The No. 2 ASU baseball team (31-9, 15-3 Pac-10) will travel to Tucson today to play UA in a nonconference mid-week game, with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. at Jerry Kindall Field.
ASU swept the Wildcats (19-20, 5-13) in their Pac-10 series earlier in the year, winning 4-1, 7-3 and 23-9 at Packard Stadium.
The Sun Devils got wins from juniors Josh Spence and Mike Leake, who combined to strike out 25 Wildcat batters in a little more than 16 innings.
ASU accumulated 16 hits and 11 walks in the series finale, including a grand slam from junior Jason Kipnis.
The Wildcats have struggled this year in conference play, losing 13 of 18 games, and are 10 games behind the Sun Devils in the conference.
UA has hit proficiently this season, leading the conference in batting average at .314.
The Wildcats’ two best hitters, Dillon Baird — who leads the Pac-10 in hitting with a .411 average — and Bryce Ortega pace UA at the plate, but the duo lacks the power of ASU’s top hitters juniors Kipnis and Carlos Ramirez, as the Wildcats top combo has combined for just seven home runs.
UA’s Bobby Coyle is hitting .331 with seven home runs on the year.
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.
