As the No. 2 ASU baseball team rolled to a school-record 24-0 start earlier this season, a scary prospect for future opponents remained.
“What happens when Kole Calhoun starts to heat up at the plate?”
The slugger’s exploits at last summer’s College World Series have been well documented. The then-junior hit .563 (9-for-16) in Omaha with three home runs (one a grand slam) on his way to being named to the All-CWS team.
The spike in production for Calhoun last season began around the middle of the Pac-10 schedule, mirroring a current streak for the senior this season that has made handling an already efficient ASU lineup an even more difficult task.
Coach Tim Esmay attributed low early numbers by Calhoun, in part, to hard-hit balls that happened to find the opponents’ gloves more often than open space in the field.
Now, though, balls off Calhoun’s bat are beginning to collect grass stains — not to mention asphalt marks.
In ASU’s (33-5, 11-4 Pac-10) last nine games, the senior is hitting at a .471 clip (16-for-34) with three home runs — two that landed in traffic on Rural Road last weekend — and nine RBI. Calhoun also has shown an ability to get on base, collecting eight walks during that stretch.
Esmay said confidence in the power hitter never waned during his early season struggles.
“That’s the thing with Corky (the team’s nickname for Calhoun) — just being around him for two years, he’s earned the right to have that trust,” Esmay said. “The great thing about Kole is he really knows how to control himself. He really knows how to handle this game; the game doesn’t eat him up. He’s always a swing away from getting it rolling again. That’s his attitude and I think that’s what always carries him through.”
Calhoun, one of just three seniors of the team’s roster, said he didn’t add pressure on himself during the early-season doldrums, and his explanation for the current hot streak reveals a relaxed demeanor teammates say make him a leader.
“I’ve always kind of been a slow starter, but now we’re in the second half of the season and I don’t have any more excuses, so I figure I’ve got to start hitting now,” Calhoun mused. “It’d be nice to start [hitting] a little earlier, but this is a funny game, you know?”
Calhoun’s bat adds extra potency to the ASU offense because of the ability of the two batters ahead of him in the lineup to get on base.
Sophomore shortstop and leadoff hitter Drew Maggi and sophomore second baseman Zack MacPhee, the No. 2 hitter, are among the Pac-10 leaders in on-base percentage — .481 and .542, respectively — providing Calhoun, hitting in the No. 3 spot, plenty of run-scoring opportunities.
“I’ve been lucky to have Kole [hitting] behind me all year, and now he’s starting to hit real well, so it’s nice,” MacPhee said. “And Drew helps me so much because the kid is always on base, so it’s a great spot to hit.”
Images of Omaha have painted Calhoun as a home run hitter, and while the left-hander is beginning to increase his pace in the power department (he’s now tied for the team lead with six home runs), it has been the ability to hit the ball to all fields that impresses his coach.
“The process has been almost like a mirror of last year,” Esmay said. “When he started getting going, he was [hitting the ball to all fields]. He’s forcing [pitchers] to have to pitch him a little differently and his swing has stayed the same.”
Bring on the Dons
The Sun Devils wrap up a nine-game home stand this week with a two-game set against San Francisco (22-18), which begins Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Junior Jimmy Patterson and freshman Brady Rodgers will likely be the starting pitchers.
Rodgers has proven to be a valuable commodity for the ASU pitching staff this season, often starting during mid-week games and contributing relief innings during the weekend — in 2 2/3 innings of relief on Sunday against Washington, Rodgers allowed just one hit, quelling any momentum the Huskies were mounting in a 10-4 ASU win.
“He really came in and shut the door,” Esmay said of the outing.
In 42 innings of work, Rodgers has a team-low ERA of 1.93 and has walked just nine batters.
“It’s going to help us down the line when you have a guy like that pushing and pitching well,” Esmay said. “He’s kind of a swing man — he can start, he can come in early and keep games close if the starters are struggling a little bit. He’s a vital part of our pitching staff.”
Tight Pac
An eight-game win streak by Stanford, which included two walk-off wins over Cal last weekend, has put the Cardinal’s Pac-10 record at 10-4, just one game back of first-place ASU.
UCLA, which ASU visits for a three-game series this weekend, is 2 1/2 games back (7-5) and Cal, UA and Oregon are all three games off the pace at 8-7.
“I don’t see anybody running and hiding [in the Pac-10 race] because everybody is beating everybody up,” Esmay said. “The pitching is just too good in the Pac this year … every game is going to be tight and close, and games are going to have to be won late in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.”
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu
