COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The USC baseball team couldn’t make the most of its opportunities and now faces an uphill climb in the NCAA tournament.
Adrian Lopez gave the Trojans a lead with a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday night, but Texas State’s Chase Mora answered with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth, leading the Bobcats to a 5-4 victory in an NCAA regional opener at Blue Bell Park.
USC (43-16) had chances throughout the game, but wasted most of them, stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first seven innings. USC stranded 13 runners overall, going 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.
The Trojans, who reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, have lost four of their last five games.
USC will face Lamar University (34-26), which blew a five-run lead in its 7-5 loss to host Texas A&M (40-14), in an elimination game on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT. The Trojans will need to win four games Saturday-Monday to win the four-team regional and advance to a best-of-three super regional.
USC right-hander Grant Govel, a Palos Verdes High product who was an All-Big Ten first-team selection this season, allowed three runs on four hits with two walks while striking out six in 5⅔ innings.
Mora’s sacrifice fly to right field gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but the Trojans scored an unearned run in the second and third innings to take the lead. Former Cypress High standout Abbrie Covarrubias hit a solo home run to left in the fourth to extend the USC lead to 3-1.
Texas State’s Brady Boles tied the score at 3-3 with a two-run home run to left in the top of the fifth.