Three takeaways from ASU baseball’s first Pac-12 series win of the season

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona State baseball traveled to Tucson and took the first two games of a weekend series, but couldn’t complete the weekend sweep Sunday afternoon.

ASU won Friday night 3-2 after taking the lead in the top of the ninth inning. The Sun Devils shutout Arizona 4-0 Saturday night. Then, Arizona got the better of ASU 14-3 Sunday afternoon.

The Sun Devils put on a pitching masterclass Friday and Saturday holding the Wildcats to a combined two runs. However, Arizona jumped all over the ASU pitching staff Sunday for 14 runs, scoring in sets of five and two runs across four different innings.

Arizona had 20 hits and forced ASU to use six pitchers to cover Sunday’s eight innings. The Sun Devils used just four pitchers combined for the first two games of the series and allowed just seven hits.

Although Sunday was not how ASU would’ve liked to end the series, it does leave Tucson with the series win over its rivals and its first conference series win of the season.

Here are three takeaways from the weekend series.

Three takeaways from ASU vs Arizona

Takeaway 1: Starting pitching set the tone

ASU’s starting pitching has been very strong to start the season, at least when compared to the bullpen. It’s also been a good indicator of how each game will go. The Sun Devils have been extremely successful when their pitchers go deep into games. But when they’ve run into trouble early, the Sun Devils have had trouble bouncing back.

The offense has seemed to be reactive to the starting pitching this season. Whether it be doing just enough to win when the pitchers are rolling, or working on comebacks when the team falls in an early hole. But, when ASU has to go deeper into its bullpen, the offense has had trouble keeping up with the growing deficit.

In the first two games of the series, the starters had their stuff and pitched lights out. The offense gave just enough run support to secure the wins. On Sunday, even though ASU lost by 11 runs, the offense fought back early. Arizona struck first with five runs in the second inning. But ASU responded with three of its own in the third. Over the next four innings, the Wildcats put up nine more runs which quickly put the game out of reach.

Thomas Burns surpassing expectations

Freshman pitcher Thomas Burns has exceeded all expectations as the Friday night starter. Burns holds a 3.86 ERA through his first five starts and is averaging more than five innings per outing. The freshman displayed his best stuff yet against Arizona, pitching seven strong innings and allowing just one run on 108 pitches. It was his third straight outing with at least 100 pitches.

Following Burns, senior pitcher Connor Markl has had a strong start to the season after a shaky season debut. Markl’s ERA sits at 4.82 through four starts. He missed one start out of precaution for injury. However, after the extra rest, the senior delivered one of the best outings of his career against the Wildcats. Markl threw six shutout innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out a season-high eight batters.

Junior pitcher Ryan Schiefer and sophomore pitcher Ben Jacobs came in to relieve Markl and Burns on Saturday and Friday, respectively. Neither reliever allowed an earned run and secured wins each night for ASU. The two pitchers have distinguished themselves as the most reliable arms out of the bullpen. Schiefer and Jacobs are the only Sun Devil pitchers with at least 15 IP and ERA’s below 3.00.

Sunday problems

Sunday has been a wild card for ASU. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Tyler Meyer had started the first four weeks but struggled with a 10.95 ERA. So, freshman pitcher Adam Behrens drew the nod. Behrens brought an ERA of 8.59 into Sunday but had experience with midweek starts. However, Behrens couldn’t make it through two innings Sunday before Arizona scored five runs and ended his outing.

ASU is 6-4 combined on Friday and Saturday and 1-4 on Sunday so far this season. The Sun Devils have developed a strong one-two punch for the first two games of the weekend series, but it needs to find an answer for the final game of each weekend.

ASU can’t strand so many guys on base

This takeaway might seem obvious, but it’s important. The Sun Devils offense was scorching hot to start the season and has cooled off a bit. But the biggest factor has been leaving runners on base.

ASU has left 10 or more runners on base in six games this season. Five of those six games were losses. In the Sun Devils’ nine wins, they’ve left 10 or more runners on in just one game.

During Friday’s and Saturday’s wins, ASU left a combined 13 runners on base. In Sunday’s loss, the Sun Devils stranded 12 baserunners.

ASU is still racking up hits at a high level and has shown the ability to draw walks. But it needs to reward its batters for getting on base by bringing them home.

The Sun Devils scored at least 10 runs in five of their first eight games. They went 5-3 during that stretch. ASU has scored 10 runs in just one game since then. Its record is 4-7 over that span.

One through nine, ASU has a deep, talented lineup with two or three more on the bench, but the Sun Devils need to bring home the guys they get on base to start stringing some wins together.

Jacob Tobias, have a series!

Junior infielder Jacob Tobias was the one bright spot Sunday afternoon. Tobias went 5-5 to pick up his first five-hit game of his career.

Sunday’s 5-5 game capped Tobias’ 8-14 weekend which brought his average up to .333 on the season. The junior is now fourth on the team in batting average and second in hits with 27.

Tobias had a strong freshman year batting .276 with 29 RIBs and an OBP over .350. Then he broke out in his sophomore campaign hitting .317, with 10 HR, 59 RBIs, and an OBP over .400. Tobias led the team in RBI, was second in HRs, and third in batting average.

The junior has stepped into a larger leadership role this season and is picking up where he left off in the box. Tobias’ bat is a stabilizer in ASU’s lineup and will be key to the Sun Devils’ offensive production this season.

ASU arrived in Tucson two games under .500 at 7-9. The Sun Devils leave with a 10-9 record and their first Pac-12 series win under their belt. ASU returns home for a midweek two-game series with Utah Valley starting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

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