Not even Mother Nature could derail Mason Edwards and the USC baseball team.
The Trojans and their ace withstood a lengthy rain delay to defeat Michigan State, 7-0, and advance in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday in Omaha, Nebraska.
Fourth-seeded USC (43-14) will face top-seeded UCLA (49-6), which rallied to beat fifth-seeded Purdue, 4-3, on Friday night, in a Saturday semifinal scheduled for noon PT.
Edwards dominated the 12th-seeded Spartans (24-32) for four innings before a downpour caused the game to be postponed for more than an hour and a half.
The Trojans opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with Kevin Takeuchi driving in Augie Lopez, who had drawn a two-out walk, with a double to left-center. Isaac Cadena followed with a triple to left-center for a 2-0 lead.
USC added two more runs in the third inning with a bases-loaded, one-out single to left by Jack Besseer.
Edwards, meanwhile, hadn’t let a single Spartan advance past second base. The Big Ten Pitcher of the Year came into the game with an 8-0 record. In 84⅓ innings pitched, Edwards posted conference bests of 154 strikeouts and a 1.49 ERA.
The left-hander finished with six strikeouts – mowing down the Michigan State side in the second – with two hits and two walks.
Undaunted USC emerged from the delay with a three-run fifth inning to boost its lead on a two-run double by Abbrie Covarrubias and an RBI triple from Dean Carpentier.
Andrew Johnson and Chase Herrell took over for Edwards with two scoreless innings apiece. Ben Cuhsnie threw a perfect ninth for USC’s NCAA-best 10th shutout of the season.
