The No. 4 Sun Devil baseball team has a lot of young faces this year, and left-hander Erik Averill is one of the freshmen making a big impact.
Friday, the product of Villa Park High School in Orange, Calif. was solid out of the bullpen, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings to pick up the victory in a 13-0 win over Penn State.
Averill was thrown into the game after starting pitcher Jered Liebeck left because of a one hour, five minute rain delay in the top of the third inning. Averill did not seem affected by his quick arrival, mowing down the first six batters he faced and 11 of the first 12.
"That's pretty much the motto of the team; always be ready for your opportunity because you don't know when it's going to come," said Averill, who struck out six for his fourth win of the season. "Liebeck was pitching great tonight and had all his stuff. It's unfortunate the rain came because it took a win away from him."
With the Sun Devils only up 1-0 in the third inning, Averill came into the game with one out and a runner on first. After striking out Penn State freshman right fielder Derrick Barr, Averill got senior center fielder Zack Smithlin to ground into a force-out at second to end the inning. ASU (24-1) went on to score seven runs in the next two innings and grab a strangle hold on the game.
Averill faced just four batters over the minimum, with the eighth inning causing his only troubles. Averill gave up a leadoff double and with two outs an error and a single loaded the bases. He left unscathed after Mike DeRenzo hit a come backer that Averill grabbed and threw to second to end the inning.
After starting the year without allowing an earned run in 18.1 innings, Averill struggled in his next two starts, not making it through the third in either appearance and allowing a combined seven earned runs. Those outings moved him out of the starting rotation and into the bullpen, where he's now back to his old habits, allowing no earned runs over the last 7.2 innings of work.
"The biggest thing is when someone is going through a groove it's just part of baseball, a game of failure," he said. "Around a team like this, they just pick you up the entire time and encourage you, the coaches work with you and you know you're going to get back to what you're doing."
On Jan. 18 against Hawai'i-Hilo, Averill almost threw a no-hitter, going strong until a one-out eighth inning double. He still captured the win in an 18-3 rout. In seven appearances Averill is 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA, good for third on the team. He's struck out 22 batters in 30 innings.
The pitching staff as a whole allowed just eight runs over the weekend sweep of Penn State (0-3). ASU head coach Pat Murphy was proud of their efforts, but knows there is still room for improvement.
"We're definitely deeper than last year or the year before," Murphy said. "There are some guys we can go to. I thought they threw the ball good this weekend, the pitching was okay, but we've got to get a lot better on the mound and make big pitches."
Murphy has been trying different people in different roles throughout the year. Averill may find himself back in the starting rotation by the time conference play starts. For now no decision seems difficult, as no matter what role someone is in, the team continues to win.
This weekend ASU (24-1) attempts to extend their record-long streak to start a season when they host the Bob Schaefer memorial tournament. The Sun Devils will play Cal-State Northridge (4-14) tonight at 6 followed by games with Southern Utah (2-2) and Utah (7-5) at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday, ASU will play Cal-State Northridge again at 2 p.m.
"We're just here playing as hard as we can and it's kind of fun," ASU sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia said Sunday of the amazing start. "As long as we're winning it is fun. It's going well and everybody's getting along, it's just great right now.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.