(Photo: Karli Matthias/WCSN)
No. 13 Arizona State baseball had a hot start to their season but now have found themselves in a bit of a slump. The team has lost four out of their last five games, leaving them with a 9-3 record in conference play and 26-5 overall. This skid caused the Devils to drop in the rankings, but they managed to hold onto a top-15 spot.
The Devils have a chance to regain some ground as the defending National Champion Oregon State Beavers travel to Phoenix Municipal Stadium for Pac-12 play against the Sun Devils.
No. 4 Oregon State is also coming off a loss after a mid-week game against University of Oregon. Oregon State mirrors the Sun Devils with a 9-3 conference record but overall has less wins than the Devils (23-7-1).
The Sun Devils have struggled in their past few away games but have only lost one game this season at home (22-1). The upgrades to the stadium have keep balls flying out in almost every game.
One top performer both last season and this season has been Spencer Torkelson. Whether the team is home or away, he has been hitting. Torkelson has homered in each of ASU’s last three games, bringing his total up to nine for the season.
Joining Torkelson at the top of the lineup has been Alika Williams. Williams recently moved up to hit clean-up and is hitting .373 with a 1.018 OPS.
The Devils took a hit to their roster last weekend when starting pitcher RJ Dabovich suffered a shoulder injury. Less than three full innings into the game against USC, Dabovich was removed, and his current condition is unknown. The starting pitcher spot for Sunday, Dabovich’s usual start day, is still TBA.
Oregon State also took a hit to their roster recently with the loss of their starting pitcher, Kevin Abel. On Tuesday, Abel revealed that he will be out for the remainder of the season and will have Tommy John surgery.
The expected starting pitchers for Friday night’s game are Arizona State’s Alec Marsh and Oregon State’s Brandon Eisert. Marsh has won seven of his eight starts this season and holds a 2.19 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Eisert will make only his fourth start of the season after being moved into the rotation with the loss of Abel.
Eisert comes in with a 7-0 record, and in his first seven appearances, Eisert did not allow a run in 18 2/3 innings of work out of the ‘pen. He still has allowed only three earned runs on the year in 36 innings, good enough for a 0.75 ERA.
One bat that the Sun Devil arms will have to be wary of is junior, slugger Adley Rutschman. Rutschman is a consensus All-American and the projected first overall pick in this year’s MLB draft. So far, the switch-hitting catcher leads the Pac-12 with a .426 BA and is second only to ASU’s own Hunter Bishop in RBI and home runs, knocking in 40 and 12, respectively.
The first game of the three-game series between Arizona State and Oregon State will begin at 6:30 p.m. MST. on Friday, April 12. The games will be streamed on ASU’s Pac-12 Plus Live Stream and Pac-12’s Facebook Live.
