Devils in Detail
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ASU Baseball: A New Mid-Week Starter?

By Hunter Robinson

Mar 3, 2015; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Detailed view of a baseball in the hand of Arizona State Sun Devils outfielder Coltin Gerhart against the Arizona Diamondbacks during a spring training baseball game at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 3, 2015; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Detailed view of a baseball in the hand of Arizona State Sun Devils outfielder Coltin Gerhart against the Arizona Diamondbacks during a spring training baseball game at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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After another rough outing for Zach Dixon, ASU baseball head coach Tracy Smith might be putting some thought into a new starting pitcher in the mid-week spot.

After ASU baseball’s 12-5 victory over New Mexico State on Tuesday night, Smith didn’t shy away from questions surrounding Dixon’s job security.

“I mean we talk in our program about you get what you deserve, not trying to put a negative connotation on that, I think it works from a positive stand point too… your out there to get the job done. He struggled throwing strikes and even at TCU we felt like there were way too many free passes and that continued today. That stuff has to turn around, he’s done it before… I know he’s disappointed with it,” Smith said.

In his start against the Aggies, Dixon lasted only one and two-thirds innings as he gave up only one hit but walked five batters. Before being pulled, Dixon had thrown 50 pitches. Fitz Stadler came out in relief of Dixon and pitched a solid three and two-thirds innings in which he only pitched 42 pitches.

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“It gets better and better as you get closer to the conference season, in terms of our mid-week opponents, and you walk that many people,” Smith said post game, “We dodged bullets tonight and we got out of it with only one run despite walking five guys in two innings, that’s not going to happen very often… he needs to play better.”

Even though Dixon is on thin ice, there was no indication that Smith had a certain guy in mind to replace him when it is time for his next outing.

“We are still looking to see who is going to give us the consistency… we seem to be one up, one down and we need to be consistent so that we know what we are getting when we put you in there,” Smith said.

While consistency is key with any successful pitching rotation, the Sun Devils haven’t seemed to find it and Dixon’s struggles early this season doesn’t help. With senior pitcher Eder Erives expected to return to the lineup this weekend, he may be the consistent guy that has eluded the Sun Devils thus far.

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