April 16, 2001
The Record Is In The Books. ASU Has Scored In 355 Straight Games: Media Exposure: The National Rankings: Casey
Myers Having Banner Senior Season: Rod
Allen Is Hotter Than Hot: Offensive Powerhouse ASU Tops In Scoring in NCAA Last Two Years: Hitting Report: Pitching Report: Blame It On The Rain: How ASU Faired Vs. New Mexico State Earlier This Year: How ASU Faired Vs. Oral Roberts Earlier This Year: Road Warriors: Nick
Walsh Knows Game Winners: Pitching Reigns Supreme In Washington State Series: The Wild, Wild West; Jeremy
West: Danger...Rod Allen On Deck: Pat
Murphy at ASU: The Ultimate Team Player; Dennis
Wyrick: Bobby Winkles Field: Copy By Jeff R. Evans
Junior right-handed pitcher
Andy Torres leads ASU and is second in the Pac-10 with nine wins this
year. Torres and the rest of the No. 15 Sun Devils take to the road to
play three non-conference games this week.
The No. 15 Sun Devil baseball team appears to be back on track after winning
a Pac-10 series over the Washington State Cougars, 2-1 last weekend. After
falling in the series opener 2-1 to the Cougars, ASU rebounded for a 4-3 win
Friday and a 14-4 rout Saturday to take their first series win since the
Pac-10 opening series vs. Cal. The Sun Devils stand at 24-13-1 on the year
and a half game out of third place in the conference at 7-8. ASU will take
the week off from its busy Pac-10 slate to play five non-conference games
before hosting rival Arizona to a weekend Pac-10 series at Packard Stadium
Feb. 27-29. The Sun Devils will make a three-city tour of the Southwest this
week, playing at New Mexico State (Apr. 17), at Oklahoma in Oklahoma City
(Apr. 18) and at Oral Roberts (Apr. 19). The Sun Devils have defeated both
New Mexico State and Oral Roberts at home this year, and will have won four
of their last five vs. Oklahoma. The rotation for the three games has not
been set, but ASU will likely throw the usual starters of Jon
Switzer, Mike
Esposito and Ryan Schroyer/Andy Torres during the week. ASU will log
2,432.4 miles during the road trip through the Southwest United States.
The Arizona State baseball program made history on April 7 when they scored
at least one run in its 350th consecutive game. The Devils broke the
12-year-old record in a 5-1 loss to USC exactly six years to the day when
they were last shut out. ASU was shut out 9-0 on April 7, 1995 at Dedeaux
Field. The one run scored Friday in the 2-1 loss to Washington State marked
only the eighth time during the streak that ASU has scored only one run. The
record is still in tact at 355 straight games. ASU was neck-in-neck with
Wichita State who was not shutout in 332 games, but when the Shockers fell
1-0 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette ASU took over the national lead. Coastal
Carolina held the record at 349 games set from 1983-1989. ASU also had a
stretch of 278 games without being shut out from 1990 to 1994, meaning the
program has only been limited to no runs three times dating back to 1990.
None of this week's games will be available over the radio or the internet,
but all three games can also be viewed over the internet with Live Stats at
ASU's official athletic site, www.thesundevils.com. All three games can be
heard over the internet by visiting each opponent website. For the New
Mexico State game, please point your browser to http://nmstatesports.fansonly.com,
while the Oklahoma game can be heard at http://soonersports.fansonly.com.
The Oral Roberts game can be heard over the internet at either
www.oruathletics.edu or at www.kcfo.com.
The Sun Devils are ranked 14th in the recent Baseball Weekly/ESPN college
baseball poll, 15th by Baseball America and 17th by Collegiate Baseball.
This week's rankings end a string of 25 consecutive weeks in which ASU was
listed in the top 12 in at least one of those three polls. ASU has now been
ranked in the top 20 dating back to the preseason poll for the 2000 season.
Oral Roberts (28-6) comes into the weekend with a No. 25 ranking by
Collegiate Baseball and received seven votes in the Baseball Weekly Coaches
Poll. They have won 13 straight games and dating back to last year are 37-1
in Mid-Continent Conference play. Oklahoma (15-25) was a preseason Top 25
team, but are currently unranked by all three polls. The Sooners have
dropped three of their past four games. New Mexico State is also unranked,
but carry a 25-17 record into Tuesday's game. The Aggies are among the NCAA
leaders in scoring with an average of 10.76 runs per game in 2001.
One of the hottest and best hitters in college baseball, Casey
Myers was 6-for-11 (.545) in the weekend series with WSU and with two
multi-hit games over the weekend leads ASU with 24 on the year and now has
90 in his career. His 50 RBI is second in the Pac-10 and with 256 in his
career is within 27 of tying the Pac-10 and ASU career record of 283. Myers
has recorded a hit in 29 of ASU's 38 games this year and is hitting .378
with runners in scoring position. Myers is also climbing the career record
charts at ASU. Besides the RBI record, Myers has 37 home runs (7th), 60
doubles (4th), 289 hits (3rd), 181 runs, 460 total bases (6th) and 745
at-bats (7th). His career .388 batting average (289x745) is currently tied
for the sixth best in school history. Over his last 10 games he is hitting
.436 (17x39) and over his last five games is connecting at a .500 clip
(10x20). For more on Casey
Myers and his illustrious career, please see related notes in this
release.
Freshman Rod
Allen and senior Casey
Myers continue carry a hot bat at the plate, tying for the team lead
with a remarkable .418 batting average. Allen's aggressive style at the
plate has him tied for second with Myers in the Pac-10 batting race at
.418.After hitting .444 (4x9) last week vs. the Cougars, he is arguably the
hottest Devil hitter with a team-leading .429 average in Pac-10 play, a .471
mark over his last five games and a .438 average over his last 10 games. For
more on Allen see related notes in this release.
Arizona State has led the NCAA in scoring each of the last two years,
averaging 11.32 runs per game in 1999 and 10.97 runs per game last year. ASU
also led the nation in batting average with a team total of .356 in 1999.
The Sun Devils .346 average in 2000 fell just percentage points shy of
matching that feat a second year in a row, trailing Stony Brook by one
point. ASU out-hit Stony Brook 738-500. During Pat
Murphy's seven seasons in Tempe, the Sun Devils have been a scoring
machine with 3,672 runs, averaging 9.39 runs per game. 2001 has been no
different for ASU, averaging 8.45 runs per game and hitting .337 as a team.
The Sun Devils have struggled a bit at the plate, seeing their team batting
average drop from .370 to its current mark of .337 in the last 15 games. ASU
broke out of the hitting funk with a season high 22 hits in a 14-4 win over
the Washington State Cougars on Saturday. Seven ASU players recorded
multi-hit games with six tabbing three or more hits. ASU is still leading
the Pac-10 in hitting at .337, but have fallen to second place in scoring
with 321 runs. ASU hit .340 as a team during the WSU series and are
collectively hitting .287 in Pac-10 play. Over the last five games ASU is
hitting .339 and over the last 10 games the Devils are hitting .293.
The Sun Devil pitching staff picked it up over the weekend with three games
of holding the opponent under four runs. Combining for a team ERA of 3.00
over the weekend, ASU hurlers allowed only nine runs in 27.0 innings. Aaron
Klusman, Andy
Torres and Jon
Switzer were all phenomenal. Switzer struck out 13 while earning a
no-decision in a 2-1 loss to WSU Thursday night. Torres threw five inning of
shutout ball to pick up the win Friday and Klusman struck out 10 in a career
high six innings Saturday to lock down the series win. The starting pitching
corps is a combined 15-10 with a 4.33 ERA, while the bullpen is 9-3 with
five saves and a 5.12 ERA. The entire pitching staff has combined for 355
K's.
Rain in Arizona, yeah, that's right, and it has put a damper on the 2001
baseball season so far. Record amounts of rain in the Southwest have forced
three cancellations at Packard Stadium, with two more being cancelled when
ASU traveled to Fullerton to play the Titans. ASU has already made up one
game with St. Mary's (6-4, L) and have a make-up game with Cal State
Fullerton scheduled for April 9. The Sun Devils have also added a game with
Nevada in Reno on May 16 at 3 p.m. ASU switched the game with New Mexico
State from April 19 to April 17 so they can play Oral Roberts in Tulsa after
the Oklahoma game. The Sun Devils will play three games in three different
cities during that stretch of games with New Mexico State, Oklahoma and Oral
Roberts. ASU was lucky to get all three games in at Oregon State. A
41-minute rain delay marred Saturday's game, and both the Sunday and Monday
games were delayed at the start because of rainy conditions.
New Mexico State came in riding the best start in school history at 9-1, but
that was quickly halted by a decisive 16-2 rout by the Sun Devils on Feb.
13. ASU played errorless ball en route to the demolishing, while NMSU
committed seven errors and gave up 15 hits to give ASU its ninth win of the
year. Freshman Steve
Garrabrants tallied three hits for ASU and senior Casey
Myers picked up four RBI to help pace the ASU offense. Andy
Torres improved to 4-0 on the year with a strong, five inning shutout
performance. The Sun Devils are still perfect vs. the Aggies in the all-time
series, going 20-0.
In a two-game series that was cut short by rain, ASU scored enough runs (17)
to last both games if they were to be played. ASU hammered Oral Roberts 17-3
by way of a solid starting pitching performance from Andy
Torres and a great game from All-American catcher Casey
Myers. Torres picked up his sixth win of the year by allowing only five
hits and two runs in six and a third innings, striking out four and walking
four. Redshirt junior Angel
Ramirez added a solid relief outing to put away the Golden Eagles.
Knocking out a then season-high 21 hits, the potent ASU offense was led by Chris
Duffy's 2-for-4 game with four RBI. Myers was 4-for-5 with two RBI, two
runs scored and his third home run of the year. Freshman Jeremy
West added a home run and two runs scored. In all, seven ASU hitters had
multi-hit games. ASU now leads the all-time series 2-0 vs. Oral Roberts.
With a tough schedule to start the Pac-10 season with three of their first
four league series on the road, the Sun Devils will traveled to USC for a
tough three-game series in which ASU dropped two of three. ASU played the
top two Pac-10 teams in the standings in consecutive weeks. Last weekend's
series with Washington State started a stretch of games in which ASU will
play four teams and seven games in eight days. After the WSU series, ASU
takes back to the road to play three mid-week games in three different
cities. The Sun Devils will play Tuesday (Apr. 17) in Las Cruces, NM at New
Mexico State, then Wednesday (Apr. 18) at Oklahoma in Oklahoma City and then
finally at Oral Roberts on Thursday (Apr. 19) in Tulsa, Okla. ASU will also
travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to play the Volunteers May 1-2. After the four
games last weekend on the road, ASU is 5-6 on the road, with nine more games
to be played away from Packard Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Nick
Walsh has a knack for the game-winning hit. Three times this year the
Alamo, Calif., native has lifted the Sun Devils to wins with late-inning
hits in clutch situations. The first came with a two-out, two-run single in
the seventh inning in a 5-3 win over Cal State Fullerton (2/23). In front of
several friends and family, Walsh gave ASU a 3-2 lead over Cal with a
two-out, ninth inning single to right field to score two runs. ASU went on
beat the Bears 4-2 (3/17). The latest clutch hit for Walsh came Friday vs.
Washington State when the left-handed swinger knocked his first career home
run in the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie. ASU went on to beat the
Cougars 4-3. Walsh is hitting only .267 (8x30), but has scored nine runs,
knocked home nine and is ASU's leading pinch-hitter at 6-for-16. The Sun
Devils are 3-0-1 when Walsh starts.
While the Sun Devil bats exploded for a season-high 22 hits in the series
finale Saturday vs. the Cougars, it was the pitching over the weekend that
deserves the most attention. The Sun Devil pitching staff allowed only nine
runs in 27.0 IP for a combined ERA of 3.00. Jon
Switzer took a hard-luck no-decision when he struck out 13 in eight
innings in a 2-1 loss to WSU. After a solid Mike
Esposito start Friday, Andy
Torres came in and threw five shutout innings of relief while striking
out seven to improve to 9-3 on the year. Saturday was a day Aaron
Klusman will never forget. The hard-throwing redshirt freshman
right-hander struck out 10 batters in a career-high six innings to pick up
his first collegiate decision. Klusman is 1-0 on the year with a
team-leading 2.45 ERA. He has struck out 32 and walked only 12 in 18.1
innings pitched. Opponents are hitting only .164 off Klusman this year.
Freshman first baseman Jeremy
West has wasted little time making himself one of the most feared
hitters in the ASU lineup. The product of Silverado High School in Las
Vegas, Nev., West has recorded a hit in 22 of 36 games this year and leads
the team with six home runs. He is hitting .361 (39x108) with seven doubles,
three triples and six home runs. He was 4-for-12 (.333) in the WSU series
with all four of his hits coming in the series final Saturday vs. the Cougs
(4x5, 4 RBI). West had a career night at the plate March 9 vs. South
Florida, going 4-for-5 with two RBI that night, falling just a double short
of the elusive cycle. West has started 28 games during his freshman
campaign, with 19 coming at first base and seven at designated hitter.
Despite hitting just .256 in Pac-10 play, West is hitting .316 over his last
five games. West has 11 multi-hit games and leads ASU with two, four-hit
affairs. He also has seven multi-RBI games to his credit.
One of the biggest surprises of the 2001 season has been the stellar
production of freshman designated hitter Rod
Allen. A likely redshirt candidate to begin the season, Allen caught
fire at the plate in non-conference action and has since been a regular
producer in the Sun Devil lineup. Allen currently is tied for the team lead
with a .418 batting average with senior catcher Casey
Myers. Much of his success came when Allen built up a 17-game hitting
steak that was snapped March 24 vs. Oregon State. Allen was 27-for-60 during
that stretch of games and had his batting average up to as high as a
team-leading mark of .452. After having his streak ended at 17 games, Allen
went into a 0-for-10 slump, before ending it with a 3-for-4 game against
Stanford last Sunday. He continued his hot hitting vs. USC, going 6-for-10
vs. the Trojans in front of several family and friends. He grew up in Culver
City, Calif., and his mom still resides in southern Calif. While hitting
.418, he has with 41 hits (98 AB), nine doubles, two home runs and 25 RBI.
After going 4-for-9 in the WSU series, Allen is ASU's leading hitter in
Pac-10 play at .429 (18x42) and is hitting .471 over his last five games.
His two-run blast vs. Creighton (2/17) cleared both fences in left field and
landed on Rio Salado Drive for his first collegiate home run. He added a
two-run homer vs. South Florida. The son of former major leaguer Rod
Allen, Sr., who is also a broadcaster for the Arizona Diamondbacks,
Allen hit .419 his senior year at Desert Vista while leading them to a state
championship. With seven multi-hit games, Allen has started 19 games with 13
coming at designated hitter and six in left field. He has hits in 22 of 27
games and ranks fifth on the Sun Devils with 12 extra base hits. He is
hitting .424 in Pac-10 play (14x33) with two doubles.
Arizona's State has had only three coaches in its illustrious history. The
latest to join the legacy is Pat
Murphy who has enjoyed great success since arriving in Tempe six years
ago in 1995. Murphy has guided ASU to a 256-136-1 (.653) and posted an
impressive 97-85 record in the tough Pac-10. ASU has advanced to postseason
play in three of the six years under Murphy, including a 2nd place finish at
the College World Series in 1998. With his 254 wins at ASU, Murphy has the
third best winning percentage of Pac-10 coaches. Murphy is three wins shy of
100 career Pac-10 victories . Of all active Division I coaches, Murphy
entered 2001 ranked 14th with a career .675 winning percentage.
Slumps come and go, and for Sophomore shortstop Dennis
Wyrick the slump is here. After entering the weekend series in Southern
California, Wyrick was hitting .425, but after going hitless in 14 at-bats
vs. the Trojans and Cal State Fullerton and 0-for-3 vs. Washington State,
Wyrick is now hitting .351. Wyrick has had his ups and downs in 2001 so far,
riding a hot bat at the plate and suffering through some rough patches in
the field. When the rest of the ASU lineup was slumping, Wyrick hit .500
(6x12) during the Oregon State series with a double and a RBI, Wyrick
followed that with a stellar series against top-ranked Stanford. In the
three games he hit .556, going 5-for-9 with two doubles, two runs scored and
three RBI. Over the last five games before USC he was hitting .500 (8x16).
For the year the Azusa, Calif., native is hitting .362 (34x94) with 16 runs
scored, six doubles and 13 RBI. His six doubles are already four more than
his 2000 season total of two in which he earned freshman All-America honors.
Wyrick had a career-long seven-game hitting streak snapped vs. USC. He
collectively went 12-for-24 (.500) with four runs scored and three doubles
during the streak.
The Baseball Field at Packard Stadium was officially named Bobby Winkles
Field last Saturday as part of a special weekend honoring ASU's first
varsity baseball coach. Winkles Field was officially named during a special
ceremony before Saturday's game with LSU. Around 90 of Winkles former
players joined a sellout crowd at Packard Stadium to honor Winkles and his
tremendous strides to put ASU baseball on the map. Winkles was ASU's first
varsity coach, compiling an impeccable 524-173 record during his 13-year
career at ASU. He guided the Sun Devils to three national championships
(1965, 67,69) and tutored future major league greats Rick Monday, Reggie
Jackson and Sal Bando. ASU is 7-4-1 on the newly named Bobby Winkles Field.
ASU recently played its 1,000th career game at Packard Stadium, posting an
all-time 779-226-1 record at the home of Sun Devil baseball dating back to
April 7, 1972.
ASU Media Relations