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Massive Pac-12 Tilt Awaits #17/12 Baseball in Eugene

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Massive Pac-12 Tilt Awaits #17/12 Baseball in EugeneMassive Pac-12 Tilt Awaits #17/12 Baseball in Eugene

EUGENE -- No. 17/12 Sun Devil Baseball returns to the Pacific Northwest again this weekend for a massive three-game series with huge Pac-12 standing implications against #23/20 Oregon in Eugene beginning on Friday. The series is schedule to get underway at 5 p.m. AZT at PK Park. Saturday is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch before the series concludes Sunday at Noon.

#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)

1. Khristian Curtis has allowed three or fewer earned runs in five consecutive starts, going at least five innings in four of those.

2.  ASU has scored five or more runs in an inning on 11 different occasions this season and has scored 44 runs in the eighth inning of games.

3. ASU is 5-2 in 1-run games this season, a notable tally as ASU went just 1-7 in 1-score games last year. The team is 15-4 in games decided by 3 runs or less.

4. Ross Dunn has allowed just a .341 slugging percentage against him this year with just 12 extra base hits allowed - fifth-best in the league.

5. Luke Keaschall is one of just two players in the nation with 20 doubles and 10 homers this season, and  just the 8th ASU player to do it since 1998.

6. Jacob Tobias has posted a team-leading 48 RBIs this season that are second in the Pac-12 conference and notable as he had just 29 for the season last year.

7. The Sun Devils have trailed at some point in 14 of the team's last 19 victories and in 16 of the squad's victories overall.

8. Nolan Lebamoff enters the weekend having not allowed an earned run in 16 of his last 18 appearances after allowing three in the first two.

9. The Sun Devils have seven players with 20 or more RBIs this season - second in the Pac-12 behind Stanford (8).

10. The Sun Devils and Stanford are the only teams in the Pac-12 with six different players with six or more homers this season.

BY THE NUMBERS
21 - Luke Keaschall is second in the nation with 21 doubles this season - five more than any other player in the Pac-12 . He is one of just two players in the country with 20 doubles and 10 homers on the year. In doing so, he becomes the third Sun Devil under Willie Bloomquist to accomplish that fea - notable as it happened just five times from 1998-2021. Keaschall's .851 slugging percentage in Pac-12-only games is nearly .150 points higher than any other player in the league. His 33 overall extra-base hits are three more than any other player in the league.

15 - The Sun Devils have shown an ability to be successful in close games, going 15-4 this season in games decided by three runs or less. A year ago the team was 14-16 in those games. More notably, ASU is 5-2 in one run games this season after going 1-7 in those games last year. ASU has also been impressive in its single-game midweek tilts this year, going 8-4 in such games despite Wednesday's loss. ASU was 5-7 in single-game midweek tilts last season. ASU has trailed in 14 of its last 18 victories and  trailed by three or more runs in eight wins this year - including two 7-run comebacks.

9 - Nick McLain has been every bit as advertised, recording at least one base hit in all nine of his collegiate games during his redshirt freshman season since entering the lineup against GCU. In doing so, he becomes the first freshman since at least 1998 to start his collegiate ASU career with hits in their first nine games. He is slugging .737 with three homers and three doubles, recording both from both sides of the plate. He is reaching base at a .511 clip thanks to his seven walks as well - compared to just seven strikeouts. On the season, he is batting .421 marking him the third freshman batting at least .300 on the year.

6 - Twelve different players have logged a home run for ASU and 10 have multiple home runs. ASU and Stanford are the only teams in the Pac-12 with six different players with six or more homers this season. The 8 Sun Devils with 3+ home runs this season are the most in the Pac-12. ASU has finally started to get pumps with runners on base. 28 of the last 43 Sun Devil home runs this season have come with runners on base after 14 of the first 17 this season were solo shots. Of the 14 other homers in the last 43, 11 were leadoff homers, not giving ASU a chance.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

  • All three game will be available via the Oregon Live Stream at: https://pac-12.com/live/university-oregon
  • All games will be broadcast live over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM with Tim Healey and Max Rossiter providing the highlights.
  • Fans are always encouraged to follow the Sun Devil Baseball team on social 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.

LAST TIME OUT: #21 OREGON STATE/CAL STATE FULLERTON

  • It was a historic weekend for the Sun Devils against No. 21/19 Oregon State in Phoenix last weekend as ASU took two-of-three from the Beavers. The victory marked ASU's first series win over a Top-25 opponent (as ranked by D1Baseball) since taking two of three against No. 15 Cal in the 2017 season.
  • ASU recorded double digit runs in all three games of the series - the first time the Beavers had allowed 10+ runs in three consecutive games since Feb. 2-4, 2001 at CSUN and the first time it had happened in a conference game since May 12-14, 2000 against USC.
  • ASU's 34 runs last weekend were tied for the most runs Oregon State has allowed in a three-game series in the last 20 seasons. The Beavers have allowed 30-or-more runs in a three-game series just five times in that span.
  • Arizona State  forced the Beaver bullpen into allowing 20 runs over 13.1 innings in three games. That was good for a 13.50 ERA with an 0-2 record in decisions. They only struck out 11 Sun Devils and walked nine, allowing a .296 batting average against. That tally is notable as entering the weekend, OSU's bullpen over the month of April was 6-1 with a 1.81 ERA over 59.2 innings. For the season, the Beaver bullpen was 17-2 with a 2.74 ERA.
  • ASU's seven home runs in the series were the most Oregon State has given up in a three-game regular season series since Stanford cranked 11 from April 8 - April 10, 2004.
  • ASU went on to split its midweek two-game set against Cal State Fullerton, scoring 17 runs in the series starting with a 9-1 rout on Tuesday but simply running out of arms in Wednesday's 11-inning affair as it was forced to hold back pitching for this weekend's series.

ON DECK: OREGON

  • The Sun Devils lead the all-time series, 28-16, while the Ducks have paced the way in games played in Eugene, 10-8. ASU eliminated Oregon from the Pac-12 Tournament last season after beging swept by the Ducks in the final weekend of the season in Phoenix.
  • Oregon has won its last two series, taking two out of three against both Bay Area schools to find itself in third in the Pac-12 and 2.5 games back from the Sun Devils.
  • Oregon's Friday night starter, Jace Stoffal has elevated his game on the mound to the point that he claimed back-to-back Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors as well as a pair of national pitcher of the week honors after tossing a shutout against No. 7 Stanford. Over a two-week period, Stoffal combined to toss 16 scoreless innings while allowing just four hits with 17 strikeouts and four walks vs. Oregon State and Stanford (both ranked in the top-25 this week).
  • Heading into the Arizona State series, OF Tanner Smith already holds nine school records (6 career; 3 single season). He ranks in the top five in career at-bats, games started, runs, hits, home runs, doubles, RBI, base on balls, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, multi-hit games, multi-RBI games and outfield assists.

BUILDING A RESUME

  • The Sun Devils series win against Oregon State continues their streak of not having lost a Pac-12 series this season. Arizona State is one of five Power 5 teams that has not lost a conference series this season (No. 2 Wake Forest, Indiana, Maryland, No. 1 LSU, No. 19 ASU).
  • ASU bumped up to No. 19 in D1Baseball's poll this week and finds itself ranked across all major polls for the first time this season. The team is as high as fourth in Collegiate Baseball News' poll, 12th in Baseball America, 16th by the NCBWA, 18th in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 25 by Perfect Game.
  • Entering the series, ASU is No. 32 in the country and the RPI rankings, with potentially its finally five series of the year (including last week against Oregon State and this week against Oregon) being against Top-25 opponents, which will likely improve upon the No. 49 strength of schedule.
  • ASU is No. 23 in WarrenNolan's ELO rankings and No. 15 in Boyd's World's ISR rankings.
  • The Sun Devils sit atop the Pac-12 standings at 13-4, holding a slim half game advantage over Stanford that will not get made up this season after ASU had a game canceled in the Washington series. Oregon and USC are tied for third at 2.5 games back with UCLA sitting at 3 1/2 games back. Those four teams amek up the remainder of the Sun Devil conference schedule, giving ASU no room to breath down the stretch in the conference race.

GOING CAMP-ING

  • Ryan Campos was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and also tabbed as the Pac-12 Player of the Week following the Washington State series. But the Sun Devils have been without Campos' services for the last eight games and counting while he battles with an oblique strain that will like sideline him through this weekend's series as well
  • Campos leads the team and is third in the Pac-12 with an active 31-game reached base streak. He has reached base safely in 68-of-75 (90.6%) of games with the Sun Devils overall.
  • Campos is currently eighth among active Division I players with a career batting average of .380. It is the highest career average among active catchers in Division I.
  • For the season, Campos is batting .413 - tops in the Pac-12 and 19th in the nation according to the NCAA statistical minimums. It is the second-best average for a catcher in the country behind Virginia's Kyle Teel (.424).
  • He also leads the Pac-12 with a .523 OBP - aided by his team-leading 26 walks, which are 8th in the league (despite missing eight games). He sits 7th in the Pac-12 with his .661 slugging percentage as well.
  • Campos' 7.9 percent strikeout rate this season is the second-lowest in the Pac-12 while the .46 strikeout-to-walk ratio is tops in the league.
  • The sophomore is also fourth in the Pac-12 with 10 runs - despite missing the last eight games for ASU.
  • Campos and Stanford's Braden Montgomery are the only players  in the Pac-12 ranked in the Top-10 in average, OBP, slugging, runs and walks.
  • Campos is successful advancing runners at a .603 clip (38-of-63) - the highest average on the team. He has also been ASU's most efficient hitter when it comes to extending innings, leading the team with a .361 average with two outs (13-of-36).
  • 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 in 2021) - 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.

USE THE FORCE, LUKE

  • After a slow start at the dish this season, Luke Keaschall has settled into one of the most elite batters in the nation as the season has progressed.
  • Keaschall currently leads the Pac-12 with 52 weighted runs created this season while his 21 weighted runs above average are one of Arizona's Chase Davis for tops in the league.
  • Moved to the cleanup spot in the batting order after leading off for the first month of the season (and batting only .213 through 13 games), Keaschall now sits eighth in the Pac-12 with a .370 average.
  • Keaschall is batting .419 in Pac-12-only games - the highest average in the league. His .851 slugging percentage in conference-only games is nearly .150 points higher than any other player in the league while his 25 Pac-12 RBIs are second.
  • His .709 slugging percentage on the season (11 homers, 1 triple, 21 doubles) has him at third in the Pac-12.
  • The 21 doubles lead the league by five over the next closest player and second in the entire country - one off the NCAA lead. His 50 career doubles are tied for 15th among all active Division I players. He became the third player under Willie Bloomquist to reach 20 doubles and 10 homers in a season and is only of just eight players overall to accomplish that feat for ASU since 1998. He is the only Pac-12 player to accomplish the milestone this season. He and FGCU's Edrick Felix at the only D1 players to have notched the feat this year.
  • His 33 overall extra-base hits are three more than any player in the league.
  • He is up to 43 RBIs for the season, including a herculean five-RBI effort in the series opening win over Arizona - sitting 6th in the Pac-12 in the process.
  • Keaschall leads the team with five go-ahead/game-winning RBIs this season.
  • Keaschall also finds himself fourth in the conference with 16 steals this season. He has only been thrown out once, giving him the highest steal percentage in the Pac-12.
  • Keaschall has been elite in making adjustments against starters, batting .444 in the third inning of games, typically when he is receiving his second AB of the game. 13 of his 43 RBIs have come in the third inning of games this year with five doubles and three homers.
  • Keaschall has also been getting it done in the field, turning 108 defensive assists for the year, good for third in the Pac-12
  • In four games against Utah Tech and Utah, the second baseman hit .625 (10-for-16) with 11 RBI, eight runs scored, three doubles, three home runs and a pair of stolen bases en route to Pac-12 Player of the Week honors and recognized by Collegiate Baseball News as one of its National Players of the Week.

JACOB'S LADDER

  • Jacob Tobias got the first RBI of the 2023 season with his RBI single in the first inning of Opening Night and that has been a trend for his season.
  • Tobias leads the team with 48 RBIs this season - good for second in the Pac-12. His 14-multi-RBI games pace the team as well. The tally is especially notable as he had just 29 total RBIs in the entirety of last season.
  • Tobias has been deadly the second time through the order, recorded 21 of his RBIs in the fourth or fifth innings of games, typically when he sees a starter for the second or third time in a game. He is batting .455 and .471 in those innings, respectively.
  • Tobias has recorded an RBI in five straight games and 26 games overall (63.4 percent).
  • While not looking the part, his four triples this season give him five for his career, marking him the active career leader in the category at ASU in games played for the Sun Devils. The four triples this season are 26th nationally and third in the Pac-12.
  • 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 has not at all looked like a true freshman starting at shortstop in his first season of action, showing savy skills with the bat and with the glove.
  • Hill is sitting with a .351 average that is 12th in the Pac-12 and 24th among all freshmen nationally and 11th among Power Five freshmen. He trailed USC's Austin Overn (.354) for the highest freshman average in the Pac-12.
  • He had the massive go-ahead RBI in the rubber match against Cal with his eighth inning RBI single that was part of a massive nine-run inning to complete the comeback. He would do the exact same less than two weeks later with a two-RBI single against GCU to cap off ASU's nine-run eighth inning with the go-ahead RBIs in that game as well as part of the team's seven-run comeback.
  • In fact, of his last 16 RBIs, 11 have come in five different games when the Sun Devils have trailed by 3+ runs. ASU has come back to win four of these games. His 33 overall RBIs this season are third on the team.
  • His last three home runs have come with two men on base.
  • He is second on the team with four game-winning/go-ahead RBIs this season.
  • His  107 defensive assists are fourth  in the Pac-12.

BIG MAC

  • Willie Bloomquist gushed over redshirt freshman Nick McLain during the preseason about his ability at the plate but a hamate injury knocked him out of the lineup for the first 32 games of the season.
  • McLain has shown he is every bit as advertised, recording a hit in all nine collegiate game he has appeared in so far. In doing so, he is the first Sun Devil freshman to get a hit in the first nine games of their career since at least the 1998 season - as far back as readily available recording in the category go.
  • McLain is batting .421 with a .737 slugging percentage behind his three doubles and three homers, having recorded each from both sides of the plate this season.

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 post-game press conferences this season.
  • Crenshaw is batting .293 on the season, slugging .503 with six homers, a triple and 15 doubles - the latter good for third in the Pac-12 and 51st
  • He has also played a nice right field for ASU, recording all 51 putouts on balls flown his way thus far with no errors.
  • Crenshaw has been at his best late in games, with a .500 batting average/.643 slugging percentage in the seventh innings and a .412 average/.647 slugging in the eighth inning of games this season.

WHO'S THE NU'U GUY

  • It was a quiet start for true freshman Nu'u Contrades but he has swung one of the hottest bats in the conference over the middle part of the season.
  • Contrades is up to a .327 average on the year after sitting below the Mendoza line after the March 7 loss at Oklahoma State.
  • The .327 average is Top-30 among all freshmen in the country this season and top-15 among freshmen infielders.
  • In league-only games, Contrades has 18 RBIs - fifth-most in the Pac-12. His .362 average in Pac-12 games is seventh in the league and his .588 slugging percentage in Pac-12 games is 10th in the league.
  • Contrades was the Pac-12 Player of the Week after he single-handedly propelled ASU to victory in the series clinching win on Saturday against rival Arizona, going 3-for-5 with a career-best five RBIs - including the go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning. He followed that up with a 4-for-5 outing with another bomb and three RBIs in the series sweeping win on Sunday. He led the team with 10 RBIs (of 31 total for the week for ASU) with a .947 slugging percentage while batting .474 on 9-of-19 hitting.

SHOP AT ROSS

  • Ross Dunn has quietly put up some impressive numbers as the team's Friday night starter, and ASU is 7-3 in Friday night games when Dunn starts
  • Dunn has a team-leading 67 strikeouts over 40.0 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .234 batting average against.
  • The 67 strikeouts are good for third in the Pac-12 this season. He has posted six or more strikeouts in his last seven starts, with seven or more in six of those. He has 8 or 9 strikeouts in each of his last four weekend starts, despite struggling with his command failing to reach 5.0 innings in three of those.
  • He is striking out 29.9 percent of the batters he has faced this year - third in the league.
  • He also has avoided giving up many extra bases, with opponents slugging just .341 against him - the fifth-lowest tally in the conference as he has given up just 12 total extra-base hits.

GRABBING THE BULL-PEN BY THE HORNS

  • ASU stranded 497 opponent baserunners last season - an average of 8.6 per game. That total is 337 this season - good for 8.2. ASU relievers have been fairly efficient getting out of jams, stranding 37-of-92 inherited runners for the season (39.8 percent).
  • ASU's has used midweek games as bullpen days and the crew has been absolutely electric, going 7-1 in single-game midweeks this season and 8-4 overall after going 5-7 in them last season.
  • For the season, the bullpen is posting a 5.25 ERA with an 18-4 record in decisions and 10 saves. The squad has 186 strikeouts to 99 walks and is holding opponents to .263 batting. For comparison, the 2022 Sun Devil bullpen had a 6.71 ERA for the season with a 13-19 record in decisions with 231 strikeouts to 170 walks and a .299 average against.
  • Matt Tieding has been essential in saving the Sun Devil bullpen after tough outings for starters this year. AS A RELIEVER, the newcomer has  a 4-1 record in a team-bullpen-high 30.2 innings. He is holding opponents to a .248 average out of the bullpen with 16 strikeouts to just six walks.
  • Nolan Lebamoff has been another that has come on strong of late, posting a 3-0 record out of the bullpen with a 2.95 ERA. After giving up three runs in his first two games over 1.1 innings, Lebamoff has not allowed an earned run in 16 of his last 18 appearances. Opponents are managing just a .194 batting average against him this year.
  • Blake Pivaroff has sneakily posted an exceptional month-plus of baseball. Following his outing against Oklahoma State on March 7, Pivaroff sat with a 7.56 ERA over six appearances. Since then, Pivaroff has made a team-leading 15 appearances and posted a 1.76 ERA with a 2-0 record and two saves over 15.1 innings of work, holding opponents to a .151 average with 11 strikeouts to just three walks.
  • Timmy Manning and Owen Stevenson have solidified valuable roles out of the pen for ASU with Manning posting one or fewer runs in seven of his last nine bullpen appearances with 24 strikeouts to seven walks in that span. Stevenson has allowed just five earned runs in his last 14 appearances over 23.0 innings, with 31 strikeouts to six walks in that stretch.
  • Brock Peery has stranded a team-high 18 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.

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 31 double plays this season, third in the Pac-12.
  • Luke Keaschall (107) and Luke Hill (106) are third and fourth in the Pac-12 in defensive assists this season.
  • For the third straight season, the majority of position players on the diamond are new faces with only Will Rogers (left field) and Ryan Campos (catcher) starting the season reprising their roles from last year. 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.
  • 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.

HEADED TO THE GAP

  • ASU got a slow start in the doubles category this season but has come on hot of late. The team has 76 in its last 30 games after posted just 13 in the first 11 of the season.
  • That has brought ASU back to 33rd  in the NCAA in doubles and third in the league (89). On March 5, ASU was 252nd in the nation in the category.
  • The team has recorded a double in 34 of 41 games overall with multiple doubles in 21 of those.
  • Luke Keaschall leads the Pac-12 and is second in the country with 21 doubles with teammate Wyatt Crenshaw right behind him in third in the league with 15.
  • 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.

CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL

  • 12 different players have logged a home run for ASU and 10 have multiple home runs. ASU and Stanford are the only teams in the Pac-12 with six different players with six or more homers this season.
  • ASU's 60 homers are third in the Pac-12 and 47th nationally.
  • The better news is ASU has finally started the get pumps with runners on base. 28 of the last 43 Sun Devil home runs this season have come with runners on base after 14 of the first 17 this season were solo shots. Of the 15 other homers in the last 33, 11 were leadoff homers and thus not given the opportunity to happen with runners on base.
  • ASU recorded  seven homers against Washington State, which had entered the series leading the Pac-12 with only 14 allowed through its first 27 games.
  • Oregon State led the Pac-12 with just 18 home runs allowed this season before getting tagged by seven by the Sun Devils - including two games with three homers - the first time OSU had allowed three or more in back-to-back games since 2010.
  • 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 immensely 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).

COMING IN HOT

  • The Sun Devil bats are sitting near the top of the league in most offensive categories.
  • ASU's .314 average as a team is second  in the Pac-12 and 18th nationally while the squad's .512 slugging percentage is second in the league and 34th in the country.
  • The team is second in  the league with 451 hits, good for 10th nationally and notable as the team was 115th in the country in the category on March 8.
  • ASU was 92nd in the nation in slugging percentage on March 8, 191st in doubles and 131st in batting average. Just over a month later, those totals sit at 34th, 33rd and 10th, respectively.
  • ASU has reached double digit hits in 19 of its last 28 games and 24 games overall. ASU reached double digits in hits in 28 of the last 34 games of 2022 and 37 times in 58 games.
  • The Sun Devils have thrived in the big innings, 11 times this season recording five or more runs in an inning.
  • Much of the Sun Devil success this year has been its ability to capitalize on opponent bullpens. For the season, ASU is batting .308 off opponent bullpens (compared to just a .263 average against its own). Opponent bullpens have a measly 7.28 ERA  (compared to 5.25 for ASU) and hold just a 6-10 record (compared to 16-4 for ASU)
  • The team has posted 44 runs in the eighth inning of games this season, over a run per game. The team is batting .343 in the eighth inning of games with a .552 slugging percentage. The squad has 15 home runs total in innings 7-9 - creeping up on the final total of 17 last season.
  • ASU is tied for second in the Pac-12 behind only Stanford (8) with seven players with 19 or more RBIs this season.

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, going 5-2 in one-run games (after going just 1-7 in such games last season) and 15-4 in games decided by three runs or less - a category ASU was 14-16 in a year ago.
  • ASU has trailed at one point in 14 of its last 19 victories and in 16 of the team's wins overall this year.
  • ASU has been incredibly efficient at closing games out, going 22-3 when leading after six, 24-1 when leading after seven and 25-0 when leading after eight.
  • In a season and a half under Willie Bloomquist, 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. ASU has eight wins this season when trailing by at least three runs at some point in the game.
  • Last season, 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 has doubled down at that this season with the victories over North Dakota State and GCU, overcoming a 7-0 deficit in both (and 9-2 in the entering the eighth against GCU) for victories in both.
  • 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). ASU has won three games this season in which it has trailed by five runs.

DO I KNOW YOU?

  • 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.