TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State University baseball has been selected as the No. 2 seed in the San Luis Obispo Regional hosted by Cal Poly. ASU will face No. 3 seed Pepperdine at 1 p.m. PT on Friday, May 30.
The four-team, double-elimination regional will be played at Baggett Stadium on the Cal Poly campus May 30-June 2 (if necessary), with the winner moving on to the NCAA Super Regional. Top-seeded Cal Poly will take on No. 4 seed Sacramento State in the opposite pairing, with their opening game set for 6 p.m. PT on May 30. The San Luis Obispo Regional is matched up with the Fort Worth Regional, which includes No. 7 national seed Texas Christian, No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist, No. 3 seed Sam Houston State and No. 4 seed Siena.
Each game at the San Luis Obispo Regional will be televised by ESPNU/ESPN3 and every ASU game will be broadcast by the MidFirst Bank Sun Devil IMG Network on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 and through TuneIn radio on thesundevils.com.
The Sun Devils, winners of nine of their past 10 games, earned an at-large berth by virtue of finishing in third place in the Pac-12. They were picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches’ poll. ASU won 19 conference games for the first time since 2010 and the 12th time in school history, and its eight conference series wins this season are tied for the second most in a single season in program history.
ASU moved up to No. 18 in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll, while Cal Poly remained at No. 5 and Pepperdine entered the rankings at No. 25. The other three teams in the Devils’ regional earned automatic bids by virtue of winning their respective conferences. Cal Poly (45-10) won the Big West, Pepperdine (39-16) won the WCC tournament and Sacramento State (39-22) won the WAC.
ASU is making its 37th NCAA postseason appearance, sixth most in Division I college baseball history, and will be playing in its 31st NCAA Regional. The Devils have now made 14 consecutive postseason appearances when the team has been eligible (2012 NCAA postseason ban).
* - Postseason appearance and victories in 2007 later vacated due to NCAA sanctions. Numbers do not reflect vacations.
Head coach Tim Esmay will be making his fourth NCAA postseason appearance since taking over the helm at ASU in 2010. He has led the Devils to the postseason in all four years the team has been eligible. Coach Esmay took the 2010 team to the College World Series, the 2011 team to the Austin Super Regional and the 2013 team to the Fullerton Regional. He is 11-6 all-time in the postseason, including 5-2 in 2010, 4-2 in 2011 and 2-2 in 2013.
Coach Esmay joins former Sun Devil head coach Jim Brock as the only two managers in school history to lead the Sun Devils to the postseason in four of their first five seasons in Tempe. He owns a .685 winning percentage in his five seasons at the helm of the Devils, which is the 10th highest winning percentage in conference history and the highest winning percentage among the 11 active head coaches in the Pac-12.
ASU went a combined 8-11 this season against teams in the 2014 field (0-1 at Long Beach State, 0-3 at Oklahoma State, 2-1 vs. Oregon, 2-1 at Oregon State, 1-2 at Stanford, 0-1 at UC Irvine, 2-0 vs. UNLV and 1-2 vs. Washington).
The Sun Devils finished the regular season ranked first in the Pac-12 in batting average (.286), slugging percentage (.389), hits (546) and total bases (741), and were second in on-base percentage (.374) and runs scored (325). This is the second consecutive season ASU has led the conference in slugging percentage, hits and total bases.
A pair of juniors in shortstop Drew Stankiewicz and first baseman Nate Causey paced the team offensively. Stankiewicz batted .337 with 26 RBI and 33 runs scored, and Causey batted .333 with 30 RBI and 32 runs scored. Sophomore center fielder Johnny Sewald produced a team-high 63 runs and sophomore designated hitter RJ Ybarra drove in a team-high 45 runs.
Sophomore left-handed starting pitcher Brett Lilek led the team with 2.59 ERA and a team-high 79 strikeouts, and fellow left-hander Ryan Kellogg won a team-best eight games in a team-high 96 innings pitched. Sophomore right-hander Ryan Burr led the team with 12 saves and a .151 opposing batting average, and sophomore right-hander Jordan Aboites made a team-high 28 appearances out of the bullpen.
ASU is 3-1 all-time against Cal Poly SLO, including a 12-9 victory in their last meeting in 2010 at the Coca-Cola Classic in Surprise, Ariz. The Devils also have a 5-0 win in 1969 and a two-game split in 1985 (0-8, 18-11).
ASU is 10-5 all-time against Pepperdine, including 3-1 in the postseason. They played seven games against the Waves between 1959-61 (4-3), as well as once in 1977 and a three-game series in 1984. The Devils defeated Pepperdine 4-2 in a Tempe Regional in 1987, as well as two games in a Tempe Regional in 1988 (11-4, 10-5) before losing the opening game of the Fullerton Regional in 2004, 5-15.
ASU has never faced Sacramento State.
The 68th Men’s College World Series starts Saturday, June 14, at the TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
Postseason Success
• 37 NCAA postseason appearances, sixth most in Division I college baseball history
• 31 NCAA Regional appearances and 19 Regional titles
• 166 NCAA tournament wins, fourth most in Division I college baseball history
• 22 CWS appearances, tied for the third most in Division I college baseball history
• 10 CWS final appearances, which is third most in Division I college baseball history
• 61 CWS wins, third most in Division I college baseball history
• Five National Championships, fourth most in Division I college baseball history behind USC (12), and LSU (6) and Texas (6)
• 14 consecutive postseason appearances when team has been eligible (2012 NCAA postseason ban)
* - Postseason appearance and victories in 2007 later vacated due to NCAA sanctions. Numbers do not reflect vacations.
SAN LUIS OBISPO REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, May 30, 2014
Game 1: 1 p.m. PT - Pepperdine (39-16) vs. Arizona State (33-22) - On ESPN3
Game 2: 6 p.m. PT – Sacramento State (39-22) at Cal Poly (45-10) – On ESPN3
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Game 3: 1 p.m. PT - Losers of Game 1 and Game 2
Game 4: 6 p.m. PT - Winners of Game 1 and Game 2
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Game 5: 1 p.m. PT - Winner of Game 3 and Loser of Game 4
Game 6: 6 p.m. PT - Winners of Game 4 and Game 5
Monday, June 2, 2014
*Game 7: 6 p.m. PT - *If necessary
All games on ESPNU/ESPN3
Cal Poly Ticket Information
Price for each all-session general admission ticket for adults is $60, good for each of the six or seven games in the four-team double-elimination regional. The price for youth 2-13 years of age as well as seniors 60 and over is $40.
All-session general admission tickets are available for purchase online at www.gopoly.com, by telephone at (805) 756-4TIX or (866) GoStangs and at the Cal Poly Athletics Ticket Office adjacent to the Recreation Center on campus. There will be extended hours beginning Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets on Friday, May 30, will only be available at the Baggett Stadium Ticket Office.
Individual game tickets, if available, will go on sale Thursday, May 29, at 9 a.m. Prices are $20 for reserved seats, $15 for general admission (adults) and $13 for general admission (youth 2-13, seniors 60 and over and Cal Poly students).
For more information, contact the Cal Poly Athletics Ticket Office at (805) 756-4TIX or (866) GoStangs.
Road to Omaha | NCAA.com
Regionals: May 30-June 2 in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Four-teams, double elimination (ESPN family of networks)
Super Regionals (best-of-three series): June 6-9 on eight campus sites. Two teams, best-of-three format (ESPN family of networks)
CWS: Omaha, Neb., June 14-25 (ESPN family of networks)