May 31, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. -
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Leading Off:
The Arizona State Sun Devils will make their 30th NCAA Tournament appearance this
weekend when they head to Houston, Texas in the Houston Regional hosted by Rice. ASU
is the #2 seed in the regional and will take on the third seeded Baylor Bears in the opening
game of the Tournament. This is the seventh consecutive tournament bid for the Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils at the Houston Regional:
ASU will see some familiar foes in the Houston Regional at Rice. The Devils will open with
Baylor on Friday night, a team they faced in February in Waco. The Devils took two of three
at Baylor Ballpark. They also faced Rice in March at the Whataburger College Classic in
Corpus Christi. Arizona State beat the #1 ranked Owls 6-5 in 10 innings. The Sun Devils
have never faced Prairie View.
RB-Ike! RB-Ike!:
Ike Davis closed out his first regular season in style, drawing a bases loaded, game-winning
walk to sweep Cal on Sunday. That RBI gave Davis 65 on the season, a new Arizona State
freshman record. It also gave Davis the most RBI in the Pac-10 during the regular season,
one more than Chris Minaker of Stanford. Ike's 77 hits tied him with Colin Curtis for the
team lead and are the fourth most hits by a freshman in school history. Dustin Pedroia had
82 during his debut season in 2002. The nine home runs by Davis ties Bob Horner for third
most by a freshman, two short of Barry Bonds. Davis was named the Pac-10 Freshman of
the Year for his efforts.
Rankings:
The Sun Devils are ranked #16 by Baseball America in their final regular season poll. They
are ranked #17 by Collegiate Baseball and #18 by the NCBWA. The USA Today Coaches
Poll has them at #14. ASU rose to as high as #10 in all four polls at some point this season.
Cal Wrap-Up:
The Sun Devils closed out the 2006 regular season on the right foot, sweeping the
California Golden Bears at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark...Josh
Satow got the start on the hill Friday night, going five innings to pick up the win.
Satow allowed only one run on four hits before giving way to Brady Martinez.
Martinez threw the final four innings, striking out six to earn the save in the 13-5
ASU victory. Colin Curtis went 3-5, knocking in four runs to lead the Sun Devil
offense. Eric Sogard also had three RBI for ASU...Tony Barnette was once again
impressive, fanning ten in seven innings on Saturday night as the Devils picked up
a 9-3 win. Mike Jones went 2-3 and had the game-winning RBI in his first plate
appearances of the season...Sunday saw ASU jump to an early 3-0 lead, only to allow
six Cal runs in the third innings to find themselves in a 6-3 hole. The pitching staff
would not allow a run the rest of the way, giving the offense time to chip away at
the lead. Eric Sogard evened things up in the ninth with his two-run double, and
ASU walked away with the win when Ike Davis walked with the bases loaded in
the eleventh inning. Brett Bordes picked up his team-leading seventh victory of the
season as the Devils earned their first Pac-10 series sweep of the season.
Ike Davis, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year:
Ike Davis was named Freshman of the Year by the Pacific-10 Conference, becoming
the first Sun Devil to earn the award. Davis is batting .339 with nine home runs and a
conference leading 65 RBI. The 65 runs batted in are a new ASU freshman record.
First Team All-Pac-10:
Four Sun Devils garnered All-Pac-10 honors, led by Freshman of the Year Ike Davis.
Davis was joined by Colin Curtis, Preston Paramore and Eric Sogard on the first
team. Daryl Arreola, Tony Barnette, Brett Bordes and Brett Wallace all earned
Honorable Mentions. Curtis and Bordes both earned Honorable Mentions in 2005, a
year that saw two Sun Devils earn First Team honors.
30 Win Mark:
2006 is the 44th straight season Arizona State has surpassed the 30-win total, and 46th
time in school history. Head Coach Pat Murphy has won over 30 games every season
since he began coaching Division I baseball at Notre Dame in 1988. ASU finished
the regular season with 36 victories. Last year they ended regular season play with 34
wins.
Pac-10 All-Academic Team Honors:
Two Sun Devils earned Academic All-Pac-10 honors in 2006. Junior Joe Persichina
and sophomore Willy Fox were both named to the All-Pac-10 All-Academic Second
Team. This is the second straight selection for Persichina, who was an Honorable
Mention a season ago. In order to qualify for the honor, a student-athlete must be a
significant contributor to the team and have a minimum 3.0 GPA. True freshmen and
transfer students are not eligible.
Old Reliable:
No one in the history of Arizona State University baseball has more career pitching
appearances than senior lefty Brett Bordes. Bordes has pitched in 29 games this
season, giving him 107 career appearances. Earlier this year Bordes broke the ASU
record held by Kendall Carter, who appeared in 102 games from 1981 to 1984. Of
the 107 games Bordes has pitched in, 95 of them have come in a relief role, including
all 29 this year. Bordes leads the team with his 7-1 record and is second with four
saves.