The ASU baseball team lost their weekend series at home against the Loyola Marymount Lions after losing on Sunday afternoon.
ASU baseball dropped their second consecutive series after winning the Friday game, behind ace Eli Lingos, against TCU and Loyola Marymount. The team is undefeated when Lingos starts, he will be vital to the team’s success the rest of the season when Pac-12 play begins.
Loyola Marymount was paced this weekend by junior outfielder Billy Wilson. Wilson, a native of nearby Tolleson, Arizona, went 4-10 with three RBI’s on the weekend while playing strong defense in center field.
Aside from Lingos, Spencer Van Scoyoc and Jake Godfrey struggled this weekend with their command leading to short outings. The bullpen was asked to work a lot on Saturday and Sunday, including blowing a two-out ninth inning lead on Saturday. The staff’s inexperience will continue to cause problems, as Tracy Smith believes the best course of action for his pitching staff will be to play matchups in the late innings.
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The offense has done its job through 11 games on the campaign, but they have seemed to struggle scoring runs early in contests. They were held to one hit on Friday night through five innings against LMU starter Blake Redman, before breaking through with two runs in the sixth. Lyle Lin has continued to provide big hits while showcasing his versatility by playing catcher when Lingos starts and playing first base. Smith continues to plan hitting Lin in the cleanup spot, and will look for more offensive production from outfielder Andrew Shaps who recently returned from suspension but has had mixed results early with the bat hitting .250, with a good on-base percentage of .379.
Team defense also must improve before ASU opens up conference play next Thursday against Oregon State. The Sun Devils have made 15 total errors through 11 games, including seven from infielder Andrew Snow who has scuffled mightily to find a defensive position where his bat will play. Jackson Wileford’s return from injury appears to take an infield away from Snow, so it might not be long until Snow is the team’s regular designated hitter.
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ASU continues their home stand this week with matchups against two other Southern California schools, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State. Fullerton is currently the No. 12 team in the nation and were able to win their series against Stanford to begin their season. Redshirt junior Taylor Bryant leads the Titans offensively; he’s leading the team in batting average at .402 and will look to play a major role in the weekday series.
The series begins Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. MST, and the game can be seen on the ASU live stream.