(Photo: Josh Frons/WCSN)
ASU head coach Craig Nicholson will welcome some familiar faces into Farrington Stadium this weekend during the Louisville Slugger Invitational.
On Sunday, ASU will host Ball State, the team Nicholson left to join the Sun Devils. Nicholson spent the past seven seasons as head coach at Ball State, earning 241 wins while winning four Mid-American Conference regular season championships.
“It’s going to be tough,” Nicholson said. “I recruited all those kids and I care about them and their families.”
The Ball State matchup comes on Sunday as part of a doubleheader that wraps up the Louisville Slugger Invitational for ASU. The tournament begins on Thursday and features match-ups against Detroit, South Carolina, Florida International, and Minnesota.
The biggest matchup of the weekend will come on Sunday morning as ASU faces off against the No. 20 Minnesota Gophers. The Gophers come in with a record of 12-1 on the season. Their only blemish was a 15-2 loss against the No. 1 Florida Gators.
Facing better competition this weekend will hopefully have the Sun Devils improving at the plate.
“The good thing for us this weekend is that we are facing better pitching,” Nicholson said. “I think we have some players that will hit better as the pitching gets better. They will have to battle and might get better pitches to hit.”
One of the pitchers ASU might face this weekend is Minnesota senior Sara Moulton. Moulton comes in to this weekend with an impressive 0.92 ERA in nine games this season. She earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors last week when she went 3-0 without conceding a run and only allowing three hits.
The Louisville Slugger Invitational will mark as the final home games for ASU before they embark on an eight-game road trip. Coach Nicholson sees some room for improvement on the defensive side of game before the weekend ends.
Arizona State has committed 16 errors in 17 games this season. That’s good enough for a third place tie among Pac-12 teams.
“We need to play better defense,” Nicholson said. “Some of the errors we’ve made have been flukey but they add up.”
Out of ASU’s 21 runs allowed this season, nine have been unearned, which is 42 percent of their runs allowed.
ASU will have five games to improve in both aspects of its game before their long, upcoming road trip.
