FOOTBALL

If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column

In his latest ESPN MLB mock draft, Kiley McDaniel has the Mets selecting USC pitcher Mason Edwards with the No. 27 overall pick.

  • USC’s Ashley Erasmus broke her own shot put record of 18.07m from earlier this season with a new mark of 18.30m Thursday at the NCAA West Regionals in Fayetteville, Ark. Only the NCAA could consider Arkansas the West Regional.
  • Among the many partcipants in the regional for USC is 400-meter runner Joelle Trepagnier, the daughter of former USC basketball player Jeff Trepagnier and USC sprinter Malika Edmonson.
  • There is so much drama at the College Softball World Series, it would be nice to see USC play in such an event. USC, of course, does not have a softball team because it does not have the land for a softball field. I always thought they could have squeezed a softball field in when they built the USC Village project, which has dorms and shops.

But Max Nikias, who micro-managed the project on Jefferson and Hoover, obviously felt differently.

  • And now for some history:
  • USC plays at Texas A&M this weekend in the NCAA baseball regionals. Did you know USC played the first game at Olsen Field (now Blue Bell Park) on March 21, 1978.

Texas A&M coach Tom Chandler was good friends with USC coach Rod Dedeaux, so he invited the Trojans to help open the new facility.

Rod Dedeaux and Tom Chandler speak at the dedication of Olsen Field in 1978.
  • It was a big day at Texas A&M, but as Dedeaux spoke at the podium (above) he closed with the following story: “If there had been a back door to the Alamo there never would have been a Texas!”
  • That was enough to turn the happy environment into a hostile atmosphere. USC won the first game, 5-2, behind All-American pitcher Bill Bordley and the second game, 8-5. That 1978 USC team went 54-9 and won the NCAA title. It might be the best team in USC history.

Look at the pitching staff and stats:

Jeff Wick 2-0, 1.51 ERA
Rod Boxberger 12-1, 2.00 ERA
Ernie Mauritson 11-0, 2.25 ERA
Bill Bordley 12-2, 2.73 ERA
Brian Hayes 11-1, 2.71 ERA

On offense, there was Dave Engle (.352, 14 HR, 55 RBI) and Dave Hostetler (.313, 17 HR, 45 RBI). .

USC and Texas A&M during the national anthem at the first game played at Olsen Field in 1978.
  • I’ve run illustrations by Art Brewster over the years of USC football players. But this is something he did for the 1975 Shrine Game at the Rose Bowl. These were players who played their final prep season in 1975.

Tony Olivarria, a wide receiver-fullback from Colton High School, went to USC. Brian Bethke, a quarterback from South Hills High School, played at Kansas. I can’t believe I actually remember him as a high school player. And linebacker Gordon Ceresino, a linebacker from Notre Dame High School, was an all-Pac-10 linebacker at Stanford.

  • Another QB in that Shrine Game was Dan Morovick of St. John Bosco High School, who went to USC. He and Bethke were 4-A co-players of the year and Morovick finished hig career as the No. 7 all-time leader in California state history for passing yards.

A newspaper article said Morovick “had the potential to make Trojan fans forget about Pat Haden.”

Interestingly, Olivarria and Morovick did not earn a letter at USC until 1979.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Lynda Carter and Lindsay Wagner

Pam Grier

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

ELO has always used strings and lead singer Jeff Lynne uses them even more in concerts, like this appearance at Glastonbury.

44 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

      1. KAM: MG if you had a choice, who would you pick…

        Pam Grier, Lynda Carter or Lindsay Wagner?

        DON: Remember Lindsay as Kingsfield’s naughty daughter in “The Paper Chase”?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I’d like to say something politically correct like Pam Grier [who was terrific in Jackie Brown] …but, truthfully, Lindsay Wagner [who’s classy looks are right up John’s alley]…..

        Liked by 1 person

      3. hey mg looking at that baseball roster I went to high school with Jeff wick he threw back to back no hitters in 1976 when I was a junior

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Dumb remark by a great coach —-Santa Anna offered Travis and Crockett, et al safe passage out….but they refused, deciding to fight until Huston sent reinforcements…[which never came]….

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  4. So SC’s best pitcher is only the 27th best baseball player.

    Baseball is the easiest of the sports to play, everybody knows how to play a little, but might be the most difficult to make it to the Majors

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  5. The creator of Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter also invented the polygraph, and through testing said that women were more honest than men in certain situations

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. KAM: USC is +9 after round 1 (Tied for 28th out of 30 teams ) at the NCAA Championships at La Costa.

    DON: They trail #1 UCLA by 17 strokes.

    Liked by 1 person

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      2. Gabby —Did you watch Sinner’s breakdown? It looked like more than dehydration to me — something was fishy —[Hey! That’s the ticket! —USC is being poisoned by UCLA]!

        #IfICan’tGoWithCrookedRefs,I’mGoingWithPoison!

        #[I’llSaveTheCrookedRefsForFootballSeason]

        Liked by 1 person

      3. KAM: Have you been keeping up with Brendan Sorsby, the former Indiana quarterback, reportedly placed at least 40 bets on Indiana football games and wagered as much as $90,000 over four years, leading to an NCAA investigation and his subsequent ineligibility?

        DON: Tennis is much easier to fix than a game with 22 starters, special teams and subjective calls by refs.

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  7. Scooter,

    At Loyola, I played against Morovick and Gordy Cersino. We beat both of them. They were good. We had a running back named Freddie Brown, who was just as good as Charlie White. He had similar size, speed, and very smart. He went to USC but did not play. He became a doctor. Bosco had a running back that was going to SC but was killed on the Hollywood freeway during the summer before he was to go to SC. He was good, but not as good as Brown or White. But he was up there. All Cif just like Brown. White was all City. Loyola/s qb, Kevin Muno went ot nd and backed up Montana and was the punter for nd. He went to Houston after nd.

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      2. KAM: USC baseball squanders late lead, loses to Texas State in NCAA regional openerAdrian Lopez puts the Trojans ahead with a homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Texas State’s Chase Mora answers with a two-run homer in the the ninth and the Bobcats hold on for a 5-4 win in College Station, Texas.

        DON: USC faces Lamar in an elimination game on Saturday.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. KAM: The good news is UCLA lost too!This marked the first loss by a national No. 1 seed in an NCAA regional opener since 1999.

        DON: Cowardly Gabby hardest hit!

        Liked by 1 person

      5. 3 AM, AND YOU’RE STILL TR0LLING THE BLOG……..THAT L0CK-KNEE IS A REAL B l T C H

        (OR, IS IT REALLY 5 AM)

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  10. Getting picked off second with the bases loaded and one out was a very bad sign of things to come. The Texas State team was playing with more emotion. Govel was the right call, but you still have to play the game and respect your opponent. The name of the game is pitching. Find the 90 plus flamethrowers in high schools and recruit them. In the era of NIL, scholarship limits should not be a factor like it was for USC pre NIL. St. Mary’s plays over its head in baseball and basketball…..hire Bennett if Muss messes up this year. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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    1. Even you, my friend, have to admit: the ONE thing USC CANNOT be accused of anymore is “playing over its head”….

      #”That’sNotWhatWeDo!”

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      1. It was a good not great season. The team is progressing, but baseball is always about pitching and good defense which can make up for a lack of hitting. Even teams with losing records can record big wins on any given day. Hence, double eliimination tournaments. Even the Dodgers with their all star lineup loses games to weaker teams. Baseball is an exquisite game that can be so frustrating. I do hope that a Big Ten school wins the CWS and the championship wins over the overhyped SEC continues. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

        Liked by 1 person

      2. It was a good season… and we can’t deny that….but like our football and basketball teams, we can’t honestly say there were too many games where we played above our heads, rose up & beat superior teams …

        #WeLack”UpsetCapacity”

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      3. Emotion tends to be the key to winning big games especially when you are the underdog. Texas State was playing with a lot more emotion than our Trojans. Too much pregame talk about only needing our second string pitcher…..whenever a team thinks that it is an easy win, it isn’t. Tough lesson to learn…Coach Andy is responsible for the pregame as well as the game just like all coaches. 16-0 Trojans in the sixth against Lamar. They will need three straight wins after Lamar to make the super regional. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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      4. The Michigan game last year is the only game where you might say that they played over their heads. When we are underdogs, we tend to play like dogs. I prefer our Trojans to be favorites in all of their games and in all sports, but even as favorites we have tended to play down to our competition in recent years. But, fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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