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Four-run eighth inning earns ASU a series sweep

Freshman catcher/1B Lyle Lin went 7-for-13 with two doubles and three RBI this weekend
Freshman catcher/1B Lyle Lin went 7-for-13 with two doubles and three RBI this weekend

Arizona State baseball’s opening weekend was odd. Due to expected rainfall, Friday became a doubleheader. Eventually, Saturday’s series finale was postponed. Sunday’s game, a 2:30 p.m. start, could only go until 4:45 p.m. at the latest because Northwestern had a flight out of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at 7 p.m.

The series finale, which on Sunday resumed in the top of the third inning, was tied 2-2 as it approached the cut-off time. Thus, the bottom of the eighth most likely marked ASU’s (3-0) final chance to earn a sweep of Northwestern.

During that eighth inning, ASU sophomore shortstop Jeremy McCuin broke the tie with a two-run double. Two batters later, freshman Sam Ferri knocked a pinch-hit two-run double of his own to seal a 6-2 win and series sweep.

“I was sitting slider honestly because Taylor (Lane) was before me and they threw him four sliders and they were all balls,” McCuin said of the key at-bat. “I knew they were going to be coming off-speed. I was sitting it, he gave me it right inside and I crushed it.

On deck, I was pretty nervous. Had to take a deep breath honestly and calm myself down.”

The opportunity may have never come without redshirt sophomore left-hander Reagan Todd and sophomore righty James Ryan. Each threw three full innings of relief, which bodes well for a bullpen with many inexperienced, unproven arms.

Todd entered the game in the fourth inning after freshman right-hander Zane Strand left the game with an athletic trainer. Head coach Tracy Smith said Strand felt something in his elbow during the previous inning but did not tell the coaching staff. He then went out for the fourth inning, but could not complete it.

In his absence, Todd allowed a run to score, but it was credited to Strand. He also struck out five of the 11 batters he faced on 38 pitches, 24 of them strikes.

“I think I was able to get my curveball over for a strike,” Todd said. “I think that was one thing that we realized was that Northwestern was taking a lot of off-speed pitches, so being able to throw that for a strike gets you ahead in the count. So I was ahead in the count and was able to get outs and have my defense work for me.”

Between Todd and Ryan, Northwestern did not have a baserunner after the fourth inning. Smith recalled the second game of Friday’s doubleheader where sophomore Fitz Stadler and junior Jake Godfrey combined for five scoreless innings of relief.

Their efforts kept Northwestern scoreless while ASU’s hitters scored four unanswered runs to win the game. Todd and Ryan did the same until ASU’s eighth-inning explosion.

“We’ve got more guys that we didn’t even use that I still feel like are going to be key guys as well, so I was very pleased with that,” Smith said. “I said it the other day, we got eight to 10 guys that there isn’t a big difference between them, but they’re all pretty good.”

Freshman lefty Spencer Van Scoyoc started the series finale, which began Saturday before its postponement. He gave up a hit and a run in 2 1/3 innings before the initial rain delay.

Junior Andrew Snow’s transition to third base has been rough thus far. He committed four errors in Friday’s doubleheader. He did not start the series finale but received a pinch-hit at-bat.

“Pitching and defense win games,” Smith said. “He’s got to understand you got to play defense. He’s a good player. The challenge is that he’s one of our better offensive guys, but when you go back and play it out, as many runs as he produced, defensively I think we let as many in. Over the long haul, the defense part of it has to take priority, especially in the Pac-12 Conference.”

Freshman Lyle Lin, who is from Taiwan, was a bright spot in the opening weekend. He went 7-for-13 with two doubles and three RBI while playing play first base and catching at different points.

ASU next hosts Oklahoma State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Smith said he expects sophomore left-hander Zach Dixon to make his first start of the year. Last season, Dixon threw a complete-game shutout in his first-career start with the program.

Junior center fielder Andrew Shaps, a regular starter last year, was suspended this weekend for a violation of team rules. Smith said the suspension will last through Tuesday’s game. He does not know when Shaps will be reinstated.

“He’s got to work his way back in there with his teammates and with us (coaches), and he’s doing that,” Smith said. “He was very into the game this weekend on the bench and that’s what you look for. We had an idea of what we were going to do with him prior to, so we’re still going to hold him out and keep watching him in practice in being the leader he should be.”

Ryan called ASU’s opening weekend “weird.” McCuin labeled it “strange” because the team was at the ballpark, but didn’t know when it would resume play.

Smith said there was a challenge in getting the team ramped up for Sunday when the team had not played in over 24 hours. In the end, all three games were decided by a combined seven runs.

The weekend may have been unusual, but it worked out for ASU.

“You hope that these (close) games pay off for you down the stretch,” Smith said. “…It’s tough to score here because the fences are so deep, there’s not that three-run homer to spread things out. It seems like all the games are nail-biters here. …For a first weekend, for a lot of new guys, for guys playing new positions, I was proud of the way guys competed.”

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