March 24, 2004
ASU Baseball Links:
Career Summary:
College Baseball Links:
Mar. 26 vs. Washington, 7 p.m. MSTNational Rankings:
UW - Tim Lincecum, RHP (2-0, 2.91 ERA) ASU - Jason Urquidez, RHP (6-1, 2.43 ERA)Mar. 27 vs. Washington, 1 p.m. MST
UW - Keaton Everitt, RHP (3-1, 5.16 ERA) ASU - Brett Bordes, LHP (1-0, 7.04 ERA)Mar. 28 vs. Washington, 1 p.m. MST
UW - Richie Lentz, RHP (2-2, 6.35 ERA) ASU - Zechry Zinicola, RHP (2-1, 4.26 ERA)All-Time Record vs. UW:.........12-6 Last Year (in Seattle):.........UW, 2-1 (1-5, 11-3, 4-6) Last Time in Tempe:.............2000 (ASU sweeps series)
National Polls (Mar. 22, 2004)
Arizona State (20-5) enters the Pac-10 series against Washington as a consensus top 10 team in the nation in all four national polls. ASU ranks as high as No. 8 by Sports Weekly and No. 9 by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA. The Sun Devils have now been ranked in the national polls for 86 consecutive polls, with 28 straight in the top 10. UW (13-6-1) is not currently ranked, but has appeared as high as No. 23 in the national polls this season.
Media Exposure:
All three games of the Washington series will be broadcast on the radio or internet with Tim Healey and Bob Eger calling all the action from Packard Stadium. Friday will be internet only, while Saturday and Sunday will be on KDUS 1060 AM. Friday's series opener will also be televised locally on AZ-TV with George Allen and Doug Gerlach calling the action. Every game during the 2004 season will also have the statistical GameTracker on www.TheSunDevils.com
Did You Know?
Arizona State and Washington will be meeting at Packard Stadium for the first time since a series sweep by the Sun Devils in 2000... ASU outscored the Huskies in that series 55-12... Washington has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons... Dustin Pedroia and Jeff Larish played last summer with UW shortstop Brent Lillibridge on the USA Baseball National Team... Pedroia leads the Pac-10 hitting .451 with 15 doubles... nine current Sun Devils have hitting streaks of three or more games.
What's On Tap:
The Sun Devil Baseball team (20-5, 1-2 Pac-10) continues their 25-game homestand this weekend with a three-game conference series against the University of Washington Huskies. Washington (13-6-1, 0-0 Pac-10) is 3-2 during their current spring break trip, going 1-2 against Washington State last weekend in a non-conference series and sweeping a two-game set from Gonzaga. Following the UW series, ASU will host USC (Apr. 2-4), Oral Roberts (Apr. 8-10) and Arizona (Apr. 12) before heading back on the road at UCLA (Apr. 16-18). The Devils will play 16 of their final 21 games on the road this season.
Recapping Last Week:
ASU went 3-2 last week to cap a busy stretch of eight games in 10 days. ASU finished the eight-game stretch with a 5-3 record, going 2-1 against Tulane, 2-0 against Oklahoma State and 1-2 against California. The Devils opened the Pac-10 season with a disappointing 1-2 record. Cal rallied for six unanswered runs against the bullpen in Friday's 9-7 victory and then sealed the series with a 20-8 victory on Sunday. ASU tied a school record giving up 13 runs in the fifth inning of that contest. The Devils battled back Sunday to salvage the series with a 8-4 victory to become only the sixth team in the NCAA to reach the 20-win mark. Dustin Pedroia went 10-for-20 (.500) with three doubles to lead the Sun Devils at the plate.
Quick Hits:
Pedroia Off To Another Torrid Start:
Junior shortstop Dustin Pedroia is off to a solid start leading the Pac-10 hitting .451 (46-for-102) with 38 runs scored, 15 doubles, four home runs and 24 RBI. He has hits in 22 of ASU's 25 games, including 13 multi-hit affairs and four games with two or more doubles. He also has a current seven-game hitting streak in which he is 16-for-28 (.571). As a sophomore, Pedroia hit .404 (120-for-297) and was named the Pac-10 Co-Player of the Year. He led the NCAA with 34 doubles, setting the ASU and Pac-10 single-season record and tied for third all-time in the NCAA record books. With 15 doubles, he now has 62 in his career, ranking fifth in the ASU career record books. He also had 248 hits to rank 10th and his career .391 batting average (248-for-635) ranks fifth in the ASU career record books. He has played and started all 151 games of his Sun Devil career and has recorded at least one hit in 129 games (86%). He has also recorded 81 career multi-hit games and is a .401 career hitter in 51 Pac-10 games (91-for-227). Additionally, the 2003 Collegiate Baseball Defensive Player of the Year has made only 17 errors in 654 total chances in the field for a career. 974 FLD%. He was a two-year starter for the USA Baseball National Team and was named to the all-tournament team in the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Here is a look at Pedroia's career statistics:
Year Avg GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB-ATT 2002.... .347 58-58 236 51 82 13 2 1 45 24 19 5-9 2003.... .404 68-68 297 83 120 34 3 4 52 36 13 3-7 2004.... .451 25-25 102 38 46 15 0 4 24 21 4 3-4 TOTAL... .391 151-151 635 172 248 62 5 9 121 81 36 11-20Pedroia Times Two:
Junior shortstop Dustin Pedroia is a doubles machine. Through ASU's first 25 games, Pedroia has 15 doubles. He has picked up right where he left off in 2003, setting an ASU and Pac-10 record while leading the NCAA with 34 doubles. In 148 career games, the Woodland, Calif., native has 62 doubles to rank fifth in the ASU record books. He has averaged .41 doubles per game over his career.
Pedroia Passes Barry Bonds:
With 248 career hits in his career, junior shortstop Dustin Pedroia moved into ASU's career top 10 list. He passed Barry Bonds (1983-85), who had 247 during his three years in Tempe. The all-time school record is 322 set by Clay Westlake from 1973-76.
Poll Mechanics:
After going 3-2 last week, Arizona State (20-5) moved a little in the national polls. The Devils dropped one spot from No. 8 to No. 9 by Baseball America and two spots from No. 6 to No. 8 by ESPN/Sports Weekly. The Devils are also ranked No. 9 in the recent Collegiate Baseball poll and by the NCBWA. With a 10-1 record against ranked opponents, ASU is in its fourth week as a consensus top 10 team (all four polls) and is in its 28th straight week ranked in the top 10 in at least one poll. The Devils have now been ranked for 86 consecutive weeks dating back to the start of the 2000 season. ASU entered the 2004 season ranked in all four of the national preseason polls (#7 CB, #10 SW, #11 NCBWA, #18 BA). ASU finished the 2003 season with a 54-14 record and earned a consensus top 10 ranking in all four national polls.
Travis Buck Going For Triple Crown:
Sophomore right fielder Travis Buck leads ASU in two of the three Triple Crown categories with six home runs and 33 RBI. Buck is hitting .367 (33-for-90) with eight doubles and a .656 slugging percentage. He had a stretch of hitting a home run in five straight games and earned back-to-back Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. He also leads the team with four outfield assists and is 6-for-6 stealing bases. He was named Pac-10 Player of the Week and the Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week after going 10-for-12 (.833) with 13 RBI in the three-game series against UConn (2/27-29). The sophomore outfielder is a career .337 (111-for-329) hitter with 10 home runs and 91 runs scored.
Buck Repeats As Pac-10 Player of the Week:
After going 5-for-10 with home runs in all three games against East Carolina, Travis Buck earned his second consecutive Pac-10 Player of the Week award. With his third career Pac-10 POW award, he became the 16th conference player and first since 1998 to repeat since Cal's Xavier Nady earned the award in consecutive weeks in 1998 (Apr. 27, May 4). He is the first Sun Devil since Oddibe McDowell in 1984 to earn back-to-back conference honors.
Five Times The Fun:
Travis Buck had a string of hitting a home run in five straight games dating back to the Sunday victory over Connecticut (2/29). He is the first Sun Devil to hit homers in five straight since single-season home run record holder Mitch Jones cleared the fences in five straight games during that save 2000 season against Florida State (2/6), Duke (2/11-13) and LSU (2/18).
25 Games Down, 20 Wins:
After going 3-2 last weekend, ASU became the first Pac-10 team and sixth in the nation to reach the 20-win plateau. The 20-5 start to the season is tied for second during the Pat Murphy era (1995-P), trailing only the 24-1 start during the 2003 season. The 2000 Pac-10 Championship team was also 20-5 after 25 games and went on to finish with a 44-15 record.
Bresnehan Inching Towards Freshman Saves Record:
Only 25 games into his ASU career, freshman relief pitcher Pat Bresnehan is on the fast track to demolish the ASU freshman record for saves in a season. Bresnehan already has five saves to rank third in the freshman annals. He trails only Mitch Dean (8 in 1976) and Ryan Bradley (6 in 1995). The hard-throwing right-hander has been especially hot with two wins and five saves in his last nine appearances. By giving up two runs in the ninth inning against California, Bresnehan had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 22.0. Overall he is 3-0 with five saves and leads ASU with a 1.90 ERA.
Two-Way Zinicola:
Freshman Zechry Zinicola is becoming a regular in the Sun Devil lineup, whether as a starting pitcher on Sunday or the designated hitter on Friday and Saturday. Zinicola has moved in the starting pitching rotation and has built a 2-1 record with a 4.26 ERA. He is coming off a strong seven-inning effort against California in which he scattered two runs and six hits to pick up the victory. At the plate, Zinicola has made eight starts at designated hitter and has recorded hits in seven of his 10 games played. He is hitting .313 (10-for-32) with two home runs and 13 RBI (.563 SLG%). He is ASU's first full-time two-way player since Richy Leon (1995-98). Leon was a career .298 hitter as an outfielder and was 8-3 with a 4.67 ERA in 48 pitching appearances.
Curtis Has Connections:
Freshman center fielder Colin Curtis will see some familiar faces in the opposing dugout this weekend when the Washington Huskies come to town. Curtis, who is hitting .345 (29-for-84) with six doubles and four home runs, hails from Issaquah, Wash. (Issaquah High School) and has played against a majority of the Husky roster. He was high school teammates with UW sophomore pitcher Matt Kasser (0-0, 6.55 ERA) and among others, played against pitchers Tim Lincecum (Liberty HS), Richie Lentz (Woodinville HS) and first baseman Kyle Larson (Eastlake HS). Lincecum and Curtis shared state MVP honors last year (Seattle Times).
Urquidez Has Perfect Start Halted:
Junior starting pitcher Jason Urquidez had his perfect 6-0 start as a Sun Devil come to an end last weekend when he took the loss against California. Urquidez gave up four hits and three runs just 1.1 innings in ASU's 20-8 loss to the Golden Bears. He was the first Sun Devil since 2001 to win the first six appearances in a Sun Devil uniform in the last 10 years. Andy Torres was the last Devil to win his first five appearances when he started 5-0 in 2001. Urquidez, who has made three starts on Sunday and four on Saturday this season, will move into the Friday night role against Washington. Here is a look at Urquidez's seven starts this season:
Date Opponent GS IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR WP BK HBP DP IBB Score W-L SV ERA Feb 08, 2004 Florida State * 5.0 6 1 1 3 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12-6 1-0 0 1.80 Feb 14, 2004 vs Utah * 6.0 3 0 0 2 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11-0 2-0 0 0.82 Feb 22, 2004 at Rice * 9.0 3 1 1 2 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3-1 3-0 0 0.90 Feb 29, 2004 Connecticut * 3.0 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 18-11 4-0 0 1.17 Mar 06, 2004 East Carolina * 7.0 5 4 3 3 4 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 6-4 5-0 0 1.80 Mar 13, 2004 Tulane * 5.2 4 1 1 5 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11-3 6-0 0 1.77 Mar 20, 2004 California * 1.1 4 3 3 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 8-20 6-1 0 2.43 Totals 7 37.0 28 11 10 18 33 2 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 69-45 6-1 0 2.43
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