ASU baseball has undergone a lot of turmoil in their starting rotation this season, but the one constant has been Eli Lingos, who has had a stellar senior season so far.
Lingos gave the Sun Devils another good effort Sunday afternoon in ASU’s 13-8 win over Utah, tossing six innings of two run ball while only giving up five hits and one walk and striking out five.
This was good enough to pick up his sixth win of the season, which ties his career-high set last year. Lingos’ ERA on the season sits at 2.89, which would also be a career best by a full run and a half.
Sunday’s outing proved to be a bounce back game for the senior, as his two weakest outings of the season came in his last two starts against USC and Stanford respectively.
ASU head coach Tracy Smith was very pleased with the way Lingos turned things around.
“You don’t worry about him giving it to the opposition,” Smith said. “If you beat Eli, you’ve done just that, you’ve beat him. He’s gonna give you his best and he’s gonna compete in the zone, and I thought he did that today effectively.”
Lingos himself said that he didn’t change too much from his previous outings and just let his faith in his teammates carry him to a good showing.
“I didn’t try to change anything from the last couple because I still felt good,” Lingos said. “I just made sure to attack hitters and really let my defense work today. It was a little easier too when you get that type of run support.”
“It was just kind of another typical Eli Lingos performance, and that is meant in a very complimentary way,” Smith said.
These typical Eli Lingos performances have become the norm this season, as the senior has been able to pair solid performances like Sunday’s with truly brilliant ones.
During a three-start stretch in March, Lingos only gave up one run in 24.2 innings pitched, including a complete-game shutout at Washington State.
These types of performances have been few and far between for the Sun Devils in recent times, and they’ve been a stabilizing force for an ASU team that has used eight different starting pitchers so far this season.
The Sun Devils needed someone to break out this year and lead the young pitching staff and Lingos has done that and then some.
Next: ASU Baseball: Bats come to life once again in 13-8 beatdown of Utah
The rest of the rotation may still be full of question marks, but Eli Lingos has become the ace that ASU has desperately lacked for the last couple of years.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.