’re playing. So it’s always great to hear the crowd having our back.”
Until Lopez’s blast, Texas A&M right-hander Clayton Freshcorn had slowed down a USC offense that had scored 48 runs combined while winning three consecutive games out of the losers’ bracket, including 14 on Sunday night against Texas A&M (41-16), to force the winner-take-all final.
USC right-hander Grant Govel, who had thrown 89 pitches over 5⅔ innings on Friday, retired the first seven Aggies before Bear Harrison hit a solo home run in the third.
Govel held the Aggies to three hits and one run over four innings with four strikeouts. Chase Herrell followed with 3⅔ scoreless innings while scattering three hits and striking out two. Sax Matson added one-third of an inning.
USC closer Adam Troy, who grew up in the Houston suburbs, pitched a scoreless ninth with his family cheering in the stands three days after he gave up a winning home run.
“We wanted to get on the board early, and we didn’t,” Texas A&M coach Michael Earley said. “They did a good job. I thought we hit some balls hard, but maybe not enough. They pitched really well.”
The Aggies ran out a threat in the fourth. Chris Hacopian drew a leadoff walk. Ben Royo kept the inning alive with a two-out single to left. Jorian Wilson followed with a single to shallow right-center field. Covarrubias was positioned perfectly to field the ball in the outfield, but his throw to first wasn’t in time.
Fortunately for the Trojans, Adrian Lopez alertly threw home to easily nail Hacopian by several feet to end the inning.
Covarrubias tied the score 1-1 with an RBI single to left-center in the fifth. One out later, Covarrubias stole second. Augie Lopez broke the tie with a single to right-center.
Two innings later, Lopez crushed his three-run blast. The Trojans added two more runs in the eighth.
“We had our fans, our parents right here,” Stankiewicz said. “They got that little section in the corner. They were outnumbered. That’s part of it too. We want to make them proud. They came a long way to watch their boys play baseball and support us.
“That’s a rewarding feeling when our fans can come in here and sit in the stands. They’re outnumbered. They try like crazy to cheer. This is a cool moment for them too. We’re happy that they can celebrate this with us.”
