ASU baseball started out the 2016 season just the way it were hoping to, with a 5-2 win over Xavier on Friday night.
The bats got going early for the Sun Devils. David Greer started the first inning with a double to left field, bringing Daniel Williams home and moving Andrew Shaps to third after both walked. After Brian Serven lined out to short, Colby Woodmansee singled up the middle to bring Greer and Shaps home, setting up the 3-0 score going into the second.
Shaps said that starting the game strong was huge for the team, a thought that Greer reciprocated.
“It was a big weight lifted off our shoulders, truthfully,” Greer said. “Taking it up right off the scrimmage, but we’re doing it to another team now, it was awesome.”
They both went 2-2 on the night, with RBI doubles for each.
The good start was a relief for Shaps, who was nervous before the game.
“I’ve never started Opening Day, and obviously I’m a sophomore and didn’t play last year, so I didn’t really know what to expect," he said. "I basically told myself to pretend it was just another scrimmage and I calmed down a little bit.”
The rest of the team seemed to settle in to their roles as well, especially junior starting pitcher Hever Bueno. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits and one run, and striking out six and earning him the win.
“I thought Hever looked like a legitimate Friday night starter,” head coach Tracy Smith said.
Bueno left in the fifth with an apparent muscle injury, but Smith said there doesn’t seem to be too much of a concern.
Freshman James Ryan came in to relieve Bueno in the fifth and had a good first outing for the Sun Devils. He struck out three in 1 1/3 innings pitched.
“For a kid who hasn’t pitched a lot, he’s earned the opportunity to be one of the guys out of the pen and he’s shown us all early spring that he’s throwing strikes and competing in the zone,” Smith said. “I thought he did that again tonight, so that was a lot of fun to see.”
Greer said he thought Ryan went into a big situation and held his composure well for his first appearance.
Ryan wasn’t the only freshman who came out and impressed on Opening Night.
Right fielder Gage Canning had some nice plays in the outfield and came up with his first career hit and RBI in the eighth after Woodmansee led off with a double.
“I’m glad Gage got a knock, he added that last run on so I was happy to see that,” Shaps said.
Canning’s performance in the preseason earned him a starting position. On Friday, he showed he belongs in that spot.
“He gets good reads that’s why he’s starting as a freshman,” Shaps said. “We have other outfielders and Gage has performed well enough in the outfield to earn that spot.”
Xavier didn’t put points on the board until the sixth, when sophomore designated hitter Nate Soria doubled and was brought in by senior shortstop Andre Jernigan.
The Musketeers were able to score again in the ninth, but couldn’t keep the bats going to rally against the Sun Devils.
After this first matchup, Smith's area of focus is the designated hitter spot.
“We struggled tonight at it, but we’re going to get something out of that spot because there’s some very good guys that maybe didn’t even play tonight, but that’s going to be a lot more competitive position in the lineup for us this year than it was last year,” Smith said.
The Sun Devils struggled a bit on the bases as well, getting picked off a couple times early, but Smith didn't sound concerned and said it’s something they’ll work to improve on.
“The good part about tonight is I liked way we played defense, guys were helping out,” Smith said. “I think we had some nervous at-bats today. The pitching piece of it, I’m still anxious to see how that’s going to come.”
What Smith does know about the pitching is that junior Seth Martinez will be on the bump in game one of Saturday’s double header against Xavier, set to begin back out at Phoenix Municipal at 1:00 p.m.
Reach the reporter at haley.stesiak@asu.edu or follow @haley_stesiak on Twitter.
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