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Sweeps WSU After Being Swept By OSU…

By CB360 Contributor Kevin Kennedy

Tenth ranked Arizona State bounced back from last weekend’s sweep at Oregon State with a three game sweep of Washington State this past weekend in Tempe. ASU defeated the Cougars 3-1, 8-2, and 10-4 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively.

Last weekend in Corvallis the Sun Devils were swept by a Pac-10 team for the first time since 1999 when they lost all three games to the Beavers. It was also the first time ASU had been swept by any opponent since 2005.

Brady Rodgers

ASU improved to 25-9 and 8-4 in the Pac-10, while Washington St. continued to struggle in conference action falling to 2-10 in the Pac-10 with a 14-17 overall record.

ASU won in a pitchers duel between sophomore Brady Rodgers, and WSU junior Adam Conley on Friday night. Rodgers pitched 6.1 innings allowing an earned run on five hits. Three ASU relievers pitched the final 2.1 innings allowing just one hit while striking out four. Junior Mitchell Lambson, who took the loss in last Saturday’s game against the Beavers, earned the save on Friday by striking out the side in order.

Rodgers continues to solidify his spot as the Sun Devils ace. He improved to 5-2 with a 2.92 ERA. Through seven appearances Rodgers has a 30 to 1 strike out to walk ratio.

On Friday the Sun Devils had trouble figuring out the Cougar’s ace. Conley pitched a complete game limiting the Sun Devils to seven hits while allowing only one earned run while striking out seven. Conley dropped to 4-4 with the tough loss.

ASU scored all three of its runs in the 5^th off Conley. The two deciding runs came when WSU junior 2^nd basemen Tommy Richards committed an error by allowing a two out ground ball to go though his legs.

The Sun Devils were without sophomore starting SS Deven Marrero for the first two games because of a back injury. The injury forced junior Riccio Torrez to move from 3B to SS, and sophomore Joey DeMichele moved into the starting line-up going to 3B.

DeMichele made two nice plays at third in Friday’s win, and followed up the defensive effort with a 3-4, 3 RBI night on Saturday. Marrero returned to SS on Sunday and went 1-4.

Chad Arnold

The Devils had more offensive success in the last two games of the series. They chased WSU’s Saturday starter, senior Chad Arnold, after he allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings. ASU led 7-1 after just four innings. Besides DeMichele junior 1B Zach Wilson led ASU by going 3-3.

Junior Kramer Champlin went 6.1 innings for the win improving to 5-1 with a 3.20 ERA in nine starts. Champlin allowed two earned on eight hits while striking out five.

ASU struck early again in Sunday’s 10-4 win. ASU jumped out to a 4-0 lead after five innings, and put the game away with a five run sixth inning, which gave the Devils a 9-2 lead. DeMichele has his second consecutive three hit game going 3-5 as the starting DH. Senior RF Matt Newman, sophomore CF Andrew Aplin, and Torrez were a combined 6-for-13 with five RBIs in Sunday’s victory.

For the second consecutive game WSU’s starter failed to get through five innings going 4.2 innings and falling to 3-4 with the loss. Sophomore Jake Barrett got the victory for the Devils improving to 4-3 by going 5.2 innings.

This weekend ASU continued to be aggressive on the base paths. The Sun Devils stole seven bases in the series. For the season has 58 stolen bases on 86 attempts – a 67% success rate.

Washington State continues to be one of the bigger disappointments in the conference through the first four weeks of conference play. There were high expectations in Pullman coming into this season after the team came within a game of the Super Regional’s in 2010. The Cougars are currently last in the Pac-10 – 7.5 games behind first place Oregon State. WSU has now dropped seven of its last eight Pac-10 games.

The Cougars need to play well the last month plus of the season to reach the tournament again. The Cougars have played one of the tougher conference schedules, with games at #16 Cal, vs. #17 Stanford, and vs. #23 UCLA. The schedule does not get any easier next weekend when they visit #9 Oregon State. WSU will have played the top four teams in the conference standings after the OSU series.

Following OSU, the Cougars do play three of their last four conference series at home.

The Sun Devils are going for a fourth straight conference title, and currently sit 1.5 games behind conference leader Oregon State, three games back in the loss column. The Beavers hold the tiebreaker over ASU with last weekend’s sweep.

Next weekend the Devils travel to northern California to play at Cal beginning on Thursday. The Bears are 9-3 in the Pac-10, just one-half game behind OSU.

The Sun Devils currently could be eligible for the NCAA Tournament, because they are appealing the NCAA’s postseason ban. The ban would not go into effect until the appeals process is over.

ASU has a decent shot to make the tournament because they are not set to have their case heard until May 14, about two weeks before the tournament field is selected. It is unlikely that the appeals committee will make a ruling by the time the 2011 tournament beings.

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NCAA Appeals Process Ongoing…

Sun Devils head coach Tim Esmay

They have notable series wins against New Mexico, Auburn, Oklahoma, Oral Roberts, and Arizona, which all made the 2010 NCAA Tournament field. They also split a recent two-game set at Cal State Fullerton.

ASU may seem plenty motivated for the season, but right now there actually is reason to believe the Sun Devils could play in this year’s tournament.

In December, when the NCAA hit the program with the postseason ban for lack of institutional control charges, the school planned to appeal. When a school appeals an NCAA penalty the charges do not go into effect until after the appeals process is completed. According to the Arizona Republic, the appeal hearing is set for May 16.

Though the chances of the postseason ban being lifted are still slim, the May 16 date is significant because it comes two weeks before the selection for the 64-team NCAA field.  If the appeals committee does not rule on the case before May 30,  Arizona State may end up in the tournament.

There is current precedent to believe the committee will not have made its ruling before the 30. Southern California went before the appeals committee for its football postseason ban on January 22 and has yet to hear back almost two months later.

If the appeals committee rules against ASU after the start of the 2011 tournament then the team would not be eligible for the 2012 tournament.

Regardless of what happens to the team with the NCAA, second-year head coach Tim Esmay has done a great job steering the team through another year of questions and hardships. Last year it was how the team would handle Pat Murphy leaving the team suddenly because of the NCAA investigation.

In 2011, other than the possible tournament ban, the team has had to deal with the serious injury to freshman outfielder Cory Hahn, who injured his neck February 20 sliding into 2^nd base against New Mexico. He had surgery and is currently rehabbing at home in California, but few other details have been made public. The team has honored Hahn by wearing wrist bans and his number on their hats and socks.

Collegebaseball360.com is doing something new this year. We have a handful of people who cover college baseball who will be providing insights for us throughout the 2011 college baseball season.

Anthony Rendon

Rice 3B Anthony Rendon had a poor overall start, going 2-for-12 at the plate, and not showing that solid plate discipline that helped him hit .394 last year (1.331 OPS). He swung (and swung hard) at a lot of first pitches, but didn’t connect particularly well with any pitch throughout the series. Stanford did manage to get a little lucky that the hitters around him struggled, as Jeremy Rathjen couldn’t get a hit all weekend batting in the fourth spot (0-for-11).
In general, all three Stanford starting pitchers pitched Rendon with a fastball-change-up mix, and tried to pitch him inside quite a bit. Don’t be surprised to see Wayne Graham’s line-up ordered differently in the Owls’ next-series.

Rice’s new pitching rotation looks like they could be very, very good. John Simms and Austin Kubitza both did very well for their first starts ever, as they both had nice velocity and Kubitza got a lot of swinging strikes on 90+ MPH sinking fastballs. The best of the three weekend starters was Matthew Reckling, though, with six innings of shutout baseball on Saturday. He mixed up his pitches well and never got too far behind in any count. The starters did not truly lose any game, but the Owls will need to shore up their bullpen, who got shelled for seven runs in three days.

Kenny Diekroger

Stanford’s Kenny Diekroger moved pretty seamlessly from third to short – he played short in high school – but he did boot one ball that would have probably ended up being a hit anyway. All in all, Diekroeger looked like he was his same old self this weekend.

The starting rotation also was very solid, especially considering that both Brett Mooneyham and Jordan Pries were out (both are listed as day-to-day). Mark Appel was very impressive on Friday night, and his fastball/change-up combo was electric. When he threw hard, he hit 99-98-97 on the Owls’ stadium radar gun, and his changeup would drop down to 82-84 MPH. He didn’t throw many curveballs, but when he did they were about 74-75 MPH.

Chris Reed struggled with control on Saturday and subsequently got shelled for seven runs, but A.J. Talt, a junior sidearmer in his first time on the mound, pitched 3 and 1/3 innings of no-hit relief. Talt was definitely a guy who earned himself some more playing time this weekend.

Dean McArdle continued his winning ways, as he pitched really nicely in tight spots, only giving up one run in five innings. For example, McArdle gave up a double, a walk, and a single right away in the first inning, but only let one run cross as he induced three consecutive outs with two strikeouts and a pop fly.

Freshman outfielder Austin Wilson (and the other freshmen, for that matter) lived up to the hype. He showed good plate discipline and learned quickly how to adapt to each pitcher. He had four RBIs this weekend, including three on Sunday, but the highlight of his weekend was a 360-foot line drive blast that cleared the left field fence like a bullet. Brian Ragira and Lonnie Kauppila also did well in their first starts in Cardinal uniforms on Sunday, with Ragira hitting an RBI triple into right-center and Kauppila showing some power with a solo shot over the left field fence in the seventh inning.

Kevin Kennedy has these insights from the Arizona State-New Mexico Series in Tempe…

Arizona State swept New Mexico in a three game series in Tempe. Rain caused the series to be reduced to three games from the originally scheduled four.  In Friday nights 8-2 season-opening win the Devils looked every bit like a team that would contend for another Pac-10 championship.

Brady Rodgers is ASU's new Friday night starter.

Sun Devil sophomore Brady Rodgers looked like he was fully ready to take over as the team’s ace pitcher. Rodgers was the team’s #4 starter in 2010. He pitched five shutout innings before leaving because of a planned pitch count. Rodgers allowed just two hits, walked none and struck out five. He retired the last eight New Mexico hitters he faced, while striking out three of the last four. Rodgers seemed to get stronger as the game moved along. No Lobo player reached base the second time Rogers went through the order.

On offense the Devils were led by junior Riccio Torrez who picked up where he left off last year when he hit .393. He was 4-for-5 with 2 HRs and a career high five RBIs on Friday. Torrez is one of the two players who make up a new left side of the infield for ASU. He moved from first base to third base, replacing his brother Raoul.

Sophomore Deven Marrero is now the full-time shortstop replacing Drew Maggi. Marrero did play some at SS last year. Both Torrez and Marrero committed errors on Friday. Torrez’s error came on the first play of the game on a backhanded stop his throw to first was in the dirt. Marrero misplayed a possible double play ball in the 7^th.

New Mexico lost a lot of players from a team that went to the NCAA tournament last year for the first time since 1962 and the inexperience showed. The Lobos hit .346 last year, but batted just .219 over the weekend in the three-game sweep. The team averaged four errors a game over the weekend.  Three errors in Friday’s loss were by new second baseman Kyle Stiner.

Stiner was inadvertently involved in a tragic play on Sunday, when Sun Devil freshman Cory Hahn slid head first into second base on a stolen base attempt. Hahn suffered a neck injury and was taken off the field on a stretcher in the bottom of the first inning. He underwent surgery at St. Joseph’s hospital in Phoenix.

Starting pitcher junior Gera Sanchez struggled in three innings Friday. The juco transfer allowed 6 ER on 8 hits and 3 walks in his first D1 start. Sanchez was making his first start at New Mexico after being used exclusively as a reliever in 2010. The starting rotation had a 12.00 ERA for the weekend.

Offensively,  the Lobos have nearly an entirely new line-up compared to 2010. Sophomore shortstop Alex Allbritton was the only Lobos player in the line-up Friday that started more than 20 games last year. The Lobos had a total of three extra base hits and a .271 slugging percentage in the three games.

John Kurtz was at the Kansas State-Pacific series in Stockton, CA…

Kansas State took home a series sweep in Stockton, California by winning both games of a double header on Saturday (5-3 game one, 7-4 game two) and winning game three on Sunday 7-6 after coming back from a 6-2 deficit.

Pacific’s on campus stadium, Klein Family Field, is still very new as it has only been used since April of 2006. It’s a very nice facility that still looks nearly brand new. Pacific’s program as a whole seems to be on the rise and the new facility fits right in.

Nick Martini

K-State was very solid in their first series of the season despite having only a couple days of outdoor practice leading up to the season debut. The Wildcats three top returners from last season (OF Nick Martini, RHP James Allen and RHP Evan Marshall) all had very good debuts for Brad Hill.

Coming off of a co-Big 12 player of the year season in 2010, Martini actually had a quiet Saturday in the first two contests. Pacific’s pitching staff didn’t give him much to hit and he finished 1-6 with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts in the double-header. Martini completely made up for that in game three on Sunday though, going 4-5 with 3 singles (including the eventual game-winning RBI base hit) and a triple. He was very patient at the plate all weekend, no surprise considering he posted a big 12 leading .509 OBP in 2010, and finally got some pitches to hit in the final game.

Evan Marshall picked up right where he left off after a 2nd team all big 12 season in 2010. Marshall made only one appearance (game one) but gave up just one hit over 3 and 2/3 innings pitched to pick up the win. Marshall struck out three and didn’t allow a walk while working 1-2-3 innings in the 7th, 8th and 9th.

James Allen took home saves in both of the final two games of the series and was particularly lights out in the second game on Saturday. Allen entered the game with K-State clinging to a 7-4 lead with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd. Allen responded by inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and then struck out the side in the 9th to shut the door.

Pacific got very mixed results from its starting pitching in the series. 2010 staff ace Marcus Pointer is back in 2011 and he started game one on Saturday. Pointer made it through 6 and 1/3, but gave up 5 earned and 7 hits and eventually got the loss in his first start of the season. Pointer seemed to struggle somewhat with his command and walked five Wildcats while throwing 96 pitches in just over 6 innings of work. John Prato Matthews struggled

Jake Hummel

mightily in his start in game two. He lasted just 2 innings and allowed 5 runs (3 earned) including a 4 run first inning that gave K-State the lead for good.

By far, the most impressive start of the weekend for Pacific came from Jake Hummel in game three. Hummel went 6 strong innings and allowed just 2 runs on 9 hits and consistently shut down potential K-State threats. Unfortunately for Hummel, his bullpen gave up the lead and the Tigers lost 7-6.

Overall Ed Sprague and Pacific will need to find more consistency from both their starting rotation and bullpen if they want to compete for another top four finish in the Big West. Meanwhile Brad Hill and K-State can take plenty of positives from just the second ever road sweep to begin a season in school history. The Wildcats offense looks to be good enough to contend with the big boys in the Big 12 once again, but the main question will be who can start on Saturday and Sunday behind Friday night starter Kyle Hunter.

Arizona State outfielder Cory Hahn suffered a serious neck injury in the first inning of Sunday’s game against New Mexico in Tempe. The ASU athletic department released a statement on Monday in which Hahn’s family confirmed he had undergone surgery.

Hahn was injured on a stolen base attempt in the first inning of Sunday’s game. The freshman from Corona, CA slid head first and collided with New Mexico second baseman Kyle Steiner on the play. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and taken to St. Joseph’s hospital in Phoenix after making his second collegiate start.

Here’s the Arizona State statement:

The university is working closely with the Hahn family regarding any official updates regarding the health of Cory Hahn, who sustained an injury in yesterday’s baseball game.

The family would like Sun Devil fans to know that Cory has sustained a neck injury, that he underwent surgery last night and that he is slowly recovering.

The family welcomes all wishes and positive thoughts from everyone at this time.