Rain, rain, go away.
Come again some other opening day.
Or weekend, for that matter.
The beginning of the ASU baseball season got off to a wet start when New Mexico came to town to play a scheduled four-game set.
Because of inclement weather, however, the teams only played three, with the No. 11 Sun Devils (3-0) sweeping the series.
Friday night’s 8-2 ASU win was the only game of the series that went as planned.
Junior third baseman Riccio Torrez stole the show-opening night by going 4-for-5 with two singles, two home runs and career highs in both RBIs (5) and total bases (10).
“It’s more about winning than anything else; it’s fun to win,” Torrez said. “I actually had the first game jitters before I went out there. I was more anxious than nervous.”
On the mound to start the season for the Sun Devils was sophomore Brady Rodgers.
The new ASU ace lived up to his manager’s faith in him by pitching five shutout innings, giving up just two hits and striking out five batters.
“I had a lot of confidence going in, because coach picked me to be the No. 1 guy,” Rodgers said. “Just about everything was working, and that’s always nice. You can go to any pitch in any count and just throw strikes and trust your defense.”
Sophomore Alex Blackford pitched the final four innings of the game to record his first career save. He gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits.
“[Blackford] showed the maturity out there that we all know that he [has],” Rodgers said. “Giving up two runs doesn’t mean a thing; it’s how you react to it. We all had a lot of trust in him.”
Saturday was a miserable day for baseball. Constant rain bombarded Packard Stadium throughout the day, and the scheduled day-night doubleheader turned into just three innings of play.
Sophomore pitcher Jake Barrett got the start and allowed one run on two hits and two walks before play was suspended for the day.
The Sun Devils and Lobos (0-3) restarted the game Sunday at 1:45 p.m. with ASU leading 5-1.
From there, the Sun Devils picked up right where they left off, scoring three more runs, one on an inside-the-park solo homerun from Torrez, to cruise to an 8-1 victory.
Junior transfer Kyle Ottoson pitched the remaining six innings, only allowing three hits while striking out eight and earning his first career Division I baseball win.
Just 30 minutes later, the two teams started the final game of the series.
Another junior transfer pitcher, Kramer Champlin, got the start this time. He went six innings, giving up four hits and two runs and earning his first win as well.
“[Ottoson and Champlin] were outstanding today,” ASU coach Tim Esmay said. “They both commanded the zone and they were in control of their outings. I thought they handled the expectations real well.”
The Sun Devils got on the board quickly with three runs in the first inning. These were followed by two more in the fourth inning, highlighted by a triple and RBI from junior catcher Austin Barnes.
After New Mexico struck back with two runs in the top of the eighth, ASU answered with two runs of its own before junior pitcher Joseph Lopez secured the win and sweep for the Sun Devils, 7-5.
Hahn hurt
In the first inning of the final game of the series, freshman outfielder Cory Hahn was injured while sliding into second base on a steal attempt.
It appeared Lobos second baseman Kyle Stiner’s knee collided with Hahn’s head.
The freshman lay motionless on the field for 10 minutes before an ambulance arrived to take him away on a stretcher.
He was taken to a local hospital, but no additional information was available.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
