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Sun Devil Baseball Opens Pac-12 Play Against #2 Oregon St.

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Sun Devil Baseball Opens Pac-12 Play Against #2 Oregon St.Sun Devil Baseball Opens Pac-12 Play Against #2 Oregon St.

TEMPE -- The Sun Devil baseball team completes its lengthy homestand as it opens Pac-12 Conference action this weekend with a three-game series against #2 Oregon State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, wrapping up a streak of 11 home games in an 18-day span in the month of March. The Devils had not played 11 games in the month before March 20 since the 2013 season. The series will get underway Thursday, March 16 at 6 p.m. PT with Friday's tilt set for a 4 p.m. PT first pitch and Saturday's at 12 p.m. PT. 

Follow the Action

  • Thursday and Friday's contests will both be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks. Daron Sutton and JT Snow will be on the call. Check with you local provider for listings. 
  • Fans will be able to view the series finale on Saturday via the Pac-12 Network Live Stream, available for free at http://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university.
  • The Sun Devil Sports Radio Network is scheduled to broadcast all three games this weekend between NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 (Thursday and Saturday) and 100.7 KSLXHD 2 (Friday). Each game will also be available through the TuneIn app on TheSunDevils.com. Broadcaster Tim Healey is set to serve his 19th season as the "Voice of the Sun Devils" on baseball broadcasts and will be joined for the second-straight season by color analyst Max Rossiter, who was an all-conference catcher for the Devils from 2012-13.
  • Fans are also encouraged to follow along on Twitter (@ASU_Baseball) for live updates throughout the weekend. 

#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)

1. .@spencerv44 has caught four baserunners stealing a base this season, third in the Pac-12 and tops among pitchers.

2. The 6 Devils who've combined for ASU's nine homers this season entered 2017 with 3 collegiate homers between them.

3. .@elingos15 has already matched his 2016 win total with 3 in just 4 starts w/ 0 earned runs in two of three starts.

4. .@ashap08 has reached base in all 11 of his appearances his season and has a team-best 9-game hitting streak. 

5. The Devils outscored LBSU 24-4 over the remainder of games after being outscored 11-0 in the 1st innings of series.   

6. .@elingos15 has three quality starts in his four starts, allowing just two earned runs and a W over #1 TCU.

7.  .@jwilleford17 became the first Devil to account for multiple game-winning RBIs this season, both against LBSU.

8. The Devils and @BeaverBaseball are opening @pac12 play against each other for the third straight season. 

9. .@lin_lyle has multiple hits in nine games this season already. No other Sun Devil has done so in more than four. 

10. .@ASU_Baseball has won at least 30 games in 56 consecutive seasons, two more than Florida State in second.

Scouting the Beavers

  • The Sun Devils will be squaring off against Top 10 program for the third time this season (#1 TCU, #7 Cal State Fullerton) as they welcome the second-ranked Beavers to town. Oregon State is a consensus top five team according to the six rankings released this week. The Beavers are ranked as high as No. 1 by Collegiate Baseball.
  • OSU will be the visiting team on the scoreboard for the first time this year. The Beavers were the home team for all eight neutral-site games in Surprise.
  • The Beavers have held opponents to two runs or less in 12 of 15 games this season. In only one game, against Ohio State, has OSU allowed more than two earned runs.
  • OSU's starters have an 11-1 record and 1.43 ERA in 94 1/3 innings.
  • Oregon State comes into the week with a 1.20 earned run average, which leads the nation. The Beavers are one of five teams with sub- 2.00 ERAs, and No. 2 Louisville is at 1.75. OSU is also tops with a 0.86 WHIP, third with 2.00 walks issued per nine innings and fourth with 5.73 hits allowed per nine. The Beavers are also tied for fourth with four shutouts.

Devils vs. Oregon State/Pac-12 Openers/Top-Five Teams

  • ASU is 49-32 all-time against the Beavers and 10-7 in series against the Beavers since 2000 with wins in three of the last five series. The Devils have four sweeps against Oregon State in that span
  • The Devils are opening Pac-12 Conference play against Oregon State for the third consecutive season. OSU won all three games last season, including the opener, 3-2. OSU has won its last five Pac-12 openers dating back to 2013.
  • The Devils are 29-25 all-time in conference openers and 18-18 in Pac-12 Conference openers. ASU has been on the wrong end of five of the last six conference openers.
  • Since 1995, the Sun Devils are 57-71-1 against teams ranked in the top five nationally. The Devils went 1-2 earlier this season against top-ranked TCU on the road in Fort Worth.

Last Time Out - Long Beach State

  • Coming into the weekend, the Long Beach State pitching staff had allowed 39 runs in 11 games (3.5 runs/g). In the three-game series sweep against the Dirtbags, the Arizona State offense totaled 24 runs (8 runs/g).
  • ASU had just 17 runs total in five games against LMU and Cal State Fullerton in the two series prior to entering the weekend. 
  • In the three-game series, Zach Cerbo went 5-for-10 (.500) with his first career home run and driving in three.
  • Hunter Bishop started all three games at DH for ASU this weekend, going 5-for-11 (.454) with a home run and five RBI's during his four game hitting streak. Bishop registered an RBI in each of the three games on the weekend.

Eli's Coming 

  • Eli Lingos, who earned first team Pac-12 All-Academic honors in 2016, has quickly solidified himself as the team's ace this season after entering the year as the Friday Night Starter.
  • Lingos opened the 2017 season with a bang, going 3-0 with three quality starts in his first three appearances of the season. Among those wins were an upset over then-No. 1 TCU and a career-best 7.2 IP outing against LMU in which he allowed no runs.
  • Lingos has gone over 6.0 IP in each of his four appearances this season after never having consecutive games over 6.0 IP in his career prior to this season.
  • The junior lefty has allowed no earned runs in two of his four starts this season, something he had done in a start just once in his career prior. 
  • His three wins this season match his 2016 total while he has issued no walks in two of three starts this season, something he had accomplished in just two starts prior to 2017.
  • Lingos is currently just outside the Top-10 in ERA in the Pac-12 this season at 2.39.
  • He is fourth in the leagie with 26.1 innings pitched this season and eighth in the conference with 24 strikeouts.

Mr. Friday Night

  • Lingos is the sixth pitcher since 2014 to assume the Friday Night role, joining Ryan Burr, Brett Lilek, Seth Martinez, Ryan Kellogg and Hever Bueno. 
  • ASU used four pitchers in the Friday night role in six seasons between 2008 and 2013 with Mike Leake ('08, '09), Seth Blair ('10), Brady Rodgers ('11, '12) and Trevor Williams ('13).
  • Lingos joins a long and illustrious line of Mr. Friday Night's at ASU that includes nine Major Leaguers and numerous ASU Hall of Famers, including Eddie Bane, Floyd Bannister, Kendall Carter, Mike Esposito, Larry Gura, Gary Gentry, Mike Leake, Trevor Williams and Brady Rodgers.

Lin-Sanity

  • True freshman Lyle Lin continues to be the highlight of a young freshmen class, ranked fourth in the Pac-12 Conference with 24 hits this season. 
  • Lin has had three or more hits in three games on the year while registering multiple hits in nine of 16 games on the season overall. No other Sun Devil has more than four such games.
  • Through 16 games in 2016, only All-American David Greer had nine multi-hit games and only one freshman (Gage Canning) had two at that point in the season.
  • Lin has started every game this season, one of just three players to do so - batting .375 with a team-leading 13 RBI in the process, the latter good for ninth in the Pac-12

Re-LYLE-able

  • Lyle Lin has an approach at the plate that is tough to find in many freshman. The youngster lead's the team's starters with a .417 average this season with two outs on the board on 10-of-24 hitting. No other Devil has more than eight 2-out hits.
  • Lin leads the team with six two-out RBIs and also holds a team-leading 12 hits with runners in scoring position on 24 at bats (.500), six more than the next closest Devil.
  • Lin has reached base in 15 of ASU's 16 games to date.

#BISHETE

  • Another pair of freshmen have come up with the hot bats of late as well in outfielder/DH Hunter Bishop and infielder Carter Aldrete.
  • Bishop cracked the rotation as the starting DH against Long Beach State and comes into the weekend with a four-game hitting streak. The youngster finished the weekend with a home run and a triplea and a team-leading five RBIs in some of the most important at-bats on the weekend to help lead each of the team's three come-from-behind victories.
  • Aldrete is one of just three Sun Devils to start every game this weekend (Lyle Lin and Gage Canning being the others) and has appeared at three positions along the infield. He is currently second on the team with 10 RBIs and four doubles while tied for the team lead with two home runs.  
  • Bishop and Aldrete had history before coming to Arizona State. Both hail for Northern California and played in the 2015 Under Armour All-American games and selected to play for the Oakland Athletics' Area Code team in 2015. 

Zach Cer-Bomb

  • One of the biggest surprises of the early 2017 has been the emergence of senior catcher Zach Cerbo, a four-year veteran who is seeing his most significant action as a Sun Devil this season.
  • Cerbo has responded with a team-leading .474 average in his nine appearances, also leading the way with a .583 on base percentage with his four walks.
  • The senior helped lead the charge in the team's sweep of Long Beach State, knocking his first career home run in the second game of the series and knocking in four RBIs over the course of the weekend.

12-Gage

  • Gage Canning holds the Devils' second longest hitting streak this season at seven games. Canning had a team-best 13-game hitting streak as a freshman in 2016.
  • Canning has spent time at the leadoff spot and turning the order backaround in the nine-hole this year and done exactly what's expected of him in that role, stealing two bases, leading the team with 14 runs scored (eighth in the Pac-12) and advancing runners on 16-of-31 opportunities (.516).
  • Canning also leads the Devils with five doubles (tied for 10th in the Pac-12) and two triples this season (tied for third).

Shaps Blasts

  • After missing the first five games of the season to suspension, junior Andrew Shaps has reached base in all 11 of his appearances this season - just behind Lyle Lin's current team record of 13 consecutive games reaching base.
  • The outfielder enters the weekend with a team-leading eight-game hitting streak - the longest by a Sun Devil this season - while batting .295 on the year.
  • Despite missing five games, Shaps  is second on the Devils with six walks this season.

Small Ball

  • The Devils have done the majority of their damage by manufacturing runs this season. Despite ranking in the middle of conference this year (39) in extra-base hits, the Sun Devils are second in the league with 158 total hits.
  • The Devils are second in the conference with 119 singles as well and second in sacrifice flies (9) while having advanced runners a solid .488 percent of the time (147-of-301 oppurtunities).

They Can Mash Too

  • While the Sun Devils have had a penchant for small ball, the team has shown it can knock it around the park as well.
  • ASU currently ranks fourth in the league in home runs with nine this season, four of which came in the LBSU series.
  • ASU's first six home runs of the season were solo shots prior to Andrew Shaps breaking that trend with his clutch two-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to spark ASU's come-from-behind extra inning victory over LBSU.
  • Six Sun Devils (Tyler Williams 2, Carter Aldrete 2, Andrew Shaps 2, Ryan Lillard 1, Zach Cerbo 1, Hunter Bishop 1) have combined for those nine home runs this season - an interesting note as those six combined entered the 2017 season with three career collegiate home runs between them (Shaps 2, Lillard 1).

Clutch Hitting

  • The Sun Devils have lived and died by their clutch hitting this season, currently batting 35-of-106 (.330) with runners in scoring position in the team's wins but struggling to plate runners in the team's losses at just 16-of-65 (.246).
  • Batting a solid .286 as a team this season, the Devils have upped that just slightly to a .298 clip (51-of-171) with runners in scoring position. 
  • On the flip side, ASU has struggled defensively to get out of some innings, allowing 39 two-out RBIs of the 92 total by the opposition this season while allowing opponents to bat .307 (58-of-189) with two outs.

Getting Their Bearings

  • The Sun Devils will look to buck the trend of slow starts this weekend after being outscored by Long Beach State 11-0 in the first inning of the three games of the series. On the plus side, the Devils outscored the Dirtbags 24-4 over the remainder of those games to earn the series sweep. 
  • The Devils have been outscored 17-5 in the first innings of games this season and scored just 21 runs total in the first three innings of games (of 89 total runs this season). 
  • On the flip side, 15 of those early-game runs have come in the last five games after ASU combined for just six runs in innings one through three in the first 11 games of the season. 

Not Wasting Time

  • Freshman Spencer Van Scoyoc became the first Sun Devil freshman to start a game in the Opening Weekend since Adam McCreery against Western Michigan in 2012. 
  • Van Scoyoc pitched a gem in his start against #1 TCU, going 6.0 innings with four strikeouts and no earned runs allowed in his first career quality start.
  • Van Scoyoc currently sits 10th in the Pac-12 with a 2.00 ERA, good for third among all Pac-12 freshmen hurlers. 
  • The lefty has been nigh impossible to steal a base off from this season, leading all Sun Devils with four caught stealings this season - a total good for third in the Pac-12 and first among all pitchers - to just one stolen base against.
  • Van Scoyoc was selected in the 19th round of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays but elected to attend ASU instead. 
  • He was rated the #1 LHP and #1 overall player in Iowa and the #8 overal LHP in the nation.

Baseball's in Their Blood

  • There are eight Sun Devils on the 2017 squad who have a history of baseball in their family: Ryan Hingst (father, David, UT El Paso), Andrew Snow (cousin, Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox), Garvin Alston Jr. (father, Garvin, MiLB), Eli Lingos (brother, Angelos, UC Riverside), Jackson Willeford (brother, Guy, Palomar JC; brother, Alex, Palomar JC/SDSU), Hunter Bishop (brother, Braden, Seattle Mariners), Fitz Stadler (Brothers Sullivan and Walker, Indiana), Carter Aldrete (father, Rich, MiLB; uncle, Mike, New York Yankees).

Keeping It Interesting

  • The Devils had a knack for success in close games last season and that continued this season.
  • Since 2016, the Devils are 7-1 in extra-inning games (1-0 in 2017), with six walk-off wins (two this season) and are 15-2 (3-1 this year) in one-run games including 5-1 in Pac-12 play. ASU has driven in the game-winning run in the eighth inning or later 13 times (three times this year).
  • Arizona State has notched nine wins since 2016 when trailing after six innings (three times this season).