The ASU Baseball team is set to open their season on Friday as they host the Northwestern Wildcats. After much anticipation, Eli Lingos was named the opening day starter by head coach Tracy Smith.
For Lingos, this is a big statement to the work he has done this offseason. Last season, Lingos made 12 starts, had a record of 3-5, and an era of 4.50. With last season’s ace, Seth Martinez, leaving ASU baseball for the MLB it is important that Lingos takes over that role as ace.
While he may not have the best stats, Smith has been highly impressed with Lingos’ leadership ability.
“Eli Lingos from the pitching standpoint doesn’t really say a lot, but he goes out there everyday and works at it,” Smith said.
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It will be important that Lingos does progress in that leadership role as he is looked at as one of the veteran players on a primarily young team. Being a junior, not a senior, and being considered one of the veterans of the team speaks to just how young this year’s baseball team is.
Another interesting dynamic is that freshman Sam Ferri will be the starting catcher Friday night. This freshman catcher-junior pitcher relationship will be yet another opportunity for Lingos to prove himself as a leader on the team.
While he may have the starting role for now, that doesn’t mean Lingos will be in that position forever. Smith feels like the one thing that is different from this season’s team from last season’s is depth.
“Seth Martinez was, in my mind, gonna keep you in every game on Friday,” Smith said, “This is nothing against Eli… we don’t feel like we have that top first-round guy coming out on a Friday night, but what we feel like is that we have eight to ten guys who are all about the same…that’s different from last year.”
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Lingos will need to prove his worth as he will take the mound Friday night hoping to start the 2017 season on a strong note for the Sun Devils.