ASU Baseball: Sun Devils sweep Michigan State with 13-2 win

With a 13-2 victory over Michigan State, ASU baseball sweeps the series and stays unbeaten at 11-0. ASU has recorded 124 runs through 11 games.

Starting pitcher RJ Dabovich threw five strikeouts and allowed just one run in six innings. He has an ERA of 2.50 after three starts this season.

Coach Tracy Smith praised Dabovich, as well as the success of the entire rotation, after the game.

“You get what you earn in this program,” Smith said. “He’s earned the right to be on the weekend for us. And for some of the arms that aren’t weekend starting for us, if you’re beating those guys out, you’re pretty good.”

Smith said that the weekend starters have been excellent models for success through ASU’s early season, and that each pitcher has been striving to match that successful model.

Three other pitchers – Chaz Montoya, Dom Cacchione, and Will Levine – threw the final three innings for ASU. Michigan State starter Indigo Diaz was pulled after 1.2 innings after allowing six runs, and he received the loss.

ASU recorded one error on Sunday and three total in the series. Errors were a concern coming into the season for ASU, but so far, the Sun Devils have managed to avoid making the same mistakes this season.

Michigan State recorded seven hits on the day, with the only multi-hit game coming from Bryce Kelley. The Spartans did not record an extra-base hit.

The Sun Devils had a productive day at the plate, which seems to be a common theme through 11 games. Shortstop Alika Williams had a four-hit day, bringing in four runs on three doubles, and Trevor Hauver hit his third and fourth home runs on the season.

Hauver, who had no home runs last year, insisted that he hasn’t changed his approach.

“I’m just being aggressive, looking for pitches to hit,” Hauver said. “Both those pitches were middle-in, and that’s where I like to hit them, so it was a perfect couple pitches to swing at.”

ASU hitting coach Michael Earley praised the one-two-three batters in the lineup – which includes Hauver as the lead-off hitter – but said the bottom of the order has been just as impressive.

“The good thing is that a lot of guys know who they are,” Earley said. “We’ve talked about ‘hitter ID,’ who you are as a hitter. I think my second favorite part of the lineup, besides our one-two-three, is our seven-eight-nine, because of how they’ve really bought in to their approach.

“If you look, a lot of the games we’ve been down, the rally has started in the seven-hole.”

Much of the post-game press conference centered around the fact that every player on ASU’s roster, offensively and defensively, knows their role as a player. Both Earley and pitching coach Mike Cather acknowledged how difficult it is to assign roles to a young team, specifically last year’s team with seven freshmen, but that the maturity of their players has shown through this season.

An undefeated ASU team is scheduled to head out of town for the first time this week, going to California to take on Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday and Wednesday. But, due to impending weather, there’s a chance that the games could be moved to Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.