After sweeping through another weekend of baseball with three wins - one over Dayton University and a pair of victories against No. 14 Notre Dame - the No. 4 Sun Devils increased their winning streak to 12 games.
The Sun Devils' (21-1) only loss of the season came on Jan. 31 to No. 11 Long Beach State. Prior to that defeat, ASU was riding a nine-game, season-opening winning streak. ASU can eclipse their best start ever, 23-1 in 1972, with a three-game sweep over Penn State University (0-0) at home this weekend.
The series kicks off Friday at Packard Stadium with a 7 p.m. start. Saturday's game begins at 1 p.m., and Sunday's contest is at noon.
Over the past two weeks, ASU head coach Pat Murphy has switched the starting rotation, throwing senior right-handers Beau Vaughan and Ben Thurmond into the mix. Thurmond, coming off an arm injury last season, has seen limited innings in his three starts as he attempts to build his arm strength back to its full potential. Still, Murphy has been pleased with what he's seen from Thurmond.
"Fifty-five pitches was all he threw [Sunday] but he hadn't done that yet," Murphy said Sunday after a 14-8 victory over Notre Dame (0-2). "It's early, he showed us why we got him and I'm excited about his future."
Thurmond did not allow a walk in five innings and struck out four batters. He has allowed just one walk in 15 innings, while racking up 12 strikeouts.
With 22 games under their belts, Murphy is still not completely satisfied with the play he's seen, despite losing just once. However, he was very pleased in the way his squad battled back Sunday after surrendering a big inning to the Irish.
"Respond, that's a word we use a lot," Murphy said. "I liked the fact that we battled back and were resilient."
Sophomore first baseman Jeff Larish also likes the team's ability to battle back, calling them "unbelievable."
"They come to play everyday and no matter how much we get down our guys don't quit," Larish said Saturday after another come-from-behind win over the Irish. "That's a good sign."
Game notes: Sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia collected eight hits over the weekend, recording a multi-hit game in each contest - two hits Friday and Saturday, four hits Sunday. He has now hit safely in 21-of-22 games this year and 32-of-33 dating back to last season. Pedroia also has 14 multi-hit games to lead the team...
With two grand slams on Saturday - Larish and junior designated hitter Jeremy West - the Sun Devils now have six on the season and have hit two in a game twice. The other such instance came on Jan. 26 when Larish and junior second baseman Steve Garrabrants both went deep with the bags full...
After driving in nine runs and walking six times, Larish increased his team leading totals in those categories to 42 and 32, respectively...
Sunday's sixth inning lasted 53 minutes. Notre Dame scored seven times and the Sun Devils out-slugged them for nine in their half of the inning. The seven runs against tied the most given up by ASU in an inning (Jan. 26 vs. SDSU) and the nine scored also tied their season high (Jan. 19 vs. Hawai'i Hilo)...
Murphy used three different lineups over the weekend, making it 21 different lineups in 22 games...
The weekend attendance of 9,317 marked the second-highest weekend series this year behind the San Diego State series Jan. 24-26 (10,043)...
Junior closer Ryan Schroyer pitched three-scoreless innings Sunday to earn his 12th save in a Sun Devil uniform. He's now ranked sixth all-time on the ASU saves list and has thrown 13.1 innings this year without allowing a run...
Notre Dame shortstop Matt Macri committed four errors against ASU with two coming at crucial points, allowing 10 unearned runs to cross the plate. Macri is highly touted and the No. 40 prospect among 2003 draft-eligible players, according to Perfect Game/Baseball America magazine.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
