The No. 2 Sun Devils (31-9, 15-3 Pac-10) have a chance to do something no ASU baseball team has done since 1982.
Having won all six of its Pac-10 series thus far, ASU has only three Pac-10 series remaining — should the Sun Devils win them all, it would be the first time ASU has won every Pac-10 series in more than 25 years.
On Friday, ASU will travel to Corvallis, Ore. to face Oregon State (24-11, 9-6).
ASU will then finish up regular-season conference play by hosting Oregon (13-28, 3-12) and UCLA (19-21, 11-7).
“The Pac-10 is not down,” coach Pat Murphy said. “The Pac-10 is great from top to bottom, but it doesn’t have a dominant team or maybe three dominant teams.”
While Washington State, UCLA, OSU and USC have all slightly improved their conference records this season, the rest of the conference appears down, and new Pac-10 baseball team Oregon has taken the brunt of many beatings with a 3-12 record.
ASU has a three-and-a-half-game lead on second-place WSU and barring a major breakdown, it appears the Sun Devils are on pace to secure a third-straight Pac-10 title.
ASU is 12th in RPI, a rating that examines a team’s strength of schedule, while the next closest team in the conference, OSU, is 36th in the nation per the formula.
While Murphy has repeatedly claimed that the Sun Devils are not a dominant conference team and not a great team, the conference stats reveal a different story. The Sun Devils lead the conference in ERA by more than a run at 2.47, while the next closest team, OSU, has a team ERA of 3.77.
Junior Mike Leake won his 10th game of the year on Friday with his third complete game, shutting down Cal to the tune of one run.
Leake remains in the top five in the nation in numerous categories including wins, innings pitched, ERA, complete games and strikeouts.
If the season ended today, Leake, with his 1.54 ERA, would have the third best aluminum bat ERA in school history, and depending on how deep ASU can go in the postseason, he would have a chance to join the school’s best for wins and strikeouts.
The junior also has an outside chance to break into the school’s record book for innings pitched in a season.
The Sun Devils are also among the conference leaders in nearly every offensive category.
ASU is third in the conference in hitting with a .301 average, but is first in runs scored, while also leading the Pac-10 in home runs, walks and stolen bases.
Junior Jason Kipnis leads the conference in slugging percentage and OPS, and junior Carlos Ramirez is second in the country in runs batted in.
Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.
