Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN
After a rain-shortened one-game road trip in southern California, Arizona State baseball returns home to Phoenix Municipal Stadium this weekend for a three-game series against the Xavier Muskateers, the first of eight-straight home games for the Sun Devils.
Despite Xavier’s 5-5 record to start the season, it may be a team that could surprise the Devils in this series. After a 20-38 season in 2018 under new head coach Billy O’Connor, 2019 could prove to be a bounce back year with six starters returning and young players gaining valuable playing time last season. So far in 2019, No. 7 North Carolina swept Xavier to start the season but the Musketeers stole a huge win on the road over No. 8 Louisville on February 26 and have won four in a row as of late.
Xavier is also a team that has had history making it into the NCAA Tournament. Before O’Connor took the helm, the Musketeers qualified for the NCAA Tournament for three out of four seasons from 2014-2017.
Offensively, the Musketeers are going to look to graduate student Jake Shepski, senior Matt Warkentin, and sophomore Allbry Major.
Shepski leads the team in batting average and is tied for the team-lead in RBI. Warkentin hit fourteen homers as a freshman last season and already has hit three homers to start off.
Major was named Big East Freshman of the Year in 2018 and remains a key part of Xavier’s success.
The Musketeers rotation will likely determine whether Xavier can knock off the Sun Devils at least once this weekend. Probable starters include lefty Nick Zwack, and right-handers Griffin Lanoue and Conor Grammes.
Zwack and Lanoue have been respectable so far with Zwack posting a 4.20 ERA and seven earned runs in three starts and Lanoue, in his only start versus Lipscomb, threw for 4.2 innings, no earned runs, walked three and struck out two.
Despite Grammes 10.12 ERA in three starts, he settled in nicely in his last start versus Lipscomb on March 2, pitching six scoreless innings while only giving up two hits and striking out five.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m MST for Friday and Saturday night while first pitch Sunday will begin at 12:30 p.m MST at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
