Freshman infielder Emilio Torrez catches the ball at third base and throws the ball around the horn on vs. Oregon April 7. The ASU baseball team looks to keep their conference series winning streak alive against Utah. (Photo by Molly J. Smith)When the No. 8 ASU baseball team heads to Salt Lake City this weekend for its three-game series against Utah, there will still be snow on the nearby Rocky Mountains.
While winter may still be in the air in Utah, the Sun Devils (25-12-1, 8-7 Pac-12) are already warmed up as they go for their fourth straight conference series win.
The series against the Utes (16-20, 5-13 Pac-12) represents the start of the second half of the Pac-12 season, and head coach Tim Esmay likes where his team is at.
“A 9-6 team sitting at this time or an 8-7 team sitting in this conference usually seems to be the team that has the chance to push it at the end,” Esmay said.
The push starts this weekend against the Utes, who currently sit in the cellar of the Pac-12 standings.
Esmay said the Utes’ conference record isn’t telling of the quality of their team, though.
“If you look at every game they’ve been in, it’s not like they are blowouts,” Esmay said. “They are competing, and they are competing hard.”
The Utes have struggled recently, though, dropping three of their past four series after knocking off Stanford in their opening Pac-12 series.
Junior second baseman James McDonald says that’s no reason for the Sun Devils to take the Utes lightly.
“We have to stay focused,” McDonald said. “We have to treat it like any other game and take them seriously, and it’s a series that we need to win.”
The Utes hit only .250 as a team, but have some power in the lineup. They’ve smacked 13 homeruns this season.
On the pitching side, the Utes sport a team ERA of 4.18, led by junior reliever Nick Green (1.99, two saves).
Esmay said he is familiar with some of the Utes players and knows their capabilities, even if the numbers don’t jump out.
“They’ve got some talented kids, and I know some of those kids, and they have some young arms that are playing pretty well,” Esmay said.
If the Sun Devils can knock off the Utes and win their fourth straight Pac-12 series, Esmay knows his Sun Devil team will move that much closer to the top as the temperature rises.
“We are about halfway in the Pac-12, and everyone is sitting a weekend or two weekends away from who is sitting in front,” Esmay said.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu or follow on Twitter @Danny__Shapiro
