After another weekend sweep, ASU's third in four weeks, the Sun Devils are off to their best start during the Pat Murphy era.
With a 14-1 record, the Sun Devils also moved from No. 8 in the rankings to No. 5, according to Baseball America magazine. Murphy's previous best start since he took over the team in 1995 was in 2001 when the team started 13-2 through its first 15 games.
In the midst of 25-consecutive games in the state of Arizona, the Sun Devils travel to Surprise where they will compete in the inaugural Coca-Cola Spring Training College Baseball Classic. The games will be played Friday through Sunday at Surprise Stadium, the new spring training complex of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. Gonzaga, Oklahoma State and conference foe Oregon State will be ASU's competition in the tournament hosted by the town of Surprise.
"I think it's important," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said of winning the first three games in a long home stand. "We have to play better from the beginning and have better at bats as we face better pitching. We just have to keep going and get better."
Team Notes:
In Saturday's 17-6 victory over Brigham Young University, the Sun Devils scored 13 runs with two outs in the inning...ASU increased its NCAA record consecutive game scoring streak to 448 games...Although the starting pitchers have been crucial to ASU's success early in the season, their 6.97 ERA over the weekend allowed the bullpen to break into the picture. Combining to throw 16.2 innings, the bullpen earned all three victories and managed a stingy 1.08 ERA...The Sun Devils have already hit 22 home runs this year, with 11 different players going yard. Last year, the Sun Devils did not hit homerun No. 22 until April 7 (game 34).
Player Notes:
Sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia had his 22-game hitting streak snapped Feb. 2 in Long Beach, but since then he's gone 5-for-15 (.333) with two multi-hit games. He now has 10 multi-hit games to lead all Sun Devils, and his 25 hits are also tops on the club. Sophomore first baseman Jeff Larish continued his early season rampage with five hits in 11 trips to the plate, including two homeruns. His .469 average is second on the team and his seven long balls rank first...Sophomore third baseman Frank Mesa also had a hot weekend for the Sun Devils, collecting five hits and five RBI in two games. Mesa had four hits in Friday's game and hit the game winning single Saturday.
Pac-10 Notables:
The Stanford Cardinal dropped a pair of games over the weekend to No. 3 Florida State. After winning the first game of the series 2-1 in 12 innings, Stanford fell 4-3 Saturday and lost again in 12 innings Sunday, 10-8. Stanford allowed the Seminoles to tie the game with three in the ninth. After being swept the week before by No. 6 Cal-State Fullerton, Stanford is 3-5 on the young season and fell eight places in the rankings from No. 3 to No. 11.
In its first week of competition, USC took one from Santa Barbara before dropping two-of-three to No. 16 Long Beach State. After handing ASU its only loss of the season, LBS left-hander Abe Alvarez earned his second win by shutting out the Trojans 6-0. USC also fell in the rankings, dropping from No. 6 to No. 9
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
