May 27, 1997

The Week in Review / Preview

This Week

Wednesday: Men's Golf, at NCAA Championships, at Northwestern, through Saturday

Baseball
After losing the first game of the South II Regional, the Trojans battled back all the way to the championship game before falling to host Alabama, the No. 1 team in the country, 9-8 in 10 innings on Sunday. The Trojans would have needed to beat the Crimson Tide twice to move on to the College World Series.

USC lost to Virginia Tech, 3-2, in the opener on Thursday despite senior righthander Scott Henderson's good outing. On Friday, senior lefthander Randy Flores got his 42nd career win and ran his lifetime postseason record to 7-0 in a complete-game win over Troy State, 5-2. USC won twice on Saturday, with a 6-2 win over Virginia Tech and a 13-4 victory over North Carolina State. Sophomore righthander Steve Immel and junior righthander Seth Etherton got the wins, respectively.

Because the game against the Wolfpack had been delayed 3 1/2 hours by rain, it didn't end until nearly 1:30 a.m. CT, meaning the Trojans had to come back and play the Crimson Tide in less than 12 hours. The game went back and forth until Alabama's Matt Frick hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to end it.

Etherton, senior first baseman Greg Walbridge, junior second baseman Wes Rachels, senior shortstop Marc Mirizzi and sophomore outfielder Robb Gorr were named to the All-Regional team.

Men's and Women's Track and Field
The USC men won their first conference championship since 1977 over the weekend, winning the Pac-10 Championships, hosted by Washington. The Trojans narrowly defeated the defending champs, UCLA, 145-138. On the women's side, the defending champion Women of Troy came up short trying to make it 2 in a row, as UCLA won the title with 189.5 points and USC finished second with 134.5 points.

Individual winners for USC included sophomore Jerome Davis (men's 400m, 45.52), senior Isaac Turner (men's 800m, 1:48.11), sophomore William Erese (men's 110m HH, 14.02), freshman Kedjeloba Mambo (men's triple jump, 52-11), sophomore Esi Benyarku (women's 100m, 11.77), sophomore Grazyna Penc (women's 800m, 2:05.94, and 1500m, 4:23.64) and sophomore Pamela Simpson (women's long jump, 20-11 1/4).

Men's Tennis
Junior George Bastl placed second in singles at the NCAA Individual Championships at UCLA over the weekend, while Bastl and junior Kyle Spencer teamed up to place second in doubles.

Bastl, ranked No. 20 going into the tournament, won his first 5 matches before losing in the final to Luke Smith of UNLV, 6-4, 6-3. Bastl and Spencer won 4 matches before losing to UNLV's Smith and Tim Blenkiron, 6-4, 6-4, in the final.

Athletes of the Week

George Bastl, Men's Tennis
Bastl, a junior, finished up his first season at USC in outstanding fashion, placing second at the NCAA Individual Championships in both singles and doubles (with Kyle Spencer).

Kedjeloba Mambo, Men's Track
Mambo, a freshman, contributed greatly to USC's Pac-10 title, winning the triple jump (52-11, the fifth-best jump in USC history and the best since 1980) and placing second in the long jump (24-3).

Wes Rachels, Baseball
Rachels, a junior second baseman, was named to the All-Regional team after going 10-for-23 (.435) with 5 runs scored, 7 RBI and 4 doubles over 5 games.

Pamela Simpson, Women's Track
Simpson, a sophomore, won the long jump at the Pac-10 Championships (20-11 1/4), 8 1/4 inches better than her previous collegiate best. It was the fourth-longest jump in Women of Troy history.

Sport                  Record  Conf. Record    Nat'l Rank                Last Week
Baseball                39-18         17-13 (3rd)    10th (Base. Amer.)  second at NCAA South II Regional
Men's Golf                --            3rd           3rd (Golfweek)     none
Men's Tennis            18-6            6-4 (3rd)    14th (Rolex)        Bastl second at NCAA singles/doubles
Men's Track and Field    7-2            1st          22nd (Trackwire)    first at Pac-10 Championships
Women's Track and Field  8-1            2nd           7th (Trackwire)    second at Pac-10 Championships
Season Complete            Record   Conf. Finish  Nat'l Finish  Notes
Men's Basketball            17-11   12-6 (t2nd)             --  first NCAA berth since 1992
Women's Basketball          20-9    13-5  (3rd)             --  reached second round of NCAAs
Women's Cross Country         --     6th                    --  Emebet Shiferaw an All-American
Football                     6-6     3-5 (t5th)             --  def. Notre Dame, 27-20 (OT)
Women's Golf                  --     6th          24th (Rolex)  Josefsson All-Pac-10 hon. men.
Women's Soccer              15-5     4-3 (t4th)             --  Isabelle Harvey Pac-10's top scorer
Men's Swimming & Diving      8-0     4-0  (2nd)            6th  Krayzelburg NCAA champ in 200 back
Women's Swimming & Diving    9-1     4-1  (2nd)            1st  first-ever national championship
Women's Tennis               8-15    0-10 (6th)   34th (Rolex)  Baklarova All-Pac-10 hon. men.
Men's Volleyball            12-12    9-10 (9th) 13th (VB Mag.)  Guigliano, Seiffert, All-MPSF hon. men.
Women's Volleyball          21-9    12-6 (t3rd)    13th (AVCA)  reached round of 16 in NCAAs
Men's Water Polo            23-3     7-1  (1st)            2nd  Cizmic, Zagar first team All-Americans
Women's Water Polo          15-20    0-6  (5th)            7th  7th at National Championships