The Arizona State baseball team swept the weekend series against the New Mexico Lobos as they try to finish the season out strong with a month remaining before post-season play.
The Sun Devils came into this season looking to avenge what they thought was a too early post-season exit. But lackluster pitching by the starting rotation early in the season had the Sun Devils fighting to stay relevant in a very competitive Pac-12. Before the weekend series the Sun Devils were 9-9 in conference and 23-15 overall.
The Friday game between these two teams saw ASU strike first and strike early as they put up 2 runs in the first inning and another 4 runs in the second inning.
Seth Martinez got the start for ASU Friday night and he put together a gem. Martinez went 6.2 innings and struck out 9 while only allowing 2 hits. Martinez did see two baserunners score while he was on the mound but both were due to errors so his final stat-line for the night showed 0 earned runs.
After Martinez was pulled the Lobos were able to generate some offense as they ended the night with 5 runs on 5 hits, but it wasn’t enough as ASU ended the night with 9 runs on 12 hits and took the first game of the series 9-5.
Saturday’s game featured Eli Lingos on the mound for the Sun Devils. Lingos went 7 innings while allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run. Lingos also struck out 4 batters and walked 1.
On the offensive side, ASU took a little longer to warm up than the previous night. The first run for the Sun Devils came in the third inning thanks to designated hitter Ryan Lillard who hit a single into right field which allowed Andrew Snow to score. The Sun Devils tacked on another run in the third and 3 more in the fourth.
New Mexico again struggled against the starting pitching of ASU, but was able to score some runs later in the game against ASU’s bullpen. The Sun Devils also had success late as they scored 2 more runs later in the game to solidify their second victory of the series 7-4.
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The final game of this series took place on Sunday with the Sun Devils looking for the series sweep, but they soon found that success wouldn’t come as easily as it had in the previous two games. New Mexico put all their faith in Colton Thomson, who got the start on the mound, and he delivered. Thomson pitched 7 innings and allowed only 3 hits. He also struck out 7 while giving up 0 earned runs.
ASU gave Zach Dixon the start, but he didn’t last long as he was pulled after only 2 2/3 innings in favor of Eder Erives who finished out the game strong. He only allowed one hit in 6 1/3 innings and struck out 7.
Both pitching staffs for ASU and New Mexico pitched well and both offenses could get nothing going as a result. After 8 scoreless innings, ASU was able to break through and knock in a run thanks to a walk-off single by Andrew Shaps.
The Sun Devils have now won 9 of their last 12 games and this series was the second consecutive series sweep for ASU. Behind solid pitching and an offense that starts swinging the bats early, the Sun Devils are starting to click when it counts.