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The season has come and past from the friendly confines of Dedeaux Field, and the boys in Cardinal and Gold have already hung up the cleats for the final time.

While the younger players gear up for more collegiate baseball, the next class of freshmen begin summer school classes, as the coaching staff works to reel in the following recruiting class by attracting them towards the tradition and excellence of USC.

For some players however, the life of college baseball is over. Greg Zebrack, Adam Landecker, Matt Munson and Nick Berhel are among the Trojans who have officially played their last games at the University Southern California.

These players arrived back from Tucson, following their three-game series against the Arizona Wildcats, with the passion that fueled their curiosity towards loving the game. The moments all came together May 19th, when USC and UCLA clashed in the Crosstown Showdown on Senior Day.

The four seniors received special praise from the crowd, and following the 5-2 loss to UCLA, we spoke with some of the honored men to address their careers, and the future of the program.

“You make the play, you make the pitch, and you just grow up a little faster,” Greg Zebrack commented about the final moments of his playing career. That being said, “I did not feel to much nostalgia in the moment,” he said.

For Zebrack, finishing the season on the road is nothing new for the fifth-year senior. Zebrack played at Penn for three seasons and was honored at Senior Day for the Quakers last year, before traveling to Columbia for a two-game series to finish his undergraduate career.

Now in his final year, the return for Zebrack is rather chilling.

“I was trying to learn, looking at upperclassmen,” Zebrack mentions about his freshmen campaign. All the way back in 2009, Zebrack participated in 21 games for the Trojans, finishing the season with a .100 batting average.

Then, after spending three years at Penn, earning All-Ivy League honors in 2011-2012, Zebrack returned to USC with a different mindset. “Now I have to teach other guys,” he said.

Things were not all fun and games for Zebrack to start off his honeymoon season in Southern California. Luckily for him, a brief meeting with Trojans third base coach Gabe Alvarez helped boost an impressive second-half.

“I had to change something; I was scuffling and things were not working,” Zebrack said about his .270 batting average heading into Pac-12 play. After working with Alvarez and finding some kinks in his swing, Zebrack improved.

“I got kinda hot, and a little lucky too,” he said with a laugh.

Three head coaching changes later, and the stench of eight-straight losing seasons over their heads, Zebrack has noticed major changes with the program. “It’s totally different,” he said. “Back then, [I] was totally selfish, [thinking] more about where am I going to be drafted, but now it’s not [like that here].”

The Northridge-native loves his memories at USC and believes the future is rather bright for the program, despite the hard times.

“I can tell from last couple of years, games got out of hand,” said Zebrack. But he maintained that this season, that changed. “There is none of that here [now].”

The Trojans center fielder hit .345 on the season, finishing second on the team in batting average, hits and homeruns. As a veteran leader on the largely young Trojan squads, Zebrack exhibited patience early, but was rewarded down the stretch. “Those freshmen know how to win, and it’s sometimes frustrating, because our freshmen play very inconsistently.”

The Seniors on this ball club were on the same page, when it all began early in the year. “At the beginning of the year, it was tough,” senior second-baseman Adam Landecker said about working with the 16 true freshmen on the ball club.

Landecker has been the heart and soul of the program, starting at least 39 games in all four seasons. His senior season however, may have been his best one. He finished the year hitting a team-high .351 at the plate, including finishing third-best with 18 doubles on the year and an impressive 71 hits.

The buds have seen the Trojans struggle and succeed through thick and thin. “We’ve really turned the corner, going towards that buy in,” Zebrack said.

“It’s more of a team-team atmosphere,” Landecker said, before emphatically mentioning that, “this team wanted to win every game.”

The other seniors, Matt Munson and Nick Berhel, sparingly came out the bullpen for USC this season but were key parts of the Trojans program.

After redshirting his freshmen year back in 2010 and missing the entire 2011 campaign due to injury, Nick Berhel finished his career with 12 appearances out of the bullpen. The De La Salle High School standout finished his career with an 8.10 ERA, as a well-respected teammate in the locker room.

Matt Munson pitched for three seasons at USC, after transferring from Saddleback College. The Irvine-native was the cousin of Eric Munson, the All-American catcher at USC who played in the big leagues. Matt appeared 16 times out of the pen this season posting a 2-0 record with a 9.82 ERA, which unfortunately ballooned after struggling against Arizona last weekend.

What will the Trojans miss from their Seniors?

“Well, obviously some production,” manager Dan Hubbs said jokingly. “You have two guys hitting over .300, and two bullpen arms which are always valuable. Other guys will have to improve next season.

With that in mind, the Seniors clean out their lockers officially ending their playing careers at USC.

“Some of our youth and immaturity showed up sometimes but we are proud of them,” said USC head coach Dan Hubbs following the loss. ”I would rather feel this, as opposed to how last season ended.”

The Trojans (19-33, 10-17) had their best chance to salvage the final game of the series in the 8th inning when freshmen shortstop Blake Lacey worked out a full-count hit by pitch to load the bases with two outs, being the tying run at first base.

UCLA head coach John Savage went to his guns in the bullpen, bringing in sophomore sensation David Berg who had not allowed a run in 33.1 consecutive innings, coming into Sunday’s contest and now owns a 0.59 ERA.

“There is not a lot of panic with this team,” Dan Hubbs said. “They are comfortable being in the difficult spots, and I don’t think anyone is more comfortable than David Berg, ‘the wizard’ in that spot.”

Berg faced junior Dante Flores who put a shot in the hole on the left side of the infield but UCLA shortstop Pat Valaika made a sensational play, snagging the ball on a backhanded stab and then had the presence of mind to throw a rocket over to third, ending the Trojans’ rally.

“Their defense is outstanding,” Senior Greg Zebrack said. ”They just played better than us, and we gave them a little to much all weekend long.”

The Bruins closer followed up that stunning display, by notching his 16th save of the season and third of the series, by retiring junior James Roberts to end the game. Berg was fantastic this weekend, throwing 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, now up to 34.2 innings consecutive scoreless innings, and only allowed two hits while striking out two Trojans with his patented side-arm delivery.

The Trojans scored first thanks to an RBI sac fly from senior Greg Zebrack, who was one of four players honored as part of Senior Day over at Dedeaux Field.

This was the norm over the weekend, as the Trojans blew leads in all three contests, to the pesky Bruins, who have relied on pitching and defense all season long to propel their 37-win campaign.

“When you play really good teams, it comes down to maybe making the play, making the pitch,” said Hubbs. “Whatever it takes, [UCLA] made the big play all weekend long.”

The Bruins began the comeback against freshmen starter Kyle Twomey, thanks to sloppy control from the Trojans starter. Twomey blew through the first two innings without any trouble, until the Bruins started to exhibit more patience at the plate the second time around the order.

UCLA struck for two runs in the third thanks to two hit batsmen and walks surrendered by the Trojans lefty in the same inning, granting third basemen Kevin Kramer to deliver, driving in a two-rbi single giving him a team-high 38 on the season, propelling the Bruins five-run outburst.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Trojans responded scoring their second and final run of the game on an RBI fielders choice off the bat of James Roberts, plating Timmy Robinson. The Trojans put runners in scoring position the next four innings, out hitting UCLA 12-8 in the contest, but failed to score any more runs.

Freshmen reliever Brent Wheatley kept the Trojans in the ball game, by throwing three innings of scoreless relief, after surrendering the winning run in Friday night’s 2-1 loss. Wheatley registered a perfect outing, brining the crowd of 1106 to their feet awaiting another cardiac comeback by the Trojans.

The difference in the contest rested in timely hitting and tremendous defense from the Bruins, who spot the Pac-12′s best fielding percentage (.979) and once again flexed their muscle as the infield tandem Pat Valaika and Kevin Kramer made sensational plays all weekend long.

They were equally impressive at the dish, combining to drive in four of the five Bruin runs on Sunday, catching the Trojans attention following their 10th win in their last 12 games.

“I don’t think their pitching beat us, I don’t think their hitting beat us, Kramer and Valiaka won the series,” was the difference according to Hubbs. “Early in the game Kramer made a diving catch, and Valiaka played unbelievable baseball.”

The Trojans honored their four seniors: Adam Landecker, Matt Munson, Greg Zebrack and Nick Berhel on Senior Day, in a fitting ceremony before the contest. The seniors came out swinging early and often as Landecker continued his outstanding season, who is now hitting over .360, following his 4-5 performance on Sunday. The other starting senior Greg Zebrack, went 1-3 with an RBI in his second season at USC, after returning to Troy following three seasons at Penn as an All-Ivy League Outfielder.

“It’s kind of weird. It’s weird because we still have games left,” Zebrack said. “The last at-bat was weird, because it was sad to have my last at-bat at Dedeaux. But you move on, it’s baseball.”

Following the three-game sweep, decided by a total of five runs, the Trojans will hit the road to UC Irvine on Tuesday and then a three-game series from Tuscon, to battle the defending NCAA National Champions  in the final series of the season.

Sunday was full of epic highs and staggering lows in the Trojans pursuit of a series victory over the Utes, the Trojans second-straight series victory on the road. Junior Bobby Wheatley took the hill for the Trojans, leaving the game in the second inning after retiring the Utes in order.

Freshmen Kyle Twomey came out the bullpen for the second-straight appearance, allowing two runs on seven hits this week.

Twomey has now thrown four innings of relief this week, allowing three runs in his newly designated role, as he works to find more control on the bump, following consecutive wild starts on the bump.

The Trojans offense came alive in the middle innings, scoring eight runs from the third to fifth inning led by RBI hits from Blake Lacey, Kevin Swick, Timmy Robinson and Garret Stubbs. USC capitalized with some much-needed scoring, jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the rubber match of the series.

From that point forward, things started to unfold for the Trojans. It all began in the bottom of the sixth when the Utes battled around hard-throwing Nigel Nootbaar for five runs before even recording an out. That was made possible by two consecutive errors from freshmen Blake Lacey.

The Utes put together four hits in the inning, and threatened to take the lead with two runners on base with one out, in what could have been an even more horrendous inning for USC. Freshman Kyle Davis entered the ball game after watching Nootbaar and Brent Wheatley struggle to get any defensive support, therefore the freshman took matters into his own hands striking out the next two batters to end the tumultuous frame.

Davis continued to pitch well all the way to the ninth inning, when the Utes completed the eight-run comeback, as Braden Anderson blooped a game tying two-out single to center. Head Coach Dan Hubbs remained confident in his freshman bringing him in for the final inning of play.

This was made possible because the Trojans scored five runs in the 10th, led by a two-rbi double from Timmy Robinson who finished the day 3-6 with 5 RBI, while pushing his hit streak to 13 games. The Trojans knocked together 22 hits in the contest, and secured the victory as Kyle Davis sealed the deal in the ninth for the 15-10 thrilling victory.

The Trojans finished the game 8-for-18 with RISP, allowing their .282 fifth-ranked batting average in conference play to cash a season-high 15 runs, while also eclipsing their previous high nine-run outburst against Cal State Northridge on February 24th.

The back-and-forth series began with a sluggish performance as the Trojans could barely scap together six hits in a crushing 10-0 loss on Friday, the second-largest loss of the year. The bright spot from the offensive side rested in the hands of Timmy Robinson who continued his double-digit game hitting streak.

Freshman starter Sean Silva followed a dominant six innings of shutout ball against Arizona State by falling back to humanity, allowing three runs –none earned– in 3.1 innings of work.

Errors were the biggest negative storyline from the weekend, committing seven defensive blunders leading to nine unearned runs.

The Trojans could not find much production in the order outside the top-three as James Roberts, Garrett Stubbs and Bobby Stahel combined for five of the six hits but were all left stranded. Freshmen outfielder and former high school pitching star Turner Clouse came out the bullpen for the first time all season, allowing three runs in 1.1 innings pitched, in a rather intriguing move from head coach Dan Hubbs.

Before the game even started on Saturday, the Trojans got some tremendously great news when sophomore Dante Flores was cleared to play for the first time since February 26th. Flores made an immediate impact in the order, going 1-4 for 2 RBI out of the three hole playing first base.

The Trojans responded alongside the return of their starting first baseman, scoring seven runs in the games first four innings, taking that momentum towards a 7-4 victory. USC allowed three runs in the final frame, and were able to get out a jam with the tying run at the dish in the ninth.

While the offense came alive, sophomore starter Wyatt Strahan will certainly earn player of the weekend for his superb performance. Strahan has pitched at least six innings in all but two starts this season and continued that mark on Saturday powering through eight innings of work, allowing one run while striking out six Utes in the dominating victory.

The Trojans follow up this series victory with a trip to Corvallis to square with the top-ranked team in the Pac-12 Conference in Oregon State (30-8, 11-4) beginning on Friday.