One week after extending its season-opening win streak to nine games, the eighth-ranked ASU baseball team travels to Southern California to face No. 13 Long Beach State.
"They're a great program and a great club," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said. "They've had a history of great baseball and they've got a great ballpark. It should be fun. I like playing teams like that every week."
The Sun Devils (9-0) are off to their best start since 1999 after a three-game sweep of San Diego State this past weekend. The 1999 club won 11 straight games before losing its first contest of the season to Florida State.
Over the weekend, ASU displayed a few heroics, coming back from four runs down to win on Friday, then pulling off a similar comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning on Saturday. Still, Murphy is unhappy with the play he's seen from his team.
"I was very unimpressed last weekend," he said. "We're trying to live up to the wrong people's expectations. We're not playing with mental toughness; we're pressing."
This weekend's opponent will surely give ASU something to prove, as the Dirtbags of Long Beach State (0-0) own one of the nation's top pitching staffs. Two pre-season All-Americans lead the staff, including Friday night's starter, junior Abe Alvarez.
Last season the southpaw boasted a 12-3 record with a 2.72 ERA.
"He's a great pitcher," said ASU sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia, who played with Alvarez on Team USA over the summer. "He throws from a lot of different angles to try to keep hitters off balance."
The other Dirtbag ace is junior right-hander Jered Weaver, who will face the Sun Devils on Saturday. He posted an 8-4 mark last year with a 4.37 ERA.
"They're two of the best pitchers in the country," Murphy said. "It will be a great test for us. We'll find out if our lofty numbers are real."
Long Beach State's lineup is nothing to look over either. Infielder Tim Hutting returns to the lineup after filling in on the infield during the last two months of 2002. During his 35 games, Hutting led the team in batting with a .398 average.
ASU must also watch out for freshman Troy Tulowitzki. Although just a freshman, Tulowitzki showed his potential in high school as a two-time, second team all-state player in California. He hit .519 as a senior and .536 during his junior campaign.
"They have good pitching and their lineup looks solid," ASU's Friday night starter, sophomore Mark Sopko, said. "We're just going to try to take it one game at a time and just try to play our baseball."
Sopko will look for his second win of the season tonight after a no decision Jan. 24 against San Diego State in which he threw 4.2 innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out four. He won his first game of the year while pitching against Hawai'i-Hilo, Jan. 19.
Emerging for the Sun Devils on the young season is sophomore first baseman Jeff Larish. The 6-foot-2-inch, hard-hitting slugger is second on the team in batting with a .517 average. He's also hit five home runs and driven in 22 runs, both team highs.
Last season Larish was supposed to redshirt, but given an opportunity to play third base half way through the season, he capitalized by hitting .328 with 10 extra base hits and 24 RBI.
Pedroia has also continued his stellar performance from last season, hitting at a .472 clip in nine games. He's hit safely in every game this season, extending a streak from last year to 20-straight games.
"I don't really think about that," Pedroia said of the hitting streak. "I just try to get on base so the guys behind me can knock me in."
Pedroia, the team's lead-off hitter, and the Sun Devils hope to keep this early season hot streak going and Murphy will keep the same rotation on the mound as last weekend with Sopko, senior Jered Liebeck and freshman Erik Averill getting the nods.
"That's always a key in college, to strike first because there are usually going to be a lot of points scored on Sundays," Murphy said of the early season success. "It's important to strike first, why wait?"
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
