ASU Baseball: Sun Devils continue non-conference play versus Saint Mary’s
By Cole Bailey
The ASU baseball team will host Saint Mary’s this weekend after going 2-2 vs Miami (OH) in their first series of the 2018 season.
It was a tale of two Sun Devils teams in the four-game series versus Miami (OH), as ASU sandwiched two great performances in the second and third games between two not-so-great performances in the first and fourth games.
The bats showed up all weekend, however, as ASU scored 28 runs across the whole series and combined for an excellent team batting average of .321.
The Sun Devils got great showings all throughout their lineup, including stellar performances from players such as Spencer Torkelson, Gage Canning, Lyle Lin and Carter Aldrete.
Torkelson was finally able to show off the raw power that his coaches had been speaking about all offseason, hitting three home runs and two doubles in just 16 at-bats.
Canning was his usual dependable self, as he went 9-for-16 with two triples and four RBIs at the top of the lineup.
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Finally, Lin and Aldrete started their sophomore seasons strong, combining to go 12-for-32 with five extra base hits.
The real problems for Arizona State this past weekend were fundamental issues, as walks, errors and baserunning mistakes were prevalent throughout the series.
Sun Devil pitchers walked a total of 20 batters, including Spencer Van Scoyoc’s six free passes on Opening Night.
These walks proved to be key in the Redhawks’ two victories, as many of the baserunners that came around to score in those games were put on via the free pass.
ASU had a rough series defensively, as the team combined for eight errors, five of which were committed by the infield tandem of Aldrete and shortshop Drew Swift.
The Sun Devils made a lot of outs on the base paths as well, combining to go 2-for-7 on stolen base attempts. Hunter Bishop was the only successful base stealer for ASU, as he stole bases in both of his attempts.
ASU showed flashes of an improved pitching staff versus Miami (OH) which included an amazing performance from freshman Boyd Vander Kooi.
Vander Kooi started the third game of the series and allowed only one unearned run in seven innings of work.
He also struck out five hitters and walked only two in a fantastic start to his college career. The Sun Devils also got a great showing in game two from Sam Romero, who allowed only two hits and two walks on his way to recording a three-inning save in relief of starter Eli Lingos.
Saint Mary’s will travel to Arizona after also posting a 2-2 record in their first four games of the new season.
They took two of three games from Long Beach State over the weekend but fell to CSU Bakersfield on Monday by a score of 3-2.
The Gaels’ pitching staff had a great start to the season, combining to post a 2.12 ERA and a .252 batting average against. Their bats came out of the gates cold, however, as they only managed to score 13 runs over their 4 games played.
Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils split Sunday doubleheader with Miami Ohio
The series will open up at 6:30 p.m. MT Friday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Saturday’s game starts at 1 p.m. MT with Sunday’s finale will begin at 12:30 p.m. MT. All three games can be seen on the ASU Live Stream.