ASU piled on 47 hits and 36 runs this past weekend during the Bill Kajikawa Baseball Classic at HoHoKam Park, but one hit stood above all the others — sophomore left fielder Rod Allen's game-winning home run that propelled his team over Oral Roberts on Saturday afternoon.
The Sun Devils had been cruising along, leading 4-0 after four innings, before the Golden Eagles evened the score with back-to-back two-run innings. The game remained deadlocked until Allen came to bat in the bottom of the eighth. With one swing, the tie was broken and ASU was assured of a perfect weekend.
"I saw the guys were struggling a little bit, and I was thinking that maybe I could come through for them," Allen said. "I had to try to do my best, and it came into place perfectly for me. I got a good pitch to hit, took a good swing at it and it went over the fence."
Allen averaged a home run every 30 at-bats last season, ending the year with one less than Casey Myers' team-leading seven bombs. For his efforts, Allen was named to both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American teams.
Allen finished the season with a .389 batting average and a team-best .578 slugging percentage. And while the home run was a great way to win the game, Allen said he doesn't automatically think about hitting it out of the park every time he steps to the plate.
"You get in trouble when you start thinking like that," Allen said. "I know I'm in the three-hole for a reason, not just to be bunting and hitting singles, so I've got to get my hacks in and be very disciplined at the plate. I'm just going to go up there with a good mentality from now on, try to get good swings and hope good things happen."
Allen's home run came off Oral Roberts senior right-hander Andrew Sanderson, a sidearm pitcher who compiled a 5-0 record and 3.44 ERA with 23 strikeouts last season. Sanderson's delivery didn't fool Allen though.
"Sidearmers usually throw the ball low and in, and that's my best pitch," Allen said. "I hit that really well. I just tried to stay relaxed and make sure I didn't over swing, but I did swing hard. Thank God it got out of this big ole' field.
"There's no difference because the ball is still coming in on the same plane. It's just that little herky-jerky with his head, and if you let that throw you off, you're not a very good hitter. You've just got to see the ball and try to do the best you can with it."
Allen credits the home run to another year of maturity and to a newfound poise at the plate.
"I feel very disciplined right now," Allen said. "I was a lot younger last year, was swinging at a lot of bad pitches and was getting myself out. This year, I'm just going to try to get my pitch to hit, and if not, I'm going to take my walks."
Reach the reporter al.stevens@asu.edu.
