Jackie Robinson Stadium had ears ringing like it was the inside of the Victory Bell on Friday evening.

But as sophomore right-hander Easton Hawk secured No. 1 UCLA baseball’s (27-2, 13-0 Big Ten) series-opening, 12-4 win over No. 12 USC (27-4, 10-3), the venue sounded more like a cheap pair of earbuds – sound coming out of one side, but only silence out the other.

“We’re a very competitive team,” said coach John Savage. “They like challenges. Clearly, this was a really big challenge. Part of Big Ten play, USC has played as well as any team in the country in the first half. … It was two really good teams playing the first game of the series.”

It was pandemonium.

Junior right-hander Logan Reddemann celebrated his inning-ending punchout with a scream and fist pump as he walked off the mound in the first.

An inning later, designated hitter Augie Lopez hammered a two-run homer off Reddemann, giving the Trojans a 2-1 lead. The visiting dugout erupted into a frenzy.

It was the only advantage USC held.

Though Reddemann allowed four runs – the most of his UCLA career – the Friday night starter still made it through six innings.

USC’s ace, left-hander Mason Edwards, also gave up four runs, but got through just 4.2 frames.

After allowing one run through his first six starts of the season, Edwards has allowed five across his last two, with both outings spanning less than five innings.

“Mason is clearly the best pitcher in college baseball in the first half of the season,” Savage said. “We did a good job of making them work.”

The southpaw wasn’t exactly picked up by his defense, though.

Junior first baseman Mulivai Levu scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first after reaching base following catcher Isaac Cadena’s errant throw to first on a dropped third strike.

Junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky’s two-out, infield single in the fourth was followed by a pair of bases-loaded walks, pushing UCLA ahead 4-2.

Meanwhile, the Bruins made up for an early-season mistake.

Then-No. 7 TCU ran a successful first and third double steal on Feb. 22, but UCLA stopped USC in its tracks Friday.

Junior catcher Cashel Dugger’s throw back to Reddemann, intended to look like a throw down to second, baited Cadena to venture far enough off third base for the pitcher to pick him off.

“You get lucky,” said junior third baseman Roman Martin, who had the inning-ending tag on Cadena and a game-tying solo shot in the second. “It’s a tough play to read. … It’s just another way to get an out.”

Savage brought in Hawk, the Bruins’ closer, to protect a 5-4 lead in the eighth for a five-out save – but when the right-hander took the mound in the ninth, his one-run cushion had grown to eight.

USC cycled through four pitchers to get through the bottom of the eighth. Southpaw Sax Matson failed to retire any of the four Bruins he faced.

While not a single Trojan recorded more than one hit, five Bruins had multi-hit games – and junior center fielder Will Gasparino and redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan both had three-hit nights.

It was Brennan’s first multi-hit performance in two weeks and his most RBIs in a single contest since March 21 – when he also plated three.

“I got some early work with coach Ward (assistant coach Bryant Ward),” Brennan said. “We’ve been working on some directional stuff and slowing the game down a little bit in the box. … That really showed tonight.”

While the Bruins’ offense soared, the Trojans’ defense crumbled.

USC finished with five errors – its most in a single game since February 2021.

The Trojans may need to fortify their defenses before combat Saturday.

Otherwise, they run the risk of getting their bell rung again.