The USC Trojans are moving into the Big Ten Conference this year. Next season, USC baseball will compete in the Big Ten. It’s worth noting that the most incredible game in USC baseball history was against a Big Ten foe. The 1973 College World Series game between USC and Minnesota is the most remarkable individual baseball game in USC history.
You have to start with this basic fact: Minnesota pitcher Dave Winfield — now a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame — dominated USC through eight innings, giving up just one hit and striking out 15. USC didn’t merely fail to score; it didn’t come close to scoring. Minnesota led 7-0 in the ninth inning. Game over, right?
We recalled what happened next:
Minnesota first baseman Chris Brown couldn’t handle the ground ball. It got past him and went into the right field corner. The three-base error sent panic through the Minnesota dugout and confidence into the USC camp.
Winfield was pulled — and moved to left field — with the Gophers still leading, but the score was 7-4. USC kept slashing singles off Minnesota relievers in that inning. The eighth such single in the inning drove in the winning run with two outs.
USC had scored eight runs in the ninth. Winfield was asked by Minnesota’s assistant coaches — head coach Dick Siebert had been ejected earlier in the inning arguing the missed call referred to above — if he could return, but he had thrown over 140 pitches. His arm was spent.
There has never been a USC baseball game like this in the past 51 years — not against a player as good as Dave Winfield, not in the College World Series, not in a game so freighted with high stakes. This is the Mona Lisa of all USC baseball comebacks. It’s the masterpiece which will never be replicated. It has a Big Ten flavor, which only adds to the history as USC moves into its new conference.
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