Anyone who plays for USC baseball knows the history and tradition attached to the program. USC has the most successful college baseball program of all time. Putting on the USC baseball uniform is an encounter with excellence, success, and a rich legacy.
Imagine being a USC baseball star and then getting the chance to put on the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Imagine making one’s MLB debut in Dodger Stadium. Imagine stepping onto a mound in a live MLB regular season game for the first time. Imagine taking the rubber and pitching to Fernando Tatis, Juan Soto, and Manny Machado as the first three hitters one sees in a big-league regular season game.
That’s what USC’s Kyle Hurt did on Tuesday. Hurt, a former Trojan, made his MLB debut with the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium. He blew right through Tatis, Soto, and Machado in the top of the eighth inning. He returned to throw a scoreless ninth inning, giving him two perfect innings in his first MLB regular season game. The Dodgers hammered the Padres, 11-2.
Hurt struck out the side in the ninth inning. He threw 24 pitches in his two perfect innings. Of those 24 pitches, 19 were strikes. Hurt could not have done any better. A dream night delivered a dream performance for Kyle Hurt.
Check out our Pac-12 football predictions roundtable for the 2023 season.