(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
The Arizona State baseball team will travel 383 miles to University of Southern California for their second away series this season.
Last weekend, the Sun Devils swept rival University of Arizona to improve their in-conference record to 8-1. After a grueling three-games series the team fell to Long Beach State on April 2, dropping their record to 25-2 on the season.
The Trojans (10-17, 3-6 Pac-12) come into the weekend sitting in seventh place in the Pac-12 and are unranked, compared to the Devils who have been steadily moving up in the rankings and are currently sitting at No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
ASU has come off back-to-back losing seasons and has made a complete turn around this season. With a smaller roster they have gone 25-2 and have seen maturity from returning players.
Two returning players that were also recognized by Perfect Game are Alec Marsh and Hunter Bishop.
Bishop was named “Midseason National Player of the Year” and “First Team All-American” according to D1Baseball.com with his torrid start in the first half of the season. He has hit 16 home runs in 27 games and leads the team in batting average (.417), RBI (41), slugging (1.010), and on base percentage (.552).
Marsh was awarded “First Team All-American” by D1Baseball.com as well, with a 0.94 ERA in 48 innings, and seven wins in seven starts so far in 2019.
The Devils have had to go deep into their bullpen the past four games, using 13 pitchers. The team had two full days in between their games against Long Beach State and University of Southern California.
ASU has reached their halfway point in the season and the 25-man roster has left the team with a 25-2 record, though they may be down a man further for this weekend’s series. Junior Carter Aldrete is “day-to-day” due to back tightness according to head coach Tracy Smith.
The three-game series will begin on Friday night at 6:00 PM PT at Dedeaux Field in Los Angeles, CA.
