The Arizona State baseball team swept the USC Trojans this past weekend to run their Pac-12 winning streak to six games. ASU (23-13) improves to 9-6 in conference play and the Sun Devils are now in second place in the Pac-12.
Pitching led the Sun Devils all weekend as ASU only gave up two runs to USC (19-14) the entire weekend. Junior right-hander Brady Rodgers (6-1) was superb again on Friday night. Rodgers threw eight innings, giving up six hits, striking out seven and only giving up one earned run.
On Saturday, sophomore right-hander Trevor Williams (7-2) actually out pitched his teammate. Williams threw a complete game four-hit shutout. Williams struck out six batters and finished the game with zero walks.
On Sunday, freshman Darin Gillies (1-3) picked up his first career win as a Sun Devil, going five innings, giving up three hits and one earned run. The ASU bullpen was lights out once again on Sunday, only giving up one hit in four shutout innings of work.
The big names for the ASU lineup all came through this weekend as Abe Ruiz, Deven Marrero and Joey DeMichele all had RBI's against the Trojans. On Sunday, freshman Rouric Bridgewater went 2-3 and had four RBI.
Arizona State rose one spot in the Baseball America rankings, from No. 21 to No. 20. ASU rose two spots to No. 19 in the latest NCBWA poll and ASU is now No. 21 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings.
ASU hosts No. 13 Arizona on Tuesday night at Packard Stadium in a non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled at 6:30 p.m.
ASU Baseball in the Rankings:
Baseball America: No. 20
Perfect Game: No. 20
NCBWA: No. 19
Collegiate Baseball Poll: No. 21
News and Notes:
- With their six-game winning streak, ASU (9-6) is now in sole possession of second place in the Pac-12 standings. ASU trails Arizona, Oregon and UCLA, who are all 10-5 in conference.
- With their sweep over USC, it is the first time since 1985 that ASU swept USC in football, basketball and baseball in a single season.
- Abe Ruiz (2) and Joey DeMichele (4) are both top five in the Pac-12 in slugging percentage.
- Brady Rodgers leads the Pac-12 in both ERA (1.12) and innings pitched (72).
- Trevor Williams is second in the Pac-12 in ERA (1.41), trailing only Brady Rodgers. Williams is tied for the league lead in wins with seven.
- Even though ASU and U of A play on Tuesday, their game will not count towards in the Pac-12 standings.