Brandon Magee has accumulated his fair share of hits during his time at ASU, but until last weekend, all of those came as a linebacker for the Sun Devil football team.
On Saturday, Magee knocked his first career hit in a maroon-and-gold baseball uniform — a pinch-hit single to center that was part of ASU’s 22-hit performance in a 16-2 win over UC Riverside.
Magee, who Sun Devil players exalt as being one of the most fun guys in the clubhouse, received a standing ovation from his teammates.
What Magee’s hit represented is a wide range of contributors who are responsible for No. 2 ASU’s 11-0 start, a mark the team will try to improve when it hosts Grand Canyon on Tuesday night at Packard Stadium.
Sophomore Zack MacPhee’s early eye-popping numbers, which include a Pac-10 lead in batting average (.564), runs scored (15), RBI (16), triples (7), stolen bases (7) and total bases (40), have jumped out of the box score, but a symphony of aluminum pings has been orchestrated not by one, but a slew of Sun Devil batters.
With a conference-leading .385 team batting average, ASU has used the nonconference schedule to spread around playing time, something first-year coach Tim Esmay said will pay dividends when the Pac-10 schedule begins on March 26, if not make his job of crafting a lineup more difficult.
“What we’ve wanted to do is get some guys some playing time and get an idea of, when this thing really heats up, who we can go to,” Esmay said. “For them to already have a lot of [at-bats] and innings, they are in a position where they are primed and ready to perform. We’re getting everything we are looking for, and I think the wins are kind of the byproduct of these guys preparing themselves the way they do day in and day out.”
The Sun Devils have done more with less this season in their attempt to adjust to the loss of the power game that came from the bats last season of sluggers Jason Kipnis and Carlos Ramirez, who combined to hit 35 home runs and 146 RBI in 2009.
With just nine home runs through the team’s first 11 games, ASU has been manufacturing runs in bunches to begin the season, averaging just more than 11 runs per contest.
“You have to take things game by game, and right now we’re just locked into the process,” Esmay said.
Ain’t it Grand
The Grand Canyon Antelopes (14-10) are coached by Dave Stapleton, an alum of the school who has been a part of the staff for 17 seasons, including the past 10 as the head coach.
Stapleton pitched for two seasons in the Major Leagues — one of 13 former Antelope players to make it to The Show — in 1987 and 1988 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers and has accumulated more than 200 wins at the helm of GCU, which is a part of the Pacific West Conference of the NCAA Division II.
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu
