ASU Baseball: Regular season concludes as Sun Devils host UCLA

(Photo: Brendan O’Keeffe/WCSN)

Ever since No. 21 Arizona State Baseball lost three of four to rival Arizona, it has been on a tear.

The Sun Devils are 16-9 since they tangled with the Wildcats, and have won six of eight series. ASU’s last series loss was when it fell twice in three games to Stanford April 16-18 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

The Sun Devils’ recent run have featured games that had dramatic finishes: Freshman infielder Ethan Long’s three-run walk-off home run against Oregon State on May 14, a 14-11 midweek victory at Nevada back on May 11 and a 14-13 back-and-forth win against Rhode Island on May 2.

Coming off its fifth series win in a row, ASU continued to move up the national rankings, checking in at No. 21 in D1Baseball’s weekly poll while being ranked No. 19 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

Heading into the final weekend of conference play, there are plenty of Pac-12 Conference standings implications in this weekend’s series against UCLA. The Sun Devils enter the Memorial Day weekend set alone in fourth place and two games back from second in the conference.

But that comes with a twist. ASU is also two games shy of seventh place, while UCLA is a game behind the Sun Devils.

Arizona has already clinched at least a share of the conference crown, but teams ranked 2-7 in the Pac-12 are separated by just four games entering the weekend. All six teams have a series against someone else in that group.

Up until Sunday, redshirt freshman utility man Nate Baez had started five games in a row behind the plate, but his offensive production started before his move to catcher. In his last eight games, Baez leads the Sun Devils with a .385 average with 13 RBIs and five home runs.

ASU’s defense was perhaps a question mark coming into the season with a large amount of underclassmen in starting roles. However, the Sun Devils lead the nation in doubles plays turned this season at 54 after turning just six of them in their first 14 games. The left side of the infield – with redshirt junior shortstop Drew Swift and freshman third baseman Hunter Haas – have combined for just eight errors on 356 chances this season, which are the fewest by the left side on an infield in the Pac-12.

The Bruins come into town unranked in the D1Baseball poll but ranked No. 20 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll. Since 2015, UCLA has won four of the five series the two teams have played, with ASU’s series victory coming in 2016.

UCLA is 32-18 overall and 15-12 in conference play this year and are coming off a series loss to Cal in Westwood this past weekend. After losing the first two games of the series, they were able to salvage the final game behind three RBIs from junior infielder Jake Moberg.

The Bruins have won seven of their last 10 games and three of their last four series. UCLA was also an undefeated 8-0 in midweek games this season. Ranked No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason National Poll, series losses to San Francisco, Cal Poly and Washington have nearly taken them out of the rankings completely at this point in the season.

UCLA is a team with No. 3 potential, though. It is the only team that ranks top-three in the Pac-12 in both offense (third with 7.1 runs per game) and pitching (third with a 3.86 ERA).

The Sun Devils should expect to see senior right-handed pitcher Zach Pettway on the mound for UCLA on Thursday to open the series. In his last two outings, he’s combined for eight innings of work allowing 18 hits and 14 earned runs in losses to Cal and UC Santa Barbara.

ASU lost their first two Friday night games to Sacramento State and Hawaii early on, but since are 10-2 in Friday night affairs.

UCLA’s likely Saturday starter, junior right-handed pitcher Sean Mullen, hasn’t been that consistent as of late. His command has been shaky at times – a May 8 start against Washington State saw him walk six batters. His next start against UC Santa Barbara was sharper, as he walked just one batter and stuck out six over six innings of work.

Against Cal last weekend, Mullen’s command was once again all over the place, as he walked four batters in 4.1 innings of work.

Mullen does come into the series as UCLA’s best starter. He has a 9-1 record and a 2.86 ERA, but has walked more than double the batters Pettway has. Mullen’s nine wins lead the Pac-12, and he is just two off the national lead held by Dallas Baptist junior right hander Dominic Hamel and Vanderbilt junior right hander Kumar Rocker.

The Bruins offense will likely need to step up this series, and they have a powerful one. Redshirt sophomore infielder JT Schwartz is their leading hitter with a .397 batting average and a 1.157 OPS. His seven home runs on the season are second on the team behind junior infielders Mikey Perez and Matt McLain’s nine home runs each. Schwartz has a higher batting average (.397) and OBP (.525) than any qualified Pac-12 batter. Redshirt junior infielder Kevin Kendall, hitting .364 on the year, leads the Pac-12 in that category and is seventh nationally with 78 hits while also leading the team in total bases with 110.

The series kicks off tonight on ESPN2 at 6:00 p.m. MST with the other two games broadcasted on the Pac-12 Network.