The USC Trojans are one of one when it comes to college baseball excellence and achievement. The LSU Tigers have seven College World Series titles, but that pales in comparison to USC’s 12, by far the most of any team in college baseball history. USC won its first College World Series under Sam Barry, but it developed its College World Series empire under Rod Dedeaux, who ruled college baseball in the 1960s and especially the 1970s. With the Kansas City Chiefs aiming for a Super Bowl three-peat in one week, it is worth noting that USC baseball is the only program to three-peat as College World Series champion.
USC three-peated three times, all within its remarkable five-year run of consecutive championships from 1970 through 1974. The first — and therefore most historic — three-peat for USC baseball was clinched in the 1972 College World Series, which featured a semifinal win over Texas and then two wins over Arizona State:
“USC did beat Texas 4-3 in 10 innings — its second extra-inning victory in Omaha that year — and earned a date with Arizona State in the final. USC won the stay-alive game, 3-1, to create a winner-take-all rematch. USC and ASU entered that championship game having lost their only 1972 CWS games to the other team.
“In the title game, USC’s 19-year-old pitcher, Russ McQueen, pitched five innings of one-hit ball to close down a 1-0 win. McQueen pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in his five innings. USC made one run — scored by Tim Steele on an Arizona State wild pitch — stand up.”
USC baseball — the first, the only, the best. The Trojans remain the only College World Series three-peat champs. It’s a badge of honor for the Men of Troy on the diamond.
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