ASU Struggles Against Stanford, Dropping Two of Three

Going into the first weekend of May, No. 8 Arizona State found themselves third in the Pac-12 and 3.5 games back of the conference leader, No. 11 Oregon, with a realistic chance at taking the conference title. The Sun Devils had just come off a sweep at Utah and were 13-4 in their last 17 games. Once Stanford took two of three at Packard Stadium this weekend, however, their odds certainly decreased and they wound up in fourth place, 5.5 games back of the Ducks. ASU hoped to come out guns blazing against a Stanford team that lost three games to Oregon last weekend and earned an easy midweek victory against sub-.500 Saint Mary’s. Cardinal ace Mark Appel (8-3, 1.56 ERA) had other ideas. The potential first overall pick of the upcoming MLB Draft threw 122 pitches over 7.2 innings while only giving up five hits, three runs (two earned) and one walk. Appel’s shining statistic in his eighth win of the season was his 13 strikeouts. He retired the order three separate times during his performance.

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Sun Devils Lose Another Heartbreaker

The stands were packed again at Packard Stadium Saturday night, but it seemed like the same great show had another re-run, as No. 8 Arizona State dropped the second game of the series in heartbreaking fashion against No. 25 Stanford, 9-8 in 11 innings. Freshman sensation Ryan Kellogg toed the rubber for the Sun Devils (29-14-1) and got roughed up early as Stanford right fielder Austin Slater hit a two-run shot to put the Cardinal up in the first. Arizona State's Michael Benjamin responded with a solo shot of his own over the left field wall. Trever Allen blasted his eighth homerun of the season that highlighted the Sun Devils three-run bottom of the fourth.

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Stanford's Mark Appel Too Much for Sun Devils

Appel Exploded for 13 Strikeouts (Photo: Evan Webeck/WCSN)It was a star-studded Friday night and ESPNU was in town. Scouts were in the stands and both aces were on the mound.

With just one more month left this season, the race for the top spot in the Pac-12 continued to heat up as No. 8 Arizona State lost 5-3 to the No. 22 Stanford Cardinal on Friday at Packard Stadium.

It was nearly a sold out crowd as Trevor Williams and Mark Appel took the mound in this epic matchup of Pac-12 aces. Mark Appel proved why he could easily be the first overall pick in this year’s MLB Draft...

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Looking Ahead To ASU-Utah Series

After a nice mid-week win over UNLV on Wednesday night, the No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils (25-12-1) travel to Utah to take on the Utes (16-20). 

ASU’s offense has been seemingly unstoppable as of late. Each game, more and more players step up and make it happen with their bats. 

There are seven Sun Devils with a batting average over .300 batting average. RJ Ybarra leads the pack currently, with a sparkling .375.

Ybarra hit his first two home runs of the season in the series against Valparaiso, with his first being a monstrous grand slam over the left field wall. This was the first grand slam by a Sun Devil in more than three years. 

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Devils Take Care Of Business Against UNLV

The ASU pitching staff gave a solid, well-rounded performance on Wednesday against UNLV (Photo: Ben Margiott/WCSN)In the second mid-week meeting between No. 8 Arizona State (25-12-1) and UNLV (27-13), the Sun Devils defeated the Rebels 5-2.

Great pitching was the story of Wednesday night’s win, as ASU got a stellar pitching performance from starter Zak Miller.  The junior earned the win after throwing 5.2 innings and finishing the night with seven hits, two runs (both earned), two walks and seven strikeouts, tying his career high. 

“It was one of those days where I think everything was just going my way,” Miller said about how he felt he performed.  “You start to get more comfortable, you start to know how your body feels, you start to get in a rhythm and tonight was a big breakthrough night for me.”

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