The snow was coming down harder by the inning at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park. The handful of fans who had braved the weather hunkered down, prepared to endure extra innings in the blistering cold. Until, with two outs and a full count, Logan de Groot shot a single through the infield, scoring Jake Yang to bury the No. 25 USC Trojans 2-1 and send the Wildcats into a frenzy.
For the Wildcats, it’s their first home win and first in-conference win of the 2026 season.
The weekend matchup got off to an
ugly start for the ‘Cats, who dropped the first game of the series 15-1. With downpours forecasted for Sunday, the Wildcats and Trojans played the last two games of the series as a Saturday double header, with the first pitch of the series finale coming less than an hour after the last out of game two.
Coming off of a 2-0 loss in the second game, Northwestern looked to avoid the sweep with Matt Kouser getting the start. Kouser worked a scoreless first inning, picking off a runner at second, and getting some help from a diving grab from de Groot.
After providing the Wildcats’ lone run of the series on a solo homer the day before, Jack Lausch led off the Northwestern half of the first with a jam shot double that fell perfectly on the third base line in shallow left. Three batters later, Nick Barron sliced a two-out double down the line, plating Lausch for the game’s first run.
Although Kouser went 4.1 innings without surrendering a run, and gave up only one hit, the Northwestern starter was shaky. He walked seven batters and escaped multiple jams by the skin of his teeth.
On the other side, Trojans’ pitcher Andrew Johnson tossed a gem, but exited the game with his team down 1-0. Johnson went a career high 7.1 innings, striking out nine. After the first inning, he didn’t give up a single hit.
With the Northwestern bullpen needing to cover more than half of the game, Coach Greenspan went to first year Justin Fryer for an out, and then turned to the graduate student, and former Vanderbilt Commodore, Sam Hliboki. Hliboki, who led the ‘Cats last year in innings pitched, WHIP, strikeouts and batting average against, finished the last 4.1 innings, giving up only two hits while punching out four and walking none.
The score sat at 1-0 until the 8th inning. USC left fielder Andrew Lamb led off the eighth by lining a triple to dead center that just grazed off of the sliding Lausch’s glove. However, the Wildcats bench drowned out Lamb’s celebration with shouts to challenge whether Lamb’s foot came off the bag. After a moment, Coach Greenspan called for a video review, but, much to the disbelief of the Northwestern dugout, the call stood. The next hitter, Adrian Lopez, drove a fly ball to right field on an 0-2 count, easily scoring Lamb, and knotting the game at one apiece.
In the Wildcat half of the eighth, Duke transfer Jay Slater led off the inning with a 13 pitch at bat that culminated in a lineout to center after fouling off nine pitches. His battle with Johnson finally forced the Trojans to replace their starter after 105 pitches. A trio of walks for the ‘Cats loaded the bases with two outs for Jackson Freeman, the Northwestern leader in hits and batting average. Unable to capitalize, Freeman flew out to center.
Hliboki kept the game tied in the top of the ninth, working around a single by inducing three flyouts. Barron led off the bottom of the ninth for the Wildcats with the Trojans defense shifting him to the right side. In response, the Northwestern first baseman slapped a single into left center, right through the vacant shortstop position. First year Jake Yang replaced Barron as a pinch runner to give the ‘Cats some speed on the basepaths. Noah Ruiz followed the single up with a sacrifice bunt to move Yang into scoring position with no outs. Charlie Caruso walked on a full count, and Slater’s groundout moved Yang and Caruso up to second and third. With two outs and the winning run 90 feet away, de Groot dug in.
In his first season as a Wildcat after spending his freshman season at UCLA, de Groot entered the game having played in eight of Northwestern’s 16 games, and starting only six. The left fielder was 0-1 on the day with a pair of walks and a strikeout, and faced Adam Troy, a redshirt junior who had struck out 19 batters in 12.1 innings. On a full count, de Groot grounded Troy’s offspeed pitch through the left side of the infield, walking off the Trojans, and handing them their first loss of the season.
USC, who had their first week ranked in the top 25 by D1Baseball, has their streak of being undefeated come to an end after entering the game 19-0. It’s their best start to a season in program history. Despite the loss, the Trojans move up to No. 13 in the NCAA Rankings.
Northwestern will look for another upset win against a ranked Big Ten opponent as they ship out to Eugene, Ore. this weekend to face the newly ranked No. 21 Ducks.
