Coming off a series sweep against Long Beach State, ASU baseball found what they needed to play as a team and bring hope to their opening series of conference play against No. 2 Oregon State.
The Beavers are currently 14-1 going into conference play, with their one loss coming against Ohio State in late February. OSU has faced off against Arizona State for the past three conference openers and won last season with a sweep, adding to their five opening series wins since 2013.
The Oregon State offense poses as a dangerous threat to the Devils defense that has struggled with errors in pre-conference play. Sophomore Trevor Larnauch hit a career best three hits to contribute to the team’s recent series sweep.
Along with the defense, the Sun Devil pitching rotation needs to find a way to limit walks. Giving up these walks adds to pressure on the error filled defense that gives up unearned runs to players walked by giving them an easy opportunity to advance.
Though the Beavers are a highly ranked team, ASU found success against a top team in the nation. The Devils were able to band together and come off with a win against then No.1 TCU in the series opener. The Horned Frogs were able to come back and win the series, but not as easily as they might have first expected.
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Eli Lingos and Spencer Van Scoyoc provide a deadly combination on the mound for the Sun Devils. There’s no better two to place back-to-back to get the outs they need in the opening of the game, the problem lies in the rest of the rotation.
The team lacks a go-to guy to close out the game. Head coach Tracy Smith seems to like sticking freshman Chaz Montoya into the mix, but he rarely comes out successful and has one of the worst ERAs on the team.
Sophomore Connor Higgins has made few appearances despite being a highly ranked player in the conference. His first appearance on the hill this season was in the midst of a Oklahoma State scoring run, and even then he was only left in for roughly 10 pitches after giving up a walk. Higgins recently seemed to have improved since then when he was able to close out the Long Beach State series on a strikeout.
On the offensive end, ASU can be a little slow on getting their bats going until late in the game. They found some success in eighth and ninth inning rallies, but against a team like Oregon State it more than likely won’t happen. If Hunter Bishop, Lyle Lin, and Carter Aldrete can get their bats hot quickly, the Devils have a chance to shock the Beavers and get a win to open the series.
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First pitch will be at 6 p.m. MST at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in Phoenix, AZ. The game can be seen live on Pac-12 Network.