Usc Baseball

Baseball returns to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, but it will be the battle of Los Angeles in the collegiate ranks, with UCLA taking on USC in a 6:30 p.m. nonconference game as part of the Dodgertown Classic. Tickets are $12 and parking is free. Both teams are 12-3. UC Irvine plays Pepperdine in a 2 p.m. game. One ticket permits admission to both games. UCLA has won 10 consecutive games and is ranked No. 9 by Baseball America. ALSO: Peyton Manning nears decision on next team Peyton Manning is proof that nothing lasts forever Peyton Manning is throwing great, former teammate says

USC fired baseball coach Frank Cruz for knowingly violating NCAA rules that limit the number of hours athletes can spend in activities directed or supervised by the coaching staff, Athletic Director Pat Haden said. Dan Hubbs, in his second season as the Trojans' associate head coach and pitching coach, was named head coach for a team that opens its season Friday against Cal State Fullerton. USC, which is on NCAA probation for violations related to former football player Reggie Bush and former basketball player O.J. Mayo, also announced that it had self-imposed a reduction in the number of baseball practice hours for this season and next year.

Louis Zamperini, the 95-year old former Olympic runner, World War II veteran and subject of the 2011 bestseller “Unbroken,” is scheduled to throw out the first pitch Sunday when USC's baseball team plays host to Washington on Salute to the Brave Military Appreciation Day at Dedeaux Field. The event is the brainchild of Ryan Morris, a former USC walk-on baseball player who started a company called Salute the Brave that manufactures and sells baseball caps and garments celebrating the military.

It is early Monday morning, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But Don Buford is not standing on a stage and talking about having a dream. That's not his style. Besides, he has already lived one himself, the kind Dr. King preached about. Buford has a new job, which is to enhance dreams for others. Few could be better suited. The former major league baseball star will turn 76 on Feb. 2. He lives in Sherman Oaks and was happily retired to a life of four rounds of golf a week. The family was raised, he had done his work, his stature as a major league player for the White Sox and the Orioles over 10 seasons was established.

USC will hold its annual Trojan Alumni Baseball Jamboree Sunday at noon at Dedeaux Field. All former USC baseball players are invited, and the Trojans' 1961 national championship team, which included Ron Stillwell, Tom Satriano, Marcel Lachemann, Wally Wolf and Dan Ardell, will be honored.

USC scored five runs in the third inning and added seven more in the fourth to give Mike Gillespie a win in his first game as the USC baseball coach with a 12-3 victory over UC Riverside Friday at USC. UC Riverside (0-1) took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the third, but the Trojans strung together a walk and six hits for a 5-1 lead. USC came back in the next inning with five hits, including two doubles and a triple, and three walks to produce seven more runs.

USC baseball Coach Mike Gillespie again must cross his fingers and hope the top high school players who have committed to the Trojans will choose college over the pros. His latest commitment is power-hitting first baseman Lucas Duda of Riverside Arlington. He joins top pro prospect Trevor Plouffe, a pitcher from Encino Crespi, and infielders Matt Cusick and Doug Reinhardt of Santa Margarita, all of whom plan to sign with USC in November.

A fight between baseball players from Arizona State and USC in which two players were injured and Sun Devil pitching coach Bob Welch tangled with USC Coach Mike Gillespie is being investigated by the Pacific 10 Conference. Jim Muldoon, associate commissioner of the conference, confirmed Tuesday that a probe of the Sunday incident at USC's Dedeaux Field was ongoing. Welch's involvement, said Arizona State Coach Pat Murphy, came when he heard the words, "Have a drink. You're a drunk."

Fountain Valley's Brian Ponchak has committed to play baseball at USC, and plans to sign with the Trojans today, Baron Coach Ron La Ruffa said Tuesday. Ponchak, a pitcher and first baseman, visited Miami, Pepperdine and Stanford before choosing USC. He hit .320 last season and was an All-Sunset League selection. "He'll be a high draft choice this year," La Ruffa said. "He's a top-notch Division I player with outstanding power."

Classroom settings are not limited to rooms fitted with blackboards. Lessons can be taught in large halls, sterile laboratories or even outdoors. In the case of the USC baseball team this weekend, its classroom will be an island about 3,000 miles and a distinctly different philosophy away.

Louis Zamperini, the 95-year old former Olympic runner, World War II veteran and subject of the 2011 bestseller “Unbroken,” is scheduled to throw out the first pitch Sunday when USC's baseball team plays host to Washington on Salute to the Brave Military Appreciation Day at Dedeaux Field. The event is the brainchild of Ryan Morris, a former USC walk-on baseball player who started a company called Salute the Brave that manufactures and sells baseball caps and garments celebrating the military.

Baseball returns to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, but it will be the battle of Los Angeles in the collegiate ranks, with UCLA taking on USC in a 6:30 p.m. nonconference game as part of the Dodgertown Classic. Tickets are $12 and parking is free. Both teams are 12-3. UC Irvine plays Pepperdine in a 2 p.m. game. One ticket permits admission to both games. UCLA has won 10 consecutive games and is ranked No. 9 by Baseball America. ALSO: Peyton Manning nears decision on next team Peyton Manning is proof that nothing lasts forever Peyton Manning is throwing great, former teammate says

With Dodger Dogs going for half price, Nancy Bea Hefley playing the organ and the USC and UCLA bands playing their schools' fight songs, the baseball game Sunday at Dodger Stadium between USC and UCLA produced an entertaining atmosphere for the crowd of 11,680. It also gave a struggling USC team an opportunity to regain its bearings and create some excitement among its fans after a 2-0 victory over the Bruins thanks to an energetic performance from closer Chad Smith, who struck out Dean Espy with the bases loaded in the eighth and then ran off the field to the roar of the crowd.

Pat Haden, USC's athletic director for less than seven days, made his first major coaching change Monday, firing baseball coach Chad Kreuter. Frank Cruz, a volunteer assistant the last two seasons after 12 years as coach at Loyola Marymount, will serve as interim coach for the 2011 season. USC has won 12 College World Series titles, more than any other school. But the Trojans have not participated in the NCAA tournament since 2005. "On my first day on the job at USC last week, I said one of my goals was to return the USC baseball program to national prominence," Haden said in a statement released by the school.

It was two years ago this month that I sat with Rod Dedeaux in a conference room of his Commerce trucking company, the walls plastered with letters, plaques and photographs from princes, paupers and presidents, testimonials to the man and his legacy. He would soon celebrate his 90th birthday, and while his perpetual spirit and enthusiasm underscored a conviction that there was still much life to live, the montage of framed tributes represented the candles on an unparalleled career.

There is only one statue on campus at USC -- that of Tommy Trojan. After reading Ross Newhan's fabulous column (Feb. 14) on the life and times of Rod Dedeaux, the university should consider erecting a statue to this outstanding person who has contributed nearly 70 years of his long life to USC baseball. Cliff Dektar North Hollywood

Dr. Kendrick Walker, a former USC baseball player, was named athletic director at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo after serving three years as interim director.

There is only one statue on campus at USC -- that of Tommy Trojan. After reading Ross Newhan's fabulous column (Feb. 14) on the life and times of Rod Dedeaux, the university should consider erecting a statue to this outstanding person who has contributed nearly 70 years of his long life to USC baseball. Cliff Dektar North Hollywood

Classroom settings are not limited to rooms fitted with blackboards. Lessons can be taught in large halls, sterile laboratories or even outdoors. In the case of the USC baseball team this weekend, its classroom will be an island about 3,000 miles and a distinctly different philosophy away.

USC baseball Coach Mike Gillespie again must cross his fingers and hope the top high school players who have committed to the Trojans will choose college over the pros. His latest commitment is power-hitting first baseman Lucas Duda of Riverside Arlington. He joins top pro prospect Trevor Plouffe, a pitcher from Encino Crespi, and infielders Matt Cusick and Doug Reinhardt of Santa Margarita, all of whom plan to sign with USC in November.