ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy has said all season long that his team wasn't quite ready to backup its annual expectations. But the No. 1 Sun Devils (25-1, 3-0 Pac-10) went a ways toward disputing that claim with a clean sweep of longtime rival USC to open Pac-10 play this past weekend. They outscored their guests 34-12.
ASU completed the series Sunday, topping the unranked Trojans, 5-2. USC (11-14, 2-4 Pac-10) has lost 10 of its previous 12 games.
"I'm glad we caught 'SC at the right time," Murphy said. "Maybe we had something to do with that."
Murphy, though, won't let up on his spiel of college baseball parity, even if his team seems to be the only one defying it.
"We're this close to being real good," he said, leaving an inch between his index finger and thumb. "This close to being real average."
And some of the adversity Murphy has been anticipating arrived Sunday with an apparent long-term injury to junior catcher Petey Paramore, who the coach has repeatedly called the team's most underrated player.
Paramore, the team's captain, collapsed during the eighth inning while he was throwing the ball to the mound, and Murphy said Paramore was set for x-rays Sunday evening. Paramore told Murphy that he heard a pop and the medical staff feared that he broke his left fibula.
The Sun Devils scored four first-inning runs Sunday, including a two-run single from true freshman Matt Newman. USC stayed close enough to remain close and loaded the bases in the seventh inning off senior reliever Tommy Rafferty (5-0). Murphy turned to junior Reyes Dorado, who soon retired the Trojan bats with an inning-ending groundball.
Rafferty and Dorado, who earned his first career save, threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings to hold ASU's slim lead.
It also helped that the Sun Devils' defense turned five double-plays on the day. Murphy said he thought it was a misprint on the box score.
USC's junior starter Ryan Cook (3-2) threw 124 pitches, allowing all five runs on six hits in seven innings.
ASU's lineup now has an extra power hitter in the act as junior Kiel Roling continues to escape his early-season slump. The catcher/designated hitter had not seen live pitching since the College World Series due to off-season knee surgery.
Roling said Saturday after going 3-for-4 at the plate that early in the season he spent too much time trying to duplicate his .356 average and 15 home runs in 2007.
"It was only a matter of time," Murphy said. "He's still not swinging the bat the way he's capable of."
Junior third baseman Brett Wallace was ejected during Saturday's first inning when he slid into home plate on a double-steal attempt but was called out by umpire Ken Eldridge. Surprisingly, it proved more detrimental for the team that didn't lose its best hitter.
Sophomore starter Mike Leake (6-0) quickly struck out the side in the second inning, before the Sun Devil lineup scored seven runs in the bottom of the frame, including Newman's first career home run.
"We had to respond and we did," Roling said. "It was a character-builder for us."
Murphy said Wallace being ejected was unfortunate, but proved that players shouldn't say anything in response to calls.
"The ump thought he heard something that was personal to him," the coach said. "We all know that's not Wally's nature."
Leake allowed two home runs on back-to-back pitches in the sixth inning of Saturday's game but pitched through the seventh. He has issued just two walks in 47 innings pitched this season.
ASU will play a short two-game series with visiting Wofford beginning Tuesday, before embarking on its first true road trip of the season next weekend at Stanford.
Reach the reporter at: apentis@asu.edu.
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