New USC baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz previews start of season

Andy Stankiewicz has only been at USC since July, but he said it feels like years already as he's worked non-stop to build the Trojans' 2023 baseball roster on the fly, sell his vision for the program to recruits, their families and coaches and get his first team here ready to formally start this rebuild.

That officially gets underway Friday as USC hosts Marist for a season-opening three game series at Dedeaux Field -- 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday.

Stankiewicz, the former Major League infielder, comes to USC after a successful 11-year run as the head coach at Grand Canyon, taking that program from Division II to Division I and then winning five Western Athletic Conference titles (and four conference coach of the year awards).

He is the latest coach tasked with trying to revive USC baseball -- a program that has won more national championships (12) than any other college baseball program but that has reached the NCAA tournament just once in the last 17 seasons. The Trojans went 25-28 last season as former coach Jason Gill was let go after just three years.

Stankiewicz is grounded about his expectations for Year 1.

"We're not dumb. I think every publication has us in last place. That's fine," he said this week. "If it doesn't excite you, fellas, then you don't belong in that USC dugout. We need to get [motivated] about people telling you you're no good. I'm not really worried about it. I just want to get better. I want this Year 1, I know it's going to be rollercoaster ride, we know that, but I want the ups to be more than the downs and I want to feel like we're making steady improvement.

"We've got to plod. We've got to be the plow horse. If we're really good on one weekend and then we go away the next weekend and we're a rollercoaster, that doesn't help our program. We need to just plod along. We need to be hardhat, blue collar mentality, just work our tails off, coach them up, believe in them and feel when it's over the program is better at the end than in the beginning."

Via MLB draft or transfer portal departures, the Trojans lost four of their top five hitters from last season, their top two catchers and a primary weekend starter.

The challenge for Stankiewicz as he built not only the 2023 roster but the early foundation for the years to come is convincing recruits and those around them that he is going to be the coach to lift USC baseball back to prominence, when several others have failed since the Trojans ceded their peak atop the sport.

"I think one of the challenges is the perception, right, of the program. Getting recruits, families, high school coaches, club coaches [to believe]. Unfortunately, we [as a program] haven't had the success. The biggest challenge is getting them to see that USC is a great place to go to school, and it's our job to show them it's a great place to come play baseball," Stankiewicz said. "So I think that's probably the biggest challenge for us. The sooner the better we can establish ourselves ... We've got to show people that we're rebuilding this program well and for the long haul."

The immediate challenge is finding recruits who want to be part of that rebuilding process rather than go to a program built to win now.

"The hurdle here is having [recruits] buy into our vision for this program. Sometimes that's not what kids are looking for," Stankiewicz said.

As for the work that's been done over the last seven months ...

"We hit the recruiting trail obviously very quickly when our staff got here, so I'm excited about the incoming recruiting class for next year -- we feel good about that," he said. "... Now, we had to bring some transfers in quickly because we lost our shortstop, second baseman and centerfielder to the draft, we lost two catchers that decided to transfer out, another pitcher transferred out as well. We lost what people would say probably are some nice players, but we brought in some transfer young men we feel good about, have played a lot of baseball. They can help plug some holes, and we're going to go.

"It's a moving roster -- it's fluid, man. You're always trying to get better, trying to put the most competitive roster you can. We feel good about the young men we have here."

Stankiewicz says plainly it's going to take time before USC fans can start thinking big about the program's potential again -- at least relative to the Trojans' past standards -- but he knew what he was signing up for and believes in the process ahead.

"We're in it for the long haul. We're committed to our guys, the coaching staff is committed to each other, we're committed to making this program what we all want it to be, what we believe it can be," Stankiewicz said. "Now, it's just a matter of building it step by step."

Per USC's own preview for the opening series, junior right-hander Tyler Stromsborg is the projected starting pitcher Friday, followed by junior righty Jaden Agassi and redshirt freshman righty Eric Hammond.

Stromsborg made 12 starts last season, going 1-5 with a 4.18 ERA and 1.46 WHIP.

Agassi made 10 starts and 5 relief appearances, going 3-2 with a 4.34 ERA and 1.55 WHIP.

And Hammond is returning from Tommy John surgery.

Sophomore right-hander Caden Aoki, a transfer from Notre Dame who had a 3.86 ERA in limited work last season (9.1 innings), and senior righty Blake Sodersten, a transfer from CSUN who posted a 4.83 ERA over 229.2 innings the last four years, will also get looks as starters, Stankiewicz said.

The bullpen is tougher to project as this point.

Senior outfielder Adrian Colon-Rosado is the Trojans' top returning hitter after batting .298 with 8 home runs, 34 RBI and 37 runs last season.

Senior first baseman Nick Lopez is another returning veteran bat after hitting .282 with 6 homers, 11 doubles and 33 RBI last year.

Senior third baseman Johnny Olmstead (8 HRs, .220 batting average) also showed some power in 2022.

That said, Stankiewicz doesn't think this team is going to count on the long ball.

"I don't know looking at this roster there's big-time power potential. I don't know if that's who we are. I think we [need to] be committed to contact, stay gap to gap," he said. "I didn't realize how well the ball can jump here -- the ball moves pretty good at Dedeaux [Field] -- so if you get it you can hit some homers, but I don't think that we're the team that have guys that are going to hit 10-15."

Stankiewicz didn't divulge a projected batting order, but he laid out the lineup by position.

Catcher: After losing the top two catchers from last season as transfers, the Trojans will use a tandem of transfers behind the plate in Connor Aoki (from Binghamton), who hit .288 with 8 HRs last season, and Connor Clift (California Baptist), who hit .270 with 3 HRs.

First base: Senior Nick Lopez (see above)

Second base: Junior Ryan Jackson, a transfer from Nevada who hit .344 with 12 extra-base hits 30 walks, 39 runs with 24 RBIs last season, and redshirt freshman Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek, a UCLA transfer and the son of former big leaguer Mark Grudzielanek, are the top options.

Third base: Senior Johnny Olmstead (see above)

Shortstop: Jackson and redshirt freshman Caiden Huber could form a righty/lefty tandem

Outfield: Senior Cole Gabrielson (played in six games last season), senior Adrian Colon-Rosada (see above), freshman Austin Overn (ticketed for centerfield) and junior Carson Wells (played in 22 games with 11 starts but struggled at the plate last year) will be the main four.

"We feel like there's some pieces there for sure in place. It's just a matter now of helping these young men gain confidence and play together," Stankiewicz said.