After losing its first conference series of the season to Oregon State, the No. 5 ASU baseball team (33-11, 16-5 Pac-10) will play it’s next eight games at home.

ASU lost three spots in the USA Today/ESPN poll, as UC Irvine, Rice and LSU all jumped ahead in the rankings.

The Sun Devils open a 11 of 12 at-home stretch with five games against nonconference foes San Diego and Winthrop starting with the Toreros on Tuesday.

USD is currently third in the West Coast Conference with a 27-21 overall record.

The Toreros are top-hitting team with six regulars hitting at least .325 on the season. Senior infielder Sean Nicol, a Scottsdale native, is hitting nearly .350 with seven home runs. Junior James Meador leads the club in hitting at .385 with six homers.

USD has struggled on the mound, however, posting a team ERA of 4.9.
The Sun Devils are hoping to bounce back after blowing two consecutive games in the ninth inning to OSU.

ASU was without junior Josh Spence, as he continues to mend a finger injury to his throwing hand, but received a second consecutive solid pitching performance from freshman Jordan Swagerty, who went six innings while allowing only two runs and seven base runners.

The domino effect of losing Spence, though, meant that Swagerty was not available out of the bullpen.

After freshman Mitchell Lambson had already pitched the previous night, going four-and-a-third innings only to falter in the ninth, he was unavailable for Sunday.

Under those circumstances, the Sun Devils were without any of their normal, end-of-the-game pitchers, as coach Pat Murphy does not like to call any of his relievers a closer.

Though OSU is formidable competition, ASU’s offense also struggled, especially with runners in scoring position. The team stranded 25 base runners in the series and hit into three critical double plays.

Junior Jason Kipnis, who sat out Friday, went 0-4 in the series with six walks.

On a positive note for ASU, freshman Drew Maggi continued to perform at the leadoff spot, reaching base five out of nine times in the first two games of the series.

ASU got its win on Friday behind junior Mike Leake’s second consecutive complete game, as the potential National Pitcher of the Year struck out six hitters and allowed only five base runners.

Tuesday’s game against San Diego is set for 6:30 while Wednesday’s game was recently moved up to 4 p.m.

Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.