Over the past two seasons, the ASU men’s basketball team has received copious amounts of attention after defeating UA in their last five meetings.
On behalf of the No.4 (14-3, 0-0 Pac-10) ASU baseball program: “whoopty-do.”
Not to say the baseball team is not excited about their peers achievements and tournament berths. Coach Pat Murphy is said to be a big fan of both basketball programs, however, for the last half-century the Sun Devils have quietly handled their business with the Wildcats.
Over the course of nearly 300 games between the storied rivals, the Sun Devil baseball team has defeated UA more than 60 percent of the time (173-114).
The back-to-back Pac-10 champs will welcome UA to Tempe this weekend for a three-game set to kick off conference play.
Nothing gets the blood going like the Wildcats, even if they’ve been the blue and red carpet beneath ASU’s trophy-accepting strut of late.
“UA, ASU, yeah, everybody can say, ‘Sure, we’ve had our way with them basically the last 15 years.’ We’ve finished higher than them in the conference I think 14 out of 15 years,” Murphy said. “Truth is it will be a war.”
The notion of war is not necessarily a metaphor. Just two weeks ago, two of UA’s veterans, Dillon Baird and Matt Presley, were suspended three games for their roles in a bench-clearing brawl in a game against the University of Massachusetts.
Presley told the Tucson Citizen that the brawl got the team fired up, and UA coach Andy Lopez agreed that the incident helped the team bond. The results support their theory as the Wildcats have won three straight since their boys came back from suspension.
ASU appears less gung-ho, heading into Pac-10 play.
“Sure, there will be more energy in the ballpark because of the fans that are going to be here. But we shouldn’t be out there trying to take it to the next level. We need to play our game and gradually get better and better,” sophomore Matt Newman said. “When it comes down to it, it’s just another game.”
The contrast between the two programs is best seen through the lens of experience.
The Sun Devils only have two returning full-time players, and are in the midst of what could easily be considered a rebuilding year. However, they are ranked No. 4 in the nation. The Wildcats, on the other hand, who lost some players to the draft this year, have returned 13 players including eight of last year’s starters. UA is currently unranked.
While the Sun Devils have yet to swing the bat as they have in years past, their pitching staff has been dominant with a 1.95 team era.
ASU plans to start the formidable trio of junior Mike Leake, junior Josh Spence, and sophomore Seth Blair this weekend. Murphy said Spence has not been the same since getting struck in the head by a line drive in early March, and Blair has been nursing shoulder and hamstring injuries.
Senior shortstop Mike Murphy tore his groin running to first base last weekend in Surprise. It is unknown whether he will be able to return by the end of the season, but he will not require surgery.
Junior Jared McDonald took infield practice at shortstop with coach Andy Stankiewicz on Wednesday. McDonald may fill in for freshman Riccio Torrez at shortstop, while Torrez and Leake split shifts at first.
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.
