ASU Baseball: Sun Devil Update
By Mike Slifer
The Arizona State baseball team secured a 2-1 series win over California last weekend in Tempe. The Golden Bears spoiled the Sun Devils’ bid for their first conference game sweep of the season by rallying in the tenth inning. After the weekend, ASU sits at 19-14 on the season, 9-6 in the conference, climbing to 4th place.
In Game 1 on Friday night, ASU starting pitcher Brett Lilek pitched a solid 7 innings surrendering two runs. Cory Bernard closed the game and got the win. Dalton DiNatale went 4-5 at the plate, but didn’t drive in any runs. Outfielder Chris Beall knocked in the game winning run in the 10th inning. ASU 3 Cal 2 (10)
In Game 2 on Saturday night, pitcher Ryan Kellogg stole the spotlight by pitching 8 innings giving up only one run. The Sun Devil bats were somewhat silent, but did enough to beat the Bears. Nate Causey homered in the first inning. ASU 4 Cal 1
Game 3 was another pitcher’s duel. ASU’s Darin Gillies pitched 7 shutout innings. But his effort was spoiled by the bullpen and some defensive errors. Cal scored two unearned runs in the top of the tenth to win the game. Cal 5 ASU 3 (10)
ASU continues their trend of being successful, but not being dominant. Taking two out of three every weekend is nothing to complain about. Undoubtedly head coach Tim Esmay will take it. However, to truly separate themselves from the pack and to make the post-season, ASU needs to start sweeping some of these PAC-12 series, especially at home against teams with losing records
Coming up, tonight ASU plays at home versus UNLV. The Rebels are having a successful season. They bring in a 25-11 record, but are only playing .500 ball on the road.
This weekend, the Sun Devils go back on the road for a 3 game set in Palo Alto against Stanford. The Cardinal are struggling this year with a record of 12-16, 4-8 in the conference. The Sun Devils could do themselves a lot of good by taking another PAC-12 series in Northern California this weekend.