It might be the only game of the week for the No. 5 Sun Devils, but it's an important one nonetheless.
The University of New Mexico Lobos come to Tempe today at 4:30 p.m. for a single-game series at Packard, and they'll be hungry to knock off the Sun Devils and continue their hot streak to start the season.
A participant of the Mountain West Conference, the Lobos (22-10, 7-2) have won 15 of their past 19 games and are in the midst of their best start since 1985. Jumping into the rankings at No. 24 this week, two of the Lobos four losses during that span came to UA while the Wildcats were No. 20, and the other two defeats came in conference play.
The Sun Devils (34-6, 3-3 Pac-10) played well against the Trojans last weekend but have fallen on tough times after their record-breaking start. ASU is just 6-5 in its last 11 contests, dating back to a home series against Oklahoma, March 14-16. Before facing USC, the previous three ASU opponents were all ranked in the top 30, and USC was as high as No. 5 until an early season slip up.
After a rough series against Stanford, sophomore Jeff Larish came around last weekend, going 4-10 against USC and driving in three runs and connecting on his 12th home run of the season. Coming off back spasms that sidelined him for three games, Larish still leads the conference with 62 RBI, despite not driving in a single run over a span of eight-straight team games before last weekend.
Against USC, ASU head coach Pat Murphy used three different players in the designated hitter role. After juniors Rod Allen and Jeremy West went consecutive days without a hit, junior Mike Guerrero made an impact Sunday with a solo home run to spark a sixth-inning rally.
"Mike Guerrero deserves to play," Murphy said after Sunday's 7-5 win over USC. "He's been there all year. Just waiting in the wings to play and I think you're going to see him playing more because he deserves it."
The Sun Devils lead the overall series against New Mexico 99-20.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
