ASU back at home for weekend series against Utah

(Photo via Marina Williams/WCSN)

After a three-week road trip down the West Coast, the Sun Devils are back in Farrington this weekend to take on Utah. On their road trip, ASU lost a staggering seven of their eight games, getting swept by Oregon and then-No. 2 Stanford and splitting a doubleheader with San Diego.

The Devils (18-18, 2-10 Pac-12 Conference) entered conference play with a strong 16-8 record but quickly fell to 18-18 after losing eight of their first 10 conference games. A combination of tough opponents and unlucky injuries was the story in the first month of Pac-12 play, but this weekend is a great chance to get back on track.

The Utes (22-17, 4-11 Pac-12) enter this game after dropping two of three games to Arizona in Salt Lake City last weekend but they earned a bit of confidence in a convincing 9-0 win over Weber State on Wednesday. Like the Sun Devils, they have struggled in a competitive Pac-12 Conference that has five teams ranked and another team in California sitting just outside the top 30.

Utah’s bats lack power, only hitting 13 home runs all year long. That has been a problem for ASU’s pitching staff, allowing 32 home runs to their opponents. The Devils have no shortage of offense on their side though with 30 home runs, but need to polish their pitching staff this weekend. They rank last in the Pac-12 in team ERA at 4.21 and are second to last in walks with 100.

Sophomore outfielder Abby Dayton is the player to watch on the Utes. She ranks 13th in the country in on-base percentage at .542 but doesn’t steal often with only four stolen bases. ASU is ranked second to last in the Pac-12 in hits given up with 275, so keeping the Utes off the bag, especially Dayton, is going to be a problem for the Devils.

With almost every pitching stat except strikeouts per seven innings, the Devils rank in the bottom three in their conference. They will need to rely heavily on their offense this weekend. Sophomore outfielder Tanya Windle has been one of the few bright spots in conference play, leading the team in conference play OPS at .885, as well as being second on the team with a batting average of .371.

Luckily for ASU, the Utes have struggled in the circle as well, with a team ERA of 3.19. However, they do rank third in the conference in strikeouts with 206. The Devils struggle with their plate discipline, sitting at 200 total strikeouts on the year, and that could be the deciding factor this weekend between the two evenly-matched teams.

Although Utah isn’t nearly at the level of the other Pac-12 teams the Devils played on their road trip, they can’t take the Utes lightly as they can put up runs in a hurry. With the once dominant ASU offense coming to a halt here in the past couple of weeks, it has a great opportunity this weekend to gain momentum before heading back on the road next weekend to take on their in-state rivals Arizona in Tucson.