(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
After losing its last three games, all by one run, Arizona State Baseball (5-9) returns home for a four-game weekend starting on Friday which includes a three-game set against the University of San Francisco (10-5) and one game against the Missouri Tigers (9-2).
The Dons come into Tempe red hot, as they have won five straight games, including a four-game sweep over St. Johns last weekend.
Offensively, San Francisco is led by graduate first baseman Gabe Giooso, Giooso leads the team with a .351 batting average and a 1.122 OPS. He is also tied for the team lead in RBI with 11.
Dons sophomore shortstop Luke Keaschall has also had an impressive start to the season. He leads his team with 17 hits and is second on the team with a .333 batting average.
Prior to a Thursday night change to the weekend schedule for ASU and San Francisco, the Dons had most of their pitching rotation set up.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Owen Stevenson was initially projected to get the start on Friday night in Tempe. In his first three starts of the season, Stevenson has a miraculous 1.13 ERA as well as nine strikeouts on the year.
Graduate left-handed pitcher Weston Lombard was expected to start the first game of Saturday’s initial doubleheader. Lombard is 2-0 on the year while throwing a 1.88 ERA, and has held opposing hitters to a .140 batting average.
Graduate right-handed pitcher Sam Beck was initially pegged to start the series finale on Sunday afternoon. In 12.0 innings pitched in 2022, Beck is 0-1 while posting a 3.75 ERA.
It is unclear whether the Dons will change this alignment against the Sun Devils as a result of the schedule change. With them playing a doubleheader still on Saturday, it’s possible San Francisco doesn’t make any moves at all, and that ASU isn’t caught off guard.
Since starting the season 3-1, ASU now finds themselves 2-8 in its last 10 games, which has included multiple blown leads in late-game situations.
The Sun Devils offensively are led by graduate first baseman Conor Davis, who continues to have a spectacular first season in an ASU uniform.
Davis leads the team in just about every major offensive statistic. He has a team-leading .370 batting average to go along with four home runs and 12 RBI.
Redshirt sophomore Sean McLain has been the Sun Devils’ second-best hitter to start the season. McLain has the second-highest batting average on the team at .362 while also sharing the team lead in runs scored with 12.
While he may have had a slow start to the season offensively, last year’s second-team all-American third baseman Ethan Long has raised his batting average to a solid .319 clip in his sophomore campaign.
Pitching-wise for ASU, no starters were announced prior to the schedule change on Thursday. But, it would be hard to imagine that redshirt juniors left-handed pitcher Adam Tulloch and right-handed pitcher Kyle Luckham wouldn’t start this weekend against either San Francisco or Missouri.
On the year, Tulloch has been dynamite for the Sun Devils. He currently has a 2.50 ERA to go along with a team-leading .89 WHIP and 23 strikeouts.
As for Luckham, he enters the matchup with a 3.18 ERA. However, he will be coming off his best start of the season. Last week against BYU, he went 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits as well as posting season-high seven strikeouts.
As for the last two starting pitchers for the Sun Devils, they could opt to go to the bullpen or they could elect to start redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Boyd Vander Kooi, who has posted a 2.08 ERA as well as holding hitters to a .125 batting average to start his comeback season.
ASU could give the ball to sophomore right-handed pitcher Tyler Meyer as well. Meyer on the year has made three starts, posting a 2.60 ERA and collecting 19 strikeouts, good for second on the team.
