(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
After beginning the season scorching hot, ASU Baseball received its first wakeup call last weekend against then-No. 20-ranked Oregon.
The Sun Devils lost their first series in Pac-12 conference play and are currently on their first multi-game losing streak of the season.
ASU now looks to regroup and rebound this weekend, as it returns to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to face Washington State (12-5, 1-2 Pac-12). The Cougars are off to their best start since 2010, the year in which they last made it to an NCAA Regional.
WSU was on a tear – winning six games in a seven game stretch – before four postponements due to COVID-19 issues speed-bumped its season. Since then, the Cougars have been somewhat shaky with a .500 (3-3) record. WSU’s last game ended in a 15-8 blowout loss to UNLV on Wednesday.
WSU’s matchup with ASU on Friday will be the team’s 12th straight day on the road. However, the Cougars have an impressive away record of 10-4 so far this season.
ASU – at the friendly confines of Phoenix Municipal – is 11-3 on the year at home.
Perhaps that factor is what could get ASU’s bats recharged for a date with Washington State.
In ASU’s two losses last weekend, the pitching staff did a good job of preventing a high number of runs in one inning, as Oregon instead spread their damage out across multiple frames. However, the Sun Devils’ offense could not respond amid those short bursts, and it was already too late by the time they answered back.
The hot hand has been with redshirt freshman second baseman Sean McLain and freshman two-way player Ethan Long. McLain is riding a 15-game hitting streak and has a team-high .390 average, good for fourth in the Pac-12. Long is second on the team with a .385 average and had five RBI in the Oregon series last weekend
Given the Sun Devils’ issues containing the Ducks’ offense, it might be even more of a challenge to thwart the Cougars’ hitting this weekend.
WSU is ranked 17th nationally with a .306 team batting average, and is second in the Pac-12 in hits (187) and on-base percentage (.407). The Cougars have also displayed their ability to hit for power, with the team entering the weekend tied for third in the conference in home runs (18) and second in the conference in slugging percentage (.465).
The Sun Devils’ arms will likely have to key in on the Cougars’ dynamic duo of junior first baseman Kyle Manzardo and senior right-fielder Collin Montez. Both are within the top ten in the Pac-12 in almost every major offensive category, including batting average, home runs and RBI.
Manzardo is on an absurd 42-game on-base streak, which is tied for the WSU school record set in 2005.
On the other end, this weekend could be the perfect time for the Sun Devils to regain their footing offensively, as the Cougars have the highest ERA (5.14) in the Pac-12. While WSU does generate plenty of strikeouts (10.53 strikeouts per nine innings, 3rd in the Pac-12), the pitching staff’s problem has been allowing too many runs and walks. WSU has allowed 11 more walks than any other team in the Pac-12 this season, and is the only program in the conference to reach 100 walks so far.
With ASU and the Cougars sitting at 12-5, the weekend series is perhaps a measuring stick contest for both sides.
