USC season preview: 'I'm confident we're going to be a good baseball team'

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New USC baseball coach Jason Gill is detailed-oriented and straightforward. He's confident and resolute that he knows how to get this storied program nationally competitive again.

And while he doesn't believe in looking too far ahead, he's also too competitive and driven to deflect the question of whether that can happen in his first season.

"I've been doing it for 25 years, so I know what good looks like and I know what not-good looks like. I feel like right now going into the season I'm confident we're going to be a good baseball team," Gill said Thursday on the eve of his first game as Trojans coach. "Now, a lot of things have to follow that. They have to continue to get better every day, and we have to see what happens when he handle some adversity. …

"I guess that's where I'll probably know exactly where we're at, but right now we're a good baseball team. We're good. We're a postseason-caliber team."

At least in terms of outcome, USC hasn't been a postseason-caliber baseball team very often for quite a while. A Trojans program that has won 12 national championships all-time -- by far the most of any Division I baseball program -- has only been in the NCAA tournament once (2015) in the last 14 years.

Once in 14 years.

That's why Gill is here, of course, the fourth head coach for the program since Mike Gillespie finished his successful tenure (1987-2006) as the successor to legendary coach Rod Dedeaux.

Gill was in the NCAA tournament last season with Loyola Marymount, which he coached for the past 11 seasons. That was the program's first NCAA tournament berth since 2000. But Gill has also been to the College World Series four times -- as a player at Cal State Fullerton in 1994, as an undergraduate assistant the next year as the Titans won the national title and again in 2006 and 2007 as an assistant coach there.

Like he said, he knows what goes into building a nationally-competitive team and he thinks this USC squad at least has the foundation to pursue that potential. But while he's comfortable saying that when asked, he doesn't believe it's productive to make it a talking point with his players.

"I think it's a realistic goal. We don't talk about it. We're just trying to get better every day. That is too far removed. I think to talk about stuff like that you had to have gone through it. I don't want to put anything out there that is not tangible. What is tangible for us is to get better every day," he said. "I would relate it swimming in a race that's 20 laps, where you're looking down, you're looking down, you hit the wall, you turn around. You're looking down, you're looking down and you're just counting your strokes and make sure you're breathing on time. And when you hit the final wall then you look up and see what the time says. You can't see the time for 20 laps. …

"I think that's kind of what we're trying to do with this team. We're going to go as best we can, the best we can, we're going to give a best effort every day, we're going to learn what a championship effort is along the way, and then we'll look up at the end. But in terms of talent, if we stay healthy, it's a postseason caliber team for sure."

Gill is pleased with the talent he's inherited despite taking over a team that went 25-29-1 last year in its final season under coach Dan Hubbs.

"Maybe the depth could be improved, but the quality at the front end, I don't think there's many that are going to have better than us," Gill said.

He's especially pleased, though, with the response he's gotten from those players so far.

He understands it's been an adjustment to his way of business -- where no detail is too small to matter. He gives an example, that taking stretching seriously one day and going through the motions another will not be acceptable. Every detail adds up to a standard he wants to establish.

"Change is difficult for anyone. I just kind of put it on them a little bit -- 'What do you guys want to do? Do you want to win?' They all told me they wanted to win, so I said, 'This is the way I know how to do it,'" Gill said. "Obviously, the way it's been going on hasn't been great, so I feel like they were pretty open-minded. There were some hard conversations -- I wouldn't say hard but there were some days I had to raise my voice at them -- but the best part about it is their response to it every time has been positive. ...

"I haven't gotten a lot of pushback, but when you ask 35 guys to change their style of life, change their priorities I guess, you're going to have some guys that fall off the course -- not on purpose, just naturally."

Ask the players what's different, and they highlight the emphasis on daily competition, on everybody having to earn their roles again this year -- and keep earning them.

"Just the culture, the winning, competitive culture that he tries to instill in us every single day. We're always competing, there's always something on the line and I think it's just kind of the iron-sharpens-iron mentality that he's kind of ingrained in all of us," senior outfielder Brady Shockey said.

Added junior pitcher Brian Gursky: "Something just feels different about this year -- a difference in our energy coming in, we're all really excited, a lot of nervous energy going around. But we're excited about it."

What Gill is most excited about now is to see all the preparation put into action, to see how his lineup looks when it's facing different pitching and vice versa. There's some unknown at this point in that regard, as all he has to evaluate so far is intrasquad competition.

He suggests it could take a month until all the pieces fall into place, and he's told the team this. He sees some balanced depth throughout the pitching staff and competition for lineup spots, and therefore he expects to use three different lineups this first weekend against Western Michigan and perhaps beyond until roles are solidified.

"I don't think the rotation or the starting lineup on day 1 or weekend 1 will remain the same throughout the season," he said. "We have a lot of competition going on right now, which is super exciting for me as a coach. It also makes it difficult for me to write a lineup."

**USC lost its best starting pitcher Connor Lunn (7-4, 3.69 ERA) and top reliever Chris Clarke (5-2, 8 saves, 1.03 ERA) from last season.

Here's a look at how the weekend rotation will look at least for this opening series:

Friday -- junior RHP Kyle Hurt: Went 3-7 with a 5.69 ERA last season but had 81 strikeouts over 74 1/3 innings. He was slowed in the preseason by a sore shoulder. He is good to go now, but he'll be on a limited pitch count, so Gill will have junior LHP John Beller (3.86 ERA with 55 strikeouts over 49 innings in 2019) ready to follow him on the mound when the time comes. Beller is another candidate for a weekend rotation spot as things develop. As for Hurt, though, Gill believes he fits the mold of a true ace despite his numbers last season.

"Kyle Hurt will go on Friday nights. Kyle's a Friday pitcher anywhere in the country. He's got Friday stuff anywhere in the United States. He's real, so we're confident in that," he said. "We're going to piggyback him with John Beller, who is a starter type, lefthander, had arguably our best numbers last year."

Saturday -- junior LHP Isaac Esqueda: Went 3-5 with a 3.94 ERA and 57 Ks in 64 innings last season.

Sunday -- redshirt sophomore LHP Alex Cornwell: Sat out the last two seasons with injury.

Gill: "Like I said, there's a lot of guys that are in that pen that are starter types that are on starter innings right now. There's just a lot of competition. ... If [the rotation] stays the same, that's excellent -- that just means we have a deeper bullpen. And if someone beats somebody out, that's fine too. That's how we're going to run our business here. The best guys plays, and our players know that."

**USC lost OF Matthew Acosta (.319, 7 HRs, 40 RBIs), C/OF CJ Stubbs (.285-6-35) and OF Blake Sabol (.268-3-22).

There are a few keystones to the lineup, but like Gill said, a number of spots will change from game to game until those roles are solidified.

Here's what he knows as of now:

Freshman infielder Tyresse Turner and freshman outfielder Rhylan Thomas will the table-setters, batting either 1-2 in the lineup or perhaps 9-1.

"One is a switch-hitter in Tyresse, and Rhylan's a lefthanded bat. Both of them are extremely fast and skilled with the bat. They can put the ball in play against 96, they can handle offspeed, they're tough outs and when they get on the bases they're a threat," Gill said. "They're scoring from first on a double with ease, they're stealing bases. So they'll be hopefully part of the table-setting."

Junior Jamal O'Guinn hit .281 with 5 home runs, 8 doubles, a triple and 29 RBIs last season and will be a fixture in the middle of the lineup, likely hitting third.

"He's preseason supposed to be one of our guys and he's doing it every day so we're happy about that," Gill said.

And junior shortstop Ben Ramirez (.273, 11 doubles and 1 triple last season) will also hit near the top of the lineup.

Gill also noted that sophomore outfielder Preston Hartsell and senior outfielder Brady Shockey (.295, 2 HRs, 14 RBI) have looked steady this spring.

"There's a lot of guys. I'm not just saying this -- that's why I'm interested to see how we do against opponents," Gill said." ... They all deserve a shot."

Who: USC vs. Western Michigan

Where: Dedeaux Field

Friday: 6 p.m.

Saturday: 2 p.m.

Sunday: 12 p.m.