ASU Baseball: Devils looks to end midweek struggles against New Mexico State
By Alex Weiner
ASU baseball look to build off their weekend sweep of Utah with a midweek game against New Mexico State as they look to continues to stay hot at the plate.
Midweek games have not been kind to Arizona State this season.
The Devils have lost their last six non-weekend games, including four against non-conference teams.
New Mexico State travels to Phoenix to take on the Devils on Wednesday. The Aggies have put up a strong season, especially on offense.
New Mexico State scores over nine runs per-game while batting .327 and slugging over .500. The Aggies have not scored under five runs in a game since April 3 and have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Ten batters in the lineup are hitting .300 or better, and Nick Gonzales leads the team and conference with a .384 batting average.
However, the Aggies have played two games this year against a Pac-12 opponent. They dropped two games to Arizona, including a 14-0 beatdown.
Arizona State swept Utah at home over the weekend, their first series win since sweeping Oregon to begin Pac-12 play in mid-March.
What worked so well for ASU last weekend were the bats. The Devils put up 35 runs in three games for their best offensive series of the year.
Gage Canning broke out of his slump with two home runs, going 7-for-15. Spencer Torkelson added a pair of home runs in the series. He now has 20, which leads the country. Cal’s Andrew Vaughn sits in second with 18.
A question to be had is whether or not Boyd Vander Kooi may be seen in action on Wednesday. He has been out since March 24 with injury. Head Coach Tracy Smith ruled him out against Utah but said that a return in the Oregon State series coming up this weekend is possible.
A midweek game with no Pac-12 implications could be a low stress environment for Vander Kooi to get some work in, even if for just a short appearance.
Next: ASU Baseball: Offense has been far from the problem
ASU is 17-22 this season, 8-13 in non-conference play. Their overall record is one game worse than where ASU stood at this point last season. But, the Devils finished 2017 5-11, losing their final six ballgames.