ASU Baseball: Sun Devils’ offensive surge meets lockdown pitching in key series vs. Oregon State

(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)

In Arizona State Baseball’s last game against Nevada on Tuesday, both sides put on an offensive clinic.

The Sun Devils rocketed four balls out of the park in Reno, including their first grand slam of the season from freshman first baseman Jack Moss. Moss and freshman two-way player Ethan Long each had five RBI in a 14-11 win, with Long blasting his 13th home run – tying him for first in the Pac-12 Conference. ASU’s 14 runs and 17 hits both tied season highs.

But with all the high-scoring, back-and-forth duels that ASU has had lately, the Sun Devils might have to scrap out wins in a different fashion this weekend against Pac-12 foe Oregon State.

The Beavers have one of the stingiest pitching staffs in the country, with a barrage of arms that can stifle their opponents’ bats. Oregon State is ranked fourth nationally with a collective 2.91 ERA and sixth nationally with a 1.14 WHIP. Its strength comes in strikeouts, as the Beavers’ 477 punchouts are over 50 more than the next-ranked team in the conference (Arizona with 426).

The leader in that department is redshirt sophomore right-hander Kevin Abel, who is first in the Pac-12 in strikeouts and strikeouts-per nine innings with a whopping 12.45 rate.

The next pitching weapon is freshman right-hander Will Frisch. Frisch holds a 2.06 ERA, good for second in the Pac-12 and 33rd nationally. Cooper Hjerpe is nothing to sneeze at, as the freshman southpaw ranks second on the team in strikeouts (70) and seventh in the Pac-12 in ERA (3.05). The last arm to look out for is senior left-hander Jake Mulholland, who is the school’s all-time leader in saves (42) and is also second in the Pac-12 and third nationally with 12 saves this season.

The series could not come at a more crucial time for both squads. The squads only have two more conference series left in the regular season after this weekend. Oregon State (31-15, 13-8 Pac-12) sits in fourth place in the Pac-12 and is 1.5 games out of first, while ASU (28-15, 12-9) is in sixth place and is one game behind the Beavers.

With Oregon State limiting opponents to an average of 5.82 hits per nine innings in road games, ASU will have to match the Beavers’ solid pitching with the terrific offense it has displayed recently.

The Sun Devils are amidst a stretch of winning six of their last seven games. In those last seven games, they have averaged 8.57 runs per game on the backs of Long and redshirt freshman second baseman Sean McLain, among other notable batters.

McLain has nine hits and nine RBI in his last six games, while Long has a ridiculous 20 RBI in that seven-game stretch, with 11 homers in his last 11 games.

With much of the attention on those two heavy hitters this season, redshirt junior shortstop Drew Swift’s play has perhaps gone under the radar.

Swift is on an eight-game hitting streak and has six RBI in his last three games. While Swift is not known as a power hitter, he has knocked a home run in back-to-back games as well.

The Beavers offense ranks in the middle of the Pac-12 in batting average. Senior infielder Andy Armstrong leads the team with a .328 average, with sophomore utility player Wade Meckler and freshman infielder Garret Forrester also contributing regularly. Junior catcher Troy Claunch has been hot with a seven-game hitting streak, including four hits and five RBI in the Oregon State’s series win over USC last weekend.

The Sun Devils’ three-game series with the Beavers can be seen on the ASU Live Stream, with Friday night’s game starting at 6:30 p.m MST.