This Weekend
2015 ASU Baseball
According to D1Baseball.com, ASU Baseball has played the second toughest schedule in the nation so far, earning wins against some of the top teams early in the season. The Sun Devils are currently 15-7 and ranked 6th in the nation, making ASU the highest ranked Pac-12 team. On their heels is #7 UCLA and #9 USC.
After taking 2 of 3 games from both Oregon State and Oregon, the Devils are currently 4-2 in conference play. ASU is tied with Oregon State and that school down south, and they’re one game behind Cal (18-5 (5-1)) and UCLA (17-5 (5-1)).
Friday night, Sun Devil baseball opens a 3-game series at home against Stanford (9-11 (0-3)). First Pitch at Phoenix Municipal is scheduled for 6:30pm.
Team Strength
Two junior pitchers lead the Sun Devils to early success
The strength of this team to this point has been two junior pitchers, Ryan Burr and Ryan Kellogg. Both have a team high four wins. Kellogg leads the team with 34 strike outs along with 43 2/3 innings pitched. Burr has appeared in 14 games, pitching 16 2/3 innings and has just one less strike out than Kellogg. He also and leads the team with 8 saves.
In their first 22 games, ASU is 11-1 when they have a lead after 6 innings, and a perfect 10-0 when they hand the ball to Burr in the 9th. He has yet to allow an earned run in 2015.
Senior Darin Gillies has been the most versatile pitcher for Tracy Smith this season. Gillies has appeared in 11 games so far, second most behind Burr, and has started 3, for a 1-2 record. In 22.2 innings pitched, 4th best on the season, Gillies has struck out 28 which is 3rd best behind Kellogg & Burr.
ASU Skipper, Tracy Smith
Hot Bats by Committee
Look for (ASU) to push for a trip to Omaha and the College World Series this season.
Junior RJ Ybarra currently leads the team with 3 home runs, while sophomore Colby Woodmansee leads the Devils with 15 RBI, 30 hits, and 43 total bases.
In the series opener against Oregon, it was junior Johnny Sewald knocking in sophomore David Greer for the game-winning RBI. The week before, sophomore Brian Serven hit a 2-run single in the bottom of the ninth, scoring senior Jake Peevyhouse and Woodmansee to beat Oregon State.
I’m sure Tracy Smith would like to see a couple players hit more consistently, but it seems to me that he can count on a different guy every night. With Kellogg and sophomore Seth Martinez (1-0 in 5 starts, 2.37 ERA, 28 K’s), Smith has a good one-two punch for Friday and Saturday. Get to the 8th inning with a lead, and that bullpen isn’t going to let the Sun Devil Faithful down.
The Sun Devil baseball program is keeping pace in the conference race and climbing in the national rankings. Look for Coach Smith to build on this early season success and push for a trip to Omaha and the College World Series this season.
Those five #1’s in the outfield are getting pretty lonely—this 34 year National Championship drought has gone on long enough!
Follow your favorite players on twitter:
- Ryan Burr (@RyanBurrASU)
- Ryan Kellogg (@RyanKellogg49)
- Darin Gillies (@Gillies15)
- Trever Allen (@tallent20)
- Junior RJ Ybarra (@ybar_14)
- Colby Woodmansee (@colbywoodmansee)
- Johnny Sewald (@johnnysewald)
- David Greer (@DeeeG21)
- Brian Serven (@bswerv24)
- Jake Peevyhouse (@JakePVhouse22)
- Seth Martinez (@seth_mart8)
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