ASU baseball pounces on Long Beach State bullpen, wins series

Pitching on Sundays wasn’t new to junior left-hander Brett Lilek before his start against Long Beach State this afternoon, as the Sun Devils (9-5) cruised to a 9-3 win to take the series over the Dirtbags (9-5).

While pitching hasn’t been the exclusive glitch in ASU’s typically sluggish Sunday performances, the staff ace brought with him a needed sense of consistency and composure after he slid into the No. 3 spot to open up sophomore Seth Martinez’s opportunity to start Friday nights.

Lilek had a no-hitter through three innings Sunday, but allowed a walk to junior right fielder Zach Rivera and a pair of singles from senior left fielder Alex Bishop and freshman designated hitter Luke Rasmussen that cut ASU’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth.

Head coach Tracy Smith was pleased by Lilek’s fast start, but said that he was expecting more out of his new Sunday starter.

“We’re going to need more out of him,” Smith said. “It’s a win and a good thing to build on, but I want to see one of the better pitchers in the country step up and act like one of the better pitchers in the country.”

After allowing a leadoff double to Rivera in the sixth, Lilek was pulled for senior right-hander Darin Gillies, who worked his way out of a jam, escaping without allowing a run despite having runners on first and second with no outs.

“The biggest thing for us is learning whether you have the durability to bounce back and pitch multiple days on the weekend,” Smith said. “He’s got a good fastball and a strikeout pitch. Having that caliber of stuff impacting multiple games is important, it’s a huge role for us.”

Sophomore catcher Brian Serven homered in the bottom of the sixth, and was hit by a pitch in a wild eighth inning in which ASU sent nine men to the plate and scored four runs.

“He’s locked in right now,” Smith said. “To his credit, he’s made some adjustments, and think when guys make adjustments and have success, they tend to have a little more buy-in. I think he’s a different guy offensively.”

Long Beach State’s bullpen had thinned, and experimented with freshmen Sean Trimble, junior Trey Ferketic, and redshirt sophomore Vaughn Berberet who struggled with the task of damage control with ASU already in control 5-2 prior to the start of the eighth.

There have been few lineup cards that read exactly the same thus far in any of the 14 games ASU has played, but a notable change has been the revolving door at first base – Junior RJ Ybarra became the fourth player to start at the position this season.

“There’s a learning curve with him,” Smith said. “We’ve got to get something offensively out of him and the DH spot. We’re not really productive there right now, and this gives us the best chance to do that.”

Ybarra said he’d played first base in high school and in six games in the Cape Cod League, so the change wasn’t as drastic as it may be perceived.

“I don’t think it’s much of a challenge,” Ybarra said. “Whatever I need to do to get in the lineup and hit, I’ll do it. It’s a comfortable position, and I spent this week working on the bunt plays and pickoffs with the coaches.”

Smith said that freshman right-hander Ryan Hingst is the leading candidate to start midweek games with Martinez now throwing on Fridays.

ASU will play UNLV on Wednesday, March 11, before opening up conference play on March 13 against Oregon State.

Additional notes:

– After picking up his fifth save of the season – and 29th of his career – Friday, junior closer Ryan Burr was rested Saturday and Sunday, as sophomore Eder Erives pitched the ninth in a non-save situation, giving up a run on one hit.

 

Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.

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