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South Carolina jumped all over the Sun Devils Tuesday, beating them 11-4 and sending the Devils home without a title for the 11th straight time. I thought we had one of the best pitching staffs in college baseball. Was something missing? From azcentral.com:

Arizona State’s two starting pitchers at the College World Series were rocked for a combined 17 hits and 13 runs in six innings. Junior right-handers Seth Blair and Merrill Kelly, who came here with a combined 22-2 record, struggled against lefty heavy Clemson and South Carolina lineups. Not having a left-handed starter caught up to ASU here. That role was to have been filled by Josh Spence, who was 10-1 in 2009 with two quality starts at the College World Series. But Spence sat out the season because of an arm injury and now is pitching in the Cape Cod League.

It can’t all be blamed on pitching, we had some costly errors and left a lot of men on base. From phoenix.fanster.com:

It’s certainly easy to point the finger at the pitching, but there were other areas of ASU’s game that were lacking at the College World Series. Their defense put them in a hole Monday vs. Clemson with two early errors. Their offense mustered just 7 runs in two games and batted just .279 after averaging 8.6 runs per game and hitting .338 as a team over the course of their first 60 games. The Pac-10 leaders in home runs didn’t have a long ball. And the team that stole 134 bases prior to arriving at the College World Series didn’t swipe a base until Drew Maggi stole second down 10-2 in the 7th inning on Tuesday.

I didn’t even recognize that team out there. To have such an impressive regular season, to being eliminated in two games. It is disappointing to say the least. Maybe we needed a cool motivational speech or two.

Thank you Randy for that headline. What does the #1 seed get you? A big bulls eye on your back, that’s what. The Clemson Tigers came out strong and dealt the Arizona State Sun Devils a 6-3 loss. Now the Devils face an elimination game against South Carolina on Tuesday. Oh Boy. From azcentral.com:

Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year Seth Blair struggled for a second consecutive game Monday, an outing that No. 1-ranked Arizona State — unlike in the super regional — could not overcome at the College World Series. The Tigers (44-23) knocked Blair out after 4 1/3 innings (seven hits, five runs) in a 6-3 win that already puts ASU (52-9) on the brink of elimination.

That was a tough game to watch. A lot of missed opportunities. Poor defense and poor pitching cost us this game. From statepress.com:

“He just didn’t pound the zone,” Esmay said of Blair. “This time of the year, whether it’s Clemson or Arkansas, if you’re down in the count, their offense has done some things to get here, and you can’t keep pitching from behind, behind, behind.” Blair seemed to find his groove in the middle stages of the game, retiring six straight in the third and fourth innings to keep ASU in the contest. But Clemson, which tallied 14 hits that were all singles, continued to drive up the right-hander’s pitch count — Blair left after 4 1/3 innings and 110 pitches — and used three straight RBI singles in the fifth to jump to a 5-1 lead. One of the run-scoring singles came on a lazy fly ball to left that sophomore Drew Maggi lost in the sun.

We got some arms baby! The Sun Devils have one of the best pitching staffs in the nation giving us an opportunity for a great run in the College World Series. From azcentral.com:

No. 1 ASU (52-8) could get by with two starters in Omaha by winning its four-team bracket in three games and sweeping a best-of-three championship series. But that best-case scenario rarely unfolds, and more often the national champion is the team with the deepest pitching staff, which on paper is ASU or UCLA. The Pac-10 rivals are in opposite brackets and would meet only in the championship series. ASU is 47-0 when leading after seven innings, speaking to the back-end steadiness of Lambson (8-2, 2.10 ERA, 3 saves) and Swagerty (2-0, 2.06 school record 14 saves). Mix in three starting pitchers with double-digit wins and role pitchers such as Rodgers, Patterson and Jake Barrett, and the Sun Devils are perhaps better armed for Omaha than at any time since the Floyd Bannister era (1975-76).

So I happened to be out & about over the weekend and didn’t get a chance to listen to any of the Sun Devils games (keeping score over my phone) which means I missed out on hearing Morgan Ensberg do the color commentary for the games on ESPN. Not everybody is a fan of his work, especially on twitter. From phoenix.fanster.com:

Those were some crazy games, back to back extra inning wins for the ASU baseball. I was on a LightRail pub crawl getting updates on my phone on Saturday night. It was so important to win that first game. From phoenix.fanster.com :

In Game One, ASU was down to its last strike. With a runner on third and two outs, Zack MacPhee hit a knob shot down the third base line. Honestly, MacPhee hit the ball like he was swinging a wet newspaper. But the ball trickled into no-man’s land and ended up as the biggest game tying hit of his career. ASU eventually won the ball game on a 12th inning walk-off base hit by freshman infielder Deven Marrero. In Game Two, Arkansas played the hero card. ASU was up a run with two outs, two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning. This time Arkansas center fielder Brett Eibner launched a ball out of the yard to tie up game two and send it into extra innings. However, the perseverance of ASU showed its beautiful face. In the 12th inning again, a clutch two-run homer by Drew Maggi ended up winning the ball game for ASU, and punching the Sun Devils’ ticket to the College World Series in Omaha.

Awesome, the number 1 ranked Sun Devils will face the 20th ranked Clemson Tigers. I sure do love Omaha this time of year. From azcentral.com :

The College World Series schedule will be announced later today. ASU (52-8) vs. Clemson (43-23) could be played Saturday or Sunday in Omaha, Neb. Others in that four-team, double-elimination bracket are No. 11 South Carolina (48-15) and the winner Monday between No. 2 Virginia (51-13) and No. 13 Oklahoma (48-16).

Thats the way we expected the regular season to finish! That’s what I’m talking about! The Sun Devils finished strong defeating the Stanford Cardinals 8-6 and winning the PAC-10 title outright, back to back PAC-10 Champs baby!!  The Devils also earned the number 1 national seed. Now some would say it may be a bit of a curse to be ranked number 1 going into the post season. But they had no choice, we simply dominated this season. fanster.com:

The Devils earned the number one National Seed for the 2010 postseason tournament. It is the first time ASU has been ranked that high since the current postseason system has been in effect. In fact, the chairman of the selection committee called ASU’s number one ranking the easiest decision of the committee. Those are pretty strong words of appreciation for how well this team has played.

It’s been 10 years since a number 1 seed has won the College World Series. Despite that, ASU feels pretty confident. This isn’t their first rodeo. From azcetnral.com:

ASU (47-8) is confident enough to take a crack at ending that 10-year streak. Because winning a sixth national title is really what it’s all about for the Sun Devils, who peaked at third in three CWS appearances since 2005. “Now the mentality is we’ve been to Omaha, we’ve seen the opening ceremony, the fireworks, all the cool stuff,” senior third baseman Raoul Torrez said. “We want to go there and win. All the preparation throughout the year has been why not take a chance and say let’s win this thing instead of let’s just get there.”

Nice try guys. Looks like Oregon State pulled their shit together and got one on us. From azcentral.com:

“Oregon State (28-21, 10-14) jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings, fell behind 6-5, rallied for four runs in the seventh inning and held on to keep its postseason hopes alive. ASU starter Jake Borup, in his shortest outing of the season, lasted just 1 2/3 innings. He gave up six hits, including a two-run homer by Adalberto Santos and five runs. “Down in Tucson (six days earlier) his slider really good and sharp,” Esmay said of Borup. “Today it was a little flat. That’s why we took him out.” “We just picked a tough time to not get a knock in the ninth,” Esmay said. “I was proud of our guys because they battled all day long. To go down 5-zip, and you look at it and it’s the last swing of the bat you get beat. That tells you that your guys responded and got after it.”

Man Kole Calhoun hit his 13th homer of the season and was named Pac-10 Player Of The Week. Awesome. I just realized we moved up to #2 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll. Thats cool. Is it going to be a photo finish in the race for the Pac-10 title? It’s between UCLA and ASU and the Season has only three games left. From fanster.com:

“UCLA is playing great baseball. The Bruins have won nine straight conference games, and are nipping at the heels of ASU in the race for the Pac-10 Championship. The Devils have a two-game lead with three games to play. Especially this late in the season, it’s tough for a player not to scoreboard watch. But the Devils need to make sure and just take care of their own business. It can be a significant distraction when you’re checking your computer or your cell phone on a road trip to see how the UCLA vs. WSU series is going.”

Its getting hot!! In the pool all weekend, just to cool off. ASU doesn’t look like they are cooling off anytime soon. Friday they jumper all over Oregon State in a 10-4 spanking. Kole Calhoun was a triple away from hitting for the cycle. It was more of the same on Saturday. The Suns Devils came away with a 6-5 win and once again it was Calhoun lighting it up with a 3 run home run! From azcentral.com:

“The Beavers had pitched to Calhoun in the third inning at Packard Stadium after a lengthy discussion between pitching coach Nate Yeskie and starter Sam Gaviglio with a 2-2 count on the Arizona State senior slugger. Calhoun took the next pitch out to right field for his 12th homer and second in as many games, scoring three to erase a two-run deficit. Calhoun equaled his 2009 home-run output with a blast helped by the wind down the right-field line scoring Austin Barnes and Maggi.”

I likey. The Devils are looking good, with a 3 game lead over number 10 UCLA, for another Pac-10 title.

Don’t call it a comeback. We got our butts kicked 12-4 and what do we do? We pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and comeback and win 4-2 down in Mexico and win the rivalry series 3-2. We are Sun Devils! Thats what we do! From azcentral.com:

“This was one of the tougher games we’ve played all year,” ASU coach Tim Esmay said. “It was an uphill battle all day. What was nice is we didn’t crack. We did everything we needed to do when the game was on the line.” Arizona (31-18, 10-11) is tied for sixth in the Pac-10 with No. 23 Oregon. Mitchell Lambson (6-2) pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief for the win with Jordan Swagerty earning his 11th save.”

I likes it, we are near the top of the table. Still have some work to do before we can win our fourth consecutive Pac-10 title. Holla

Alright, they got us good. I’ll give them that. That is a bad loss. Knocked us down to #3. I think we’ll bounce back just fine. As for UofA, sometimes the good Lord gives them a break or two, they do live in Tucson after all. From azcentral.com:

“We gave a lot of freebies away,” ASU coach Tim Esmay said. “Every mistake we made they capitalized on. You can’t give freebies away in this conference. We just didn’t handle the baseball, we didn’t make big pitches, we threw some pitches away, we didn’t catch the ball, and they did a good job. “It’s almost like a kick in the head a little bit. It allows you to know that this game is not as easy sometimes. That game last night (a 12-4 ASU win Saturday) was pretty well played. You’ve got to understand, once that game’s over, it’s a new day. Just like (today). The challenge is for them to respond physically and from a mental standpoint.”

Ok so the resignation of Pat Murphy was shocking to us fans but what about recruits who wanted to play for ASU? Do they still want to wear the Maroon and Gold? Your damn right they do! From eastvalleytribune.com:

“I was shocked,” Corona del Sol senior and Arizona State commit Trever Allen said. “The week right before that, we had the recruits come and go tour the campus. Murph was there and we were all talking to him… I was hesitant after, like maybe there was a better option. I wanted to hear what was going to happen with all the guys that signed.” After thinking it over, Allen decided to stick with his commitment to the Sun Devils, which has been a common theme among those who verbally committed to Murphy. “It’s the program that sells you,” said Mesquite’s Rocky High, who will play for ASU next season. “No matter who the coach is there, they’re still going to get the best players. They’re always going to be competitive.” Red Mountain slugger Cole Gleason is one of the top juniors in the state, hitting .543 this season with 14 home runs and 42 RBIs. Gleason said he was shocked when Murphy was fired. “I got to know Murphy pretty well,” Gleason said. “We really connected. He’s a great guy.” But that hasn’t changed his thought process. As long as NCAA sanctions don’t drastically damage the Arizona State program, Gleason wants to be a Sun Devil.” “We have not had one early signee say that they’re considering going somewhere else,” Arizona State interim coach Tim Esmay said.”

There you have it. These kids know a quality program when they see it. I feel good knowing Sun Devil baseball is going to be competitive for many season to come.

How do like this weather? It’s just perfect, chamber of commerce weather. Or patio drinking weather. Lots of patio pimp’n going with girls wearing less in these mild temps. I bet the ASU baseball players were enjoying themselves on their little break. They certainly didn’t lose focus, coming back strong against BYU to the tune of a 14-0 win. From azcentral.com:

“Coming off a five-day break, ASU put up eight runs in the first three innings in front of 2,641, which included former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, at Packard Stadium in a 14-0 non-conference win over Brigham Young. The Sun Devils are 40-game winners for a fourth consecutive season, seventh out of the past eight and 31st overall.”

That was a sweet offensive explosion by Johnny Ruettiger, a two run homer in the third inning and three run blast in the eighth. Seth Blair got the win he is now 8-0. This team is looking great.

“With eight prospects already claiming Division-I offers, the offensive line class in Arizona is perhaps the best in state history.It is probably only a matter of time before 6-foot-7, 310 pound Tyler Bode from Fountain Hills adds his name to list of prospects with offers.”

Can’t wait for football, The Devils are going to have at least four games on National TV, Home against Oregon and UCLA, and two away games, Wisconsin, and the Mildcats. Geez, we gotta travel to Mexico for a game? Lame.

I’m trying to remember some of the crazier Cinko De Mayo’s I’ve been through. I think I may have passed out in a bathroom at the Depot Cantina, randomly kissing girls at Dos In Scottsdale. But no arrests, hope I can keep that streak alive. What was I saying…Oh yeah UofA sssuuckks. Dude our freshman pitcher only allowed two hits in a 13-1 win. Yep. We put 13 on them. It was sweet revenge for Brady Rodgers, who lost his first start against UofA last month. From azcentral.com:

“No. 2 ASU (39-5) put up four runs on a single hit in the fourth inning in support of Rodgers (3-2), who began the night No. 9 nationally in ERA. He lowered his ERA to 1.44 with eight scoreless innings, allowing only two singles and striking out seven. “My goal the whole game was just to throw strikes,” Rodgers said. “Last time I faced them, the only reason they scored three runs (off him) was because of my mistakes hitting guys and walking a guy. I knew I wasn’t going to do that again. My defense was stellar. Nothing got through.”

I likes it. As for Erin Andrews, I loves it.

What difference does the ranking make in April? Amirite? It would be nice to be number 1 and there is always a chance we could be at the top of the table again before the post season. Lets see who is number 1 in June. From azcentral.com:

“Texas jumped ahead of Arizona State for No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches baseball poll Monday. The Longhorns (34-7) were No. 2 last week, a spot behind ASU (33-5), which had a 2-2 week including a non-conference loss to Arizona. Texas has 23 first-place votes and 765 points with No. 2 ASU still getting seven first-place votes/738. Virginia, Georgia Tech and UCLA complete the top five.”

Ignore it. Lets move on and take care of the business at hand. Like jumping all over San Francisco 21-3 and sweeping the series. From statepress.com:

“If the old baseball cliché that hitting is contagious rings true, the ASU baseball time had a bout of the flu on Wednesday night. The No. 2 Sun Devils completed a two-game sweep of visiting San Francisco, throttling the Dons 21-3. ASU (35-5) racked up 23 hits off seven USF pitchers, with nine different players recording a multi-hit game. Sophomore infielder Riccio Torrez led the charge with his second straight four-hit night with three runs driven in. The offensive onslaught was highlighted by an eight-run seventh that featured back-to-back home runs by sophomores Zach Wilson and Johnny Ruettiger that each left the yard.”