ASU Baseball: Devils face Washington, look to get above .500 in Pac-12 Play

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 23: Members of the Arizona State Sun Devils wait on the mound for their manager to arrive during Game 13 of the 59th College World Series against the Florida Gators at Rosenblatt Stadium on June 23, 2005 in Omaha, Nebraska. The Gators defeated the Sun Devils 6-3. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 23: Members of the Arizona State Sun Devils wait on the mound for their manager to arrive during Game 13 of the 59th College World Series against the Florida Gators at Rosenblatt Stadium on June 23, 2005 in Omaha, Nebraska. The Gators defeated the Sun Devils 6-3. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

ASU baseball opens a three-game set Friday against Washington as the Sun Devils seek a winning record in conference play.

At 18-25, 10-11 in Pac-12 play, the Sun Devils will look to win the series this weekend to avoid a second consecutive losing season.

The Huskies come in at 21-19, 11-7 in Pac-12 play which puts them in fourth just three games out of first place. The Huskies have won three of their last four including taking two games against their rival Washington State last weekend.

The Huskies are led by a very strong pitching staff headed by Joe DeMers who is 3-3 with a 2.23 ERA. DeMers has thrown at least seven innings in each of his last five starts, but has been credited with the loss in two of his last three. DeMers threw a perfect game early in the season for the Huskies.

Offensively for UW, it will be a great catching matchup for Lyle Lin as Nick Kahle for the Huskies comes into Phoenix Muni. Kahle has been red hot recently as he is currently on a 12-game hitting streak and leads the Pac-12 in batting average at .413.

The Sun Devils will look to rebound after a hard-fought series last weekend in Corvallis where they were able to take one of three games against the Pac-12 leading Oregon State Beavers.

Spencer Torkelson remains a lightning rod for the Sun Devil offense along with Gage Canning and Lyle Lin. Torkelson is leading the nation in home runs with 21 and is just one away from breaking the Pac-12 freshman record for a season.

Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils drop series finale to Oregon State

The projected starters for Friday are Lucas Knowles (3-4, 4.02 ERA) for Washington and Alec Marsh (3-3, 3.23 ERA). First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. PT from Phoenix Municipal Stadium and it can be seen on the ASU Live Stream.