The weather was perfect all weekend long at Packard Stadium, and that is exactly how the ASU baseball team’s record stayed.
Perfect.
The No. 1 Sun Devils got great pitching and timely hitting and swept a three-game series from Houston over the weekend to improve to 20-0 on the season, the second best start in school history.
The best start in team history came back in 1961 when ASU started 21-0. The 2010 Sun Devils will have a chance to tie that mark this weekend when Pac-10 play opens against California.
Sunday’s win didn’t come easily, however.
ASU took a 6-2 lead into the ninth inning, but UH plated three runs off of freshman reliever Jake Barrett and had the bases loaded with two outs.
ASU coach Tim Esmay went to sophomore closer Jordan Swagerty with the game on the line, who got Cougars’ first baseman Mike Murphy to hit one back up the middle.
Sophomore second baseman Zack MacPhee fully laid out and made a diving stab and flipped to sophomore shortstop Drew Maggi just in the nick of time to get the final out.
If that ball had gotten through, the Cougars would have taken the lead. Instead, ASU hung on for a 6-5 win.
“That was a tremendous play,” Esmay said. “One of the better plays to end the game that I have seen in a while. That obviously was a tremendous help for us.”
The call was very close at second base, and five UH players and one assistant coach were ejected for their actions after the game. Cougars’ coach Rayner Noble was also ejected in the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
MacPhee also made an impact at the plate on Sunday. His three-run double gave ASU a 3-1 lead in the third inning, but it was just a single that ended up being the winning run.
With two outs in the seventh inning, MacPhee singled and stole second base, putting him in position to score on a base hit by Calhoun.
“A run is a run, and [at] that point you were thinking it is 6-2, but that was a heck of an at-bat,” Esmay said. “[He gets a] two-out knock, steals a bag and then Kole gets a big knock and in the end that was the winning run.”
ASU got strong outings from all three of their starting pitchers this weekend, with all of them getting wins.
“The starting pitching was really solid,” Esmay said. “The starters went deeper than they have in the past, and that was the plan. Now I think they are in very good pitching shape, and they should be ready for the long haul of the season.”
Sophomore Jake Borup got the start on Sunday and allowed two runs in five innings of work to pick up his fifth win of the season, which ties junior Merrill Kelly for the team lead.
Freshman Brady Rodgers and sophomore Mitchell Lambson got the game to the ninth for Barrett.
For the first time this season, Barrett just didn’t have it.
“I think he was almost too fresh today and he was overthrowing his fastball a little bit,” Esmay said. “Today was the first day he didn’t have control of his fastball, and it kind of breathed some new life in that other dugout.”
After UH cut the lead to 6-5, Esmay gave the ball to Swagerty, who was catching on Sunday.
“If you ever caught before, you would have a lot of respect for what Jordan did today,” Esmay said. “Catching a day game and coming out and throwing in the ninth.”
Junior Seth Blair set the tone for the weekend on Friday night, tossing seven strong innings and allowing just a solo home run in the seventh inning, leading ASU to a 10-1 victory.
MacPhee gave Blair all the offense he would need with a two-run home run to left in the first inning.
The Sun Devils broke Friday’s game open in the sixth inning, thanks to back-to-back home runs from Calhoun and sophomore Riccio Torrez.
Calhoun’s blast was a grand slam onto Rural Road, and Torrez followed with a solo shot that nearly took out the scoreboard in left centerfield.
On Saturday, it was Kelly’s turn to turn in a gem on the mound.
The righty threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out eight to pick up his fifth win of the season.
Providing the offensive thunder on Saturday was sophomore Zach Wilson.
In the third inning, Wilson drilled a three-run homer, and just an inning later, he put ASU up 6-0 with a two-run double.
Lambson and Swagerty each pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the 6-0 shutout victory.
The most impressing part of ASU’s start may be the depth that the team is showing, as many different players have contributed to the team’s success, either on the mound or at the plate.
“These first 20 games we got a lot of guys [at-bats] and a lot of guys innings on the mound,” Esmay said. “I feel like we have been battle-tested and guys have played enough to know their roles and what we are doing.”
Now it is on to a whole new season — Pac-10 play. Winning a fourth-straight conference championship won’t be easy, as only one team in the conference is under .500.
But right now, ASU just needs some rest after a busy last few weeks. The players will get four days off before hosting Cal.
“This team just played eight games in 10 days — they need to get their freshness and excitability back,” Esmay said. “It is kind of nice that we aren’t playing midweek this week so the guys can get their legs underneath them and get ready for the [Pac-10].”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
