Step one on the road to Omaha is now complete for the ASU baseball team.
The No. 1-seed Sun Devils (47-12) beat Oral Roberts 8-3 Sunday night at Packard Stadium to win the Tempe Regional and advance to a super regional this weekend.
The Sun Devils will face either Oklahoma State or Clemson, who square off on Monday, in the next round.
ASU notched a 17-6 win against Kent State on Friday and a 4-1 victory over ORU on Saturday to set up Sunday’s regional-clinching game.
After a rocky first inning, the ASU pitching duo of sophomore Seth Blair and freshman Mitchell Lambson threw eight innings of shutout ball, and the Sun Devil bats came alive in the late innings.
“Seth Blair was the difference in the game,” ASU coach Pat Murphy said. “This is a breakout game for him.”
ORU stuck for three runs in the first inning when the team capitalized on an error by freshman shortstop Drew Maggi with two outs. An RBI single by senior designated hitter Johnny Roberts gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead, and a two-run double off the wall by junior third baseman Colby Price made the score 3-0.
But the Golden Eagles (33-15) would not score again after that, as Blair struck out seven batters in his six innings of work to up his record to 7-2, and Lambson did not give up a hit in his three innings of relief.
“The first inning I just wasn’t myself,” Blair said. “I was just trying to hit my spots instead of being convicted to every pitch. I was like, ‘If [Murphy leaves] me in, they’re not hitting me the rest of the game.’”
ASU scraped one run across the board in the third inning on a bases-loaded walk to junior outfielder Kole Calhoun, but the Sun Devil offense did not get going until the sixth inning.
The Sun Devils loaded the bases with no outs before another walk to freshman designated hitter Johnny Ruettiger scored junior catcher Carlos Ramirez and a passed ball scored Calhoun to tie the game.
ASU then took the lead for good when freshman second baseman Zack MacPhee hit a chopper over Price’s head to bring home two more runs and give the Sun Devils a 5-3 advantage.
The Devils added three insurance runs in the eighth inning on an RBI single up the middle by freshman first baseman Riccio Torrez and a two-run inside-the-park home run by junior third baseman Jared MacDonald.
“I was thinking [triple] out of the box for sure, but then to see [the third base coach] waving me [home] was kind of surprising,” MacDonald said. “I just kept rolling.”
Saturday’s 4-1 win over Oral Roberts was just another day at the ballpark for ASU junior pitcher Mike Leake.
The Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year threw another complete game, tied his career high with 15 strikeouts and earned his nation-best 15th win of the season.
A bloop RBI single down the left-field line in the ninth inning by ORU senior first baseman Michael Notaro was the only thing that kept Leake from his third consecutive complete-game shutout.
“I know there’s a kid in the country that everybody’s making a big stink about over at San Diego State [Stephen Stausburg], and he deserves all the accolades he gets,” Murphy said. “He’s a great one, but he ain’t better than Mike Leake. That’s a fact.”
ORU senior Mark Serrano also pitched a stellar game, striking out 13 batters in 8 1/3 innings.
Junior outfielder Jason Kipnis went 3-for-4 with an RBI on the night, as the Sun Devils scored a single run in the second, third, sixth and ninth innings.
ASU immediately got into the winners bracket of the regional by crossing home plate early and often against Kent State on Friday.
The Sun Devils jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first inning and scored at least one run in every frame except the fifth.
“We all believe that we can hit,” Calhoun said. “[Friday’s game] was kind of a statement that we’re here to play and we’re not going to need just pitching to get us through this thing.”
The ASU offense pounded out 12 hits and took advantage of 10 KSU walks in the 17-6 victory.
Junior pitcher Josh Spence threw three innings but left the game after tweaking his back. Freshman Jordan Swagerty allowed seven hits in four innings of relief work to get his fourth win of the season.
Leake was named the Tempe Regional Most Outstanding Player for the second time in his career, while Calhoun, Kipnis, MacPhee and Ruettiger were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Reach the reporter at
gina.mizell@asu.edu
