Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

Despite the Cardinal’s broken rotation, No. 6 ASU baseball not overlooking Stanford

No. 6 ASU baseball is looking to stay hot and win its third consecutive series of Pac-12 play.

Ryan Burr New Mexico
Junior Ryan Burr closes out the ninth inning against University of New Mexico at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Wednesday March 18, 2015. The Sun Devils defeated the Lobos 4-3. (Jacob Stanek/ The State Press)

Almost a week removed from winning its opening road series in rainy Eugene, Oregon, No. 6 ASU baseball (15-7, 4-2 Pac-12) will host Stanford and its injury-riddled rotation.

But despite their early success, the Sun Devils are not overlooking the Cardinal (10-11, 0-3 Pac-12). ASU head coach Tracy Smith said the team tries to focus on itself more so than the opponent.

“You don’t focus on what the other team is doing or not doing, because if you get all caught up in that, then bad things can happen,” Smith said. “Our mindset is that we’re going to go into this (series) worrying about getting better as a squad on our end. Focus on what we do, do it well and we’ll see how it falls into the weekend.”

Stanford is suffering from the loss of sophomore ace Cal Quantrill, who will miss the remainder of the 2015 season after a Tommy John surgery, according to The Stanford Daily. In addition, junior starter Marcus Brakeman has not pitched since Feb. 28 and is expected to be out long-term with a shoulder injury, leaving Stanford’s rotation in pieces.

Last year, Quantrill (7-5) led the Cardinal in innings pitched (110.2) and strikeouts (98) while holding a 2.68 ERA in 18 appearances. This season, he tallied a 1.95 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched before the injury.

Brett Hanewich, Chris Viall and Logan James have helped fill the holes, but the Cardinal have not had a set Friday or Saturday starter since the losses of Quantrill and Brakeman — the rotation is currently in flux.

Hanewich (1-2) has a 2.77 ERA over 26 innings while Viall (1-2) holds a 4.95 ERA over 20 innings pitched. Although James (2-1) has not started any games, he leads the team with 24 strikeouts in nine appearances.

ASU center fielder Johnny Sewald said the team isn’t planning on changing much at the plate because it has been swinging the bat well for the most part.

“At Oregon, we didn’t swing the bat as well as we thought we would,” he said. “I think back here at Muni we’re going to come out, swing the bats and stay hot.”

He also said nothing can be taken for granted, noting last year’s series between the two teams where Stanford took two of three games from ASU.

“Obviously every team in the (Pac-12) is really good, and we just have to come out, play our game and not worry about who we’re playing, do what we do best and we’ll take the series,” Sewald said.

The Sun Devils have taken two out of three games in each of their first two series of conference play, but not without some bumps along the way.

Most recently, Smith questioned the team’s competitive spirit after it dropped the series finale against Oregon.

“It was a tough loss and I think we as a team agree that we didn’t compete, we just kind of went through the motions and didn’t play up to our own standard,” Sewald said. “He was right that we didn’t play up to our standard, but I think we’ll change that this Friday.”

Another idea highly stressed by Smith thus far is the brand of “Sun Devil baseball,” which symbolizes the team’s tough, no-quit attitude.

Redshirt senior outfielder Trever Allen said the loss of Stanford’s pitchers is somewhat irrelevant to the team’s mindset heading into the weekend.

“Honestly you don’t really think about who’s pitching or who’s not pitching, just go out and play hard and if we play Sun Devil baseball, we’re going to win,” Allen said.

Another one of ASU’s struggles this season has been tallying insurance runs, but Allen said the offense needs to start getting hits with guys on base.

“We get hits when no one is on,” he said. “If we can just focus on those at-bats with guys in scoring position and score them.”

The way anything can happen on any given day makes baseball such a crazy, yet fun sport, he said. However, it also doubles as the reason ASU won’t be overlooking the Cardinal.

“In the (midweek games) last week, a lot of teams in the country lost to teams that they shouldn’t have lost to on paper,” Allen said. “Anyone can go out and win, and I think if we play as best as we can every day, we’re going to be successful because on paper, we are better than them, but it doesn’t matter at that time — they could beat us, we could beat them.”

Stanford’s most notable wins came in a split of a four-game series against No. 16 Texas.

The Cardinal’s top hitter is freshman Matt Winaker, who is batting .329, leads the team in RBI (13), and is tied for the team lead in hits (25).

Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter.

Like State Press Sports on Facebook or follow @statepresssport on Twitter.


Continue supporting student journalism and donate to The State Press today.

Subscribe to Pressing Matters



×

Notice

This website uses cookies to make your experience better and easier. By using this website you consent to our use of cookies. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.