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Sun Devil Baseball Welcomes Aggies for Three at Muni

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Sun Devil Baseball Welcomes Aggies for Three at MuniSun Devil Baseball Welcomes Aggies for Three at Muni

PHOENIX -- Sun Devil Baseball returns home looking to shake off a five-game skid with a three-game weekend series against UC Davis at Phoenix Municipal Stadium beginning on Friday. The first two games of the series are scheduled for first pitches at 6:30 p.m. AZT followed by a 12:30 opening on Sunday.,

FOLLOW THE ACTION

  • The series will be available through the Pac-12 Live Stream, operating by students from Arizona State's Cronkite School of Journalism and can be found here: https://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university
  • All games will be broadcast live over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM with Jeff Munn and Max Rossiter on the call.
  • Fans are always encouraged to follow the Sun Devil Baseball team on scoail media  for any program or schedule updates throughout the week on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account: @ASU_Baseball.

HONORING THE PAST

  • The Sun Devils will wear black SB and MG tribute patches on batting helmets throughout the 2023 season to honor the loss of two great alumni this past offseason in Sal Bando and Mike Gallagher.
  • Sun Devil Baseball will have a moment of silence prior to Friday's game to recognize the life of Arizona State Baseball alum and 1969 National Champion RHP Ken Hansen (1968-1971), who passed away on March 1st due to a heart attack at age 73.  Under Hall of Fame Head Coach Bobby Winkles, Ken helped the Sun Devils become 1969 National Champions.  During his 4 seasons with the Maroon & Gold, ASU earned 2 WAC Championships, finished with a 30-10 record and was selected in the 2nd Round of the 1971 MLB Draft by the Cincinnati Reds.

LAST TIME OUT: NORTH DAKOTA STATE/UC IRVINE/OK STATE

  • It was a forgettable weekend at the ballpark for the Sun Devils, who dropped all three games in a home series against UC Irvine.
  • The team struggled to get out of its own way, undone by errors, free bases and an inability to get out of innings. UCI record 19 two-out RBI of its 33 total runs while batting .333 on the weekend with two outs.ASU walked 20 batters in three games, hit nine more and commit six errors that accounted for 11 unearned runs of the 33 scored against the team.
  • ASU did, however, rally from a 7-0 deficit in its Wednesday midweek tilt against North Dakota State to walk-off on a solo home run from Will Rogers. It was Rogers' second walk-off hit of the season and gave ASU its third one-run victory of the year - notable as it was 1-7 in such games last year.
  • ASU overcame a 7-run deficit for the second time under Willie Bloomquist (Cal last season), notable as the last time ASU had overcome such a deficit prior was against Arizona in 2000.
  • Jacob Tobias began to hit up, recording homers in three of ASU's four games last week, batting a team-best .471 with eight RBIs and a triple.
  • ASU played #13 Oklahoma State tough in two midweek games in Stillwater but again struggle to close out innings with 13 Cowboy runs of 15 scored against the Sun Devils coming with two outs.

ON DECK: UC DAVIS

  • Earning the first series victory of the year last weekend, the Aggies are just one win away from tying their mark from a season ago. Sitting at 5-5, the Aggies have utilized the newfound depth and balance of their team this year to win games early on.
  • Showing off the ability to win games with their offense as displayed in their 20 run output against Utah Valley, or relying on their pitching as seen in the combined shutout against Santa Clara, the Aggies have used all facets of the game to beat teams.
  • The most underrated aspect of the Aggies to this point has been the vastly improved defense. Ranking first in the Big West and tied for 20th in the nation in doubles plays turned per game, the Aggies have used key defensive plays to get them out of jams that so often times proved to be costly in years past.

WE WANT EZ

  • Ethan Long was  tabbed as the No. 37 overall collegiate prospect in the 2022 MLB Draft class by Baseball America last season and was selected with the very final pick of the 2022 MLB Draft though he will look to prove he is, in fact, Mr. Relevant for the Sun Devils this season. He was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team for the 2023 season.
  • Long has been one of the standouts offensively for ASU this year, posting an OBP of .438 despite his .270 average. He is second on the team with eight walks this year and tied for the team lead with three homers.
  • Due to a left wrist injury last year, Long was unable to bat over the last month of the season, though he contributed on the mound. The big bat was a little slow getting going last year, but Long settled into a nice pace and he was fourth on the team with seven homers on the year despite missing the last month-plus of the year. Four of his seven home runs last season came in the sixth inning or later.
  • He used 18 walks and 3 HBPs to post a .384 OBP over his .300 average.
  • He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career following his efforts in the Washington series.
  • Long became the 129th Sun Devil to be named an All-American following his freshman campaign in 2021, becoming a consensus selection after being named to teams by Collegiate Baseball News, NCBWA, and Baseball America. He also earned two freshman All-America nods (CBN/NCBWA) and was a First Team All-Pac-12 pick as well as an ACBA All-West Region second team selection and Pac-12 All-Conference first team pick
  • Long finished the 2021 regular season 22nd nationally and second in the Pac-12 with 16 home runs while finishing 13th nationally and leading the league with a .725 slugging percentage on .340 hitting. He was sixth in the league with 53 RBI. His .340 average was the ninth-highest freshman average in Sun Devil history.
  • That season, he finished with a team-best 54 RBI, tied with Barry Bonds for fourth in ASU freshman history while his 16 homers on the year surpassed Bonds for second in ASU freshman history behind only Spencer Torkelson (25) and good for Top-Five in the league.
  • Behind Long's bat, ASU won five straight weekend series in the last half of the year. In a 19-game stretch, Long bat .444 with 40 RBI, 15 home runs, eight doubles, a 1.181 slugging percentage, a .500 OBP and an absurd 1.681 OPS. Of his 32 hits in that span, 23 were for extra bases.

GOING CAMP-ING

  • Ryan Campos leads the team with 11  walks this season while his bat has come alive of late as well after finishing with a .400 average in four games last week, including his second homer of the year.
  • He leads the team with 10 runs scored this year and his 11 walks are tied for fourth in the Pac-12.
  • Campos led the Sun Devils with a .357 average last year as a true freshman – the sixth-best freshman average in program history and just ahead of head coach Willie Bloomquist's .356 average.
  • It was the seventh-highest average in the Pac-12 prior to the NCAA tournament and the 11th-highest batting average for a catcher in the NCAA prior to the tournament and the fourth-highest for a Power Five catcher.
  • It was the 10th-highest batting average for a freshman in the NCAA prior to the tourney and the best freshman catcher average in the country.
  • He was one of just 19 freshmen to crack the Top-250 in the NCAA in average and the only freshman Power Five catcher to do so.
  • It marked the second straight season a true freshman led the team in average (Ethan Long last year) - something that has never happened in consecutive years in program history and just the fourth time in program history overall that it had happened.
  • His .363 average in league-only games was the fifth-highest in the conference.
  • His .438 OBP in league games was also tops on the team and ninth in the Pac-12 and tops among league catchers
  • Campos had the best average on the team with runners in scoring position at 21-for-59 (.356).
  • He had 20 multi-hit games last year – good for third on the team despite starting 13-15 fewer games than the majority of the other starters on the team.
  • He threw out seven baserunners on the year despite catching in 10+ less games than the other league catchers.

ROGERS THAT

  • Will Rogers got the Sun Devils off to a huge start on Opening Night, going 3-for-5 and  a stolen base with a home run and a the game-winning walk-off single.
  • He added his second walk-off of the season against NDSU with his one-out solo shot in the bottom of the ninth for a 10-9 victory.
  • Rogers had nine homers last season, tied for fourth in ASU freshman school history.
  • From April 1 on,  Rogers had the second-highest average on the team at .373. respectively. He led the team with a .746 slugging percentage in that time with nine doubles, a triple and five homers.
  • His 27 extra-base hits on the season were the third-most of any Pac-12 freshman and 19th in the league overall.

JACOB'S LADDER

  • Jacob Tobias got the first RBI of the 2023 season with his RBI single in the first inning of Opening Night.
  • Tobias had the best week among the Sun Devils last  week, batting .471 over four games with three homers and eight RBIs.
  • He is the team leader with 13 RBIs this season and third on the team with a .300 average.
  • While not looking the part, his two triples this season give him three for his career, marking him the active career leader in the category at ASU in games played for the Sun Devils and the two triples are 15th in the country.
  • Tobias was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 team after being a first team selection as designated hitter last season.
  • His 12 bases (two homers, two doubles) against Utah in the series finale were tied for the most by a Pac-12 player in a game last year.
  • His seven homers last year were tied for eighth in ASU freshman history.
  • His 23 RBIs in Pac-12 games were the second-most on the team, 20th in the Pac-12 and third among Pac-12 freshmen.

RUNNING UP THAT HILL

  • Luke Hill did not at all look like a true freshman starting at shortstop over the first week of action, showing savy skills with the bat and with the glove.
  • Hill leads the team with a .413 average and is fifth  in the Pac-12.
  • He is reaching at a .472 clip - just outside the Top-10 in the league - having struck out only 7 times.
  • His five doubles are fifth in the conference.
  • He notched his first career homer in the series finale against Mississippi State
  • He has just one error on the season for a .982 fielding percentage on 55-of-56 fielding.
  • His  35 defensive assists are third in the conference.

NOT SO QUIET WYATT

  • Transfer Wyatt Crenshaw posted video game numbers last season at Colorado College and has quickly shown that was no fluke, speaking plenty loud with his bat despite saying approximately 18 total words in two post-game press conferences thus far thus season.
  • Crenshaw is batting .358 on the season (just outside the Pac-12 Top-10), slugging .623 with two homers, a triple and six doubles - the latter good for second in the Pac-12
  • He has also played a nice right field for ASU, recording all 18 putouts on balls flown his way thus far with no errors.

WELCOME TO THE JAM

  • Christian Bodlovich has inherited 67 runners in his career at ASU, with only 20 scoring (28.8 percent), including an 11-for-37 tally last season.
  • ASU stranded 497 opponent baserunners last season - an average of 8.6 per game. That total is 110 this season - 8.5 per game.
  • Brock Peery finished 10th in the nation with 34 appearances last season, a tally good for second in the Pac-12.  He has appeared in eight this season, currently tied for 4th in the nation
  • Peery has yet to give up a run this season and has stranded a team-high eight inherited runners on the year.
  • Peery led the league with 10 saves last season year - good for 26th in the country. He added two in the first four games this season and tacked on a win for good measure.
  • The 10 saves last season were tied for seventh-most at ASU since the 1998 season and marked the first time a closer reached double digits in the category at ASU since 2016.
  • Matt Tieding has been essential in saving the Sun Devil bullpen after tough outings for starters this year. As a reliever, the newcomer has  team-low 2.45 ERA in 11.0 innings (min. 5.0 IP). His 14.1 total innings are most on the team.

PLAYING THE FIELD

  • ASU turned 50 double plays last year - a tally good for 21st in Division I and fourth in the Pac-12. The squad has turned 110 double plays over the previous two seasons.
  • ASU has 13 double plays this season, good for 9th in the country.
  • ASU had four fielders in the Top-30 in fielding percentage in the Pac-12 last year (min. 100 chances) in Joe Lampe, Kai Murphy, Ryan Campos and Conor Davis. That was tied with USC and Oregon State for the most in the Pac-12.
  • Sean McLain had the second-most defensive of assists of any player in the Pac-12 (179) - the second straight season an ASU player accomplished that feat following Drew Swift (171) in 2021.
  • For the third straight season, the majority of position players on the diamond will be new faces with only Will Rogers (left field) and Ryan Campos (catcher) expected to reprise their roles from last season. ASU had just two players start last season in the same position they finished in 2021 (Joe Lampe in CF, Nate Baez at C and Sean McLain at 2B, though McLain was playing shortstop by the second weekend while Baez moved around the field by Week Two as well). ASU's only veteran starter in 2021 was Drew Swift - who shifted over to shortstop after spending the majority of his career at second base. All other positions on the diamond that season replaced by newcomers.

HEADED TO THE GAP

  • The Sun Devils recorded 134 doubles last year, good for 19th in the nation and third in the Pac-12.  The 127 doubles during the regular season were the most for a Sun Devil team in the REGULAR SEASON in the BBCOR era (since 2011) and tied for the fifth-most in a regular season since 1998.
  • ASU had at least one double in all but six games last season and multiple doubles in 36 of 58 games.
  • There were 45 Pac-12 players with double-digit doubles in the regular season, of which ASU had seven (Baez, Lampe, Rogers, McLain, Long, Davis, Murphy). No other team had more than six.
  • ASU reached double digits in hits in 28 of the last 34 games of 2022 and 37 times in 58 games. They are 2-for-4 in that category this season.

CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL

  • Nine different players have logged a home run for ASU already and seven have multiuple home runs.
  • ASU's 18 homers are third in the Pac-12 and Top-50 nationally. Unfortunately 14 of those 17 homers have been solo shots
  • Of the nine position players with at least 30 starts last season, all nine had multiple home runs. ASU had ten total players with multiple homers.
  • ASU had five players with at least seven homers last year, tied for the second-most at ASU since 1998.
  • The timing of the home runs  improved immesely over the second half of the last season. On 24 of the final 37 homers on the year, ASU had at least one runner on base. That was notable as ASU had runners on base just eight times on the teams first 27 homers. ASU will hope for some deja vu in that area with 14 solo homers on 17 home runs this season.
  • The Sun Devils had four grand slams last year - the most it had had in a season since 2004 (also four).

HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS

  • ASU has its part to shake off some of that bad mojo from last season  in close games thus far, winning three one-run games and going 5-1 in games decided by three runs or less - a category ASU was 14-16 in last season and was 1-7 in one-run games
  • The Sun Devils played no shortage of tight games last  season - for better or worse - with 26 of the teams 58 games being decided by one or two runs - the most since it also played in 26 in 2017.
  • Unfortunately, ASU was 1-7 in one-run losses and 15 of the teams 32 losses came by way of 1-2 runs. ASU is 3-1 in one-run games this season.
  • That said, the Sun Devils have shown that no opponent lead is safe, showing off plenty of grit in erasing multi-run deficits. On 11 occasions last season, ASU erased a lead of at least three runs.
  • The seven-run deficit overcome by the Sun Devils to defeat and take the series from Cal was the most since March 3, 2000 against Arizona.
  • ASU doubled down at that with the victory over North Dakota State on Tuesday, overcoming a 7-0 deficit in an eventual 10-9 walk-off victory.
  • Three times last season ASU rallied from a deficit of five or more runs to tie or win the game - the first time that had happened since 2010 (also 3).

WHO'S THE NEW GUY?

  • The Sun Devils welcome an incredible 28 new faces to the roster in 2023. ASU went hard in the Transfer Portal during the offseason, recording the No. 2 transfer portal class in the nation according to several outlets.
  • The new batch was highlighted by a total overhaul of the pitching staff, which will feature three transfer starters this weekend in LHP Ross Dunn (Florida State), RHP Khristian Curtis (Texas A&M) and LHP Timmy Manning (Florida). Owen Stevenson (San Francisco) also figures to find a spot in the rotation over the course of the season.
  • Dunn competed for Team USA on the Collegiate National Team this past summer.
  • Preseason All-American Luke Keaschall (San Francisco) highlights the incoming position players).
  • Among the newcomers, freshman Isaiah Jackson ('22, Astros, 18th Round),  Dunn ('19, Yankees, 11th Round) and Drake Varnado ('21, Diamondbacks, 17th Round) have all been drafted at some point in their careers.
  • The Sun Devils didn't have a single freshman arm in the clubhouse last season but welcomes four this season (Ryan Hanks, Brandon Compton, Austin Humphres and Stephen Hernandez).
  • After the departure of Sean McLain to the MLB Draft following last season, the Sun Devils will welcome his brother Nick McLain to the clubhouse this season with the youngster expected to be the Opening Day center fielder.
  • ASU will feature an entirely new infield this season, highlighted by standout freshmen Nu'u Contrades, Luke Hill and Reese Beheler with a deep group of veteran transfers in Keaschall, Vernado, Jonny Weaver, Willie Cano and Wyatt Crenshaw.