After a weekend sweep of Purdue, USC baseball looked to continue its momentum on Tuesday night when the Trojans traveled down to Orange County for a nonconference matchup with UC Irvine. With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, every game will be crucial for the Trojans going forward as they look to push for a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.

Unfortunately, USC’s offense seemingly decided to stay back in Los Angeles. The Trojans managed just one run on five hits as they fell 4-1 to a UC Irvine team that entered the game just 18-23 on the year.

The loss continued a rather troubling trend of USC struggling on the road. While the Trojans are a remarkable 25-1 at Dedeaux Field this season, they are just 9-11 in away games, a startling contrast.

The good news for USC is that seven of its final ten regular season games are at home. However, the Trojans’ biggest remaining series is on the road at Oregon, and they will need to travel to Omaha for the Big Ten Tournament.

For the NCAA Tournament, the top 16 national seeds get to host regional weekend games. Given how much better the Trojans have been at home than on the road this season, earning one of those seeds could be crucial if they want to potentially make a tournament run.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC baseball’s road struggles continue as Trojans fall at UC Irvine