Forty-one games down, just 21 left for the No. 5 ASU baseball team, and relief pitching will be key down the stretch.
The season stretches on tonight against Grand Canyon University (21-12) at 7 p.m., at Packard Stadium, and the importance of the bullpen will be heightened as the starters accumulate more and more innings.
The Sun Devils (34-7, 3-3 Pac-10) have a nice mixture of right and left-handed pitchers they can look to when facing the Antelopes.
ASU has put a lot of its stock in lefties like freshman Brett Bordes and seniors Carlos Arguello and Bryce Kartler this season. The three have combined for 44 appearances out of the bullpen and have pitched 42.1 innings. Opposing hitters are batting a meager .230 against the trio.
"Anytime you can have a wide variety of pitchers coming out of the pen, it can help you," said Kartler, who has 19 strikeouts in 11 innings of work. "It makes it easier on coach and the team knowing you can bring a guy in who's going to get the job done."
According to ASU assistant coach Chris Sinacori, Kartler is the go-to guy against any power hitter in the opposing team's lineup. However, Kartler approaches that type of matchup as if he's facing any other hitter. He did admit to concentrating more on his location.
"Those kind of guys can hit mistakes," he said. "The important thing is making pitches at the time you need to make them."
Arguello is not much of a power pitcher, but Sinacori likes to sandwich him between hard throwers to throw off the opposition a bit. He likes the experience Arguello brings to the bullpen and is not afraid to use him in any situation.
"Carlos is battle tested," Sinacori said of Arguello, who has not allowed a hit to a left-handed hitter in 12 plate appearances against. "He's the guy I like to have out there when the game is on the line."
The youngster Bordes has not shied away from his opportunities either, coming into difficult situations all year long and shutting the door.
"Bordy we call my bases-loaded guru," Sinacori said. "He's come into that situation a lot and gotten out of it; he's tough to hit.
The southpaw has been thrown into a bases-loaded situation six times in his 17.1 innings of work. In three of those opportunities, Bordes has ended the inning unscathed, including last week at USC when he escaped trouble and wound up with the victory, despite throwing just one-third of an inning.
The win was the first of his career at ASU, but Bordes said he does not feel any pressures as a young guy in a bullpen of veterans.
"Being a freshman and coming out to help the team, it's a pretty big responsibility," he said. "I don't really feel the pressure, I just bear down and try and get the job done."
No clear set-up man has been established for junior closer Ryan Schroyer, but Sinacori knows everyone in his pen has the capabilities to fill that void.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
