The No. 19 Arizona State baseball team will make its first ever trip to Spokane, Washington, for a thee-game series against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
The Sun Devils (29-17, 14-10) are coming off a sweep of Pac-12 foe Utah at Packard Stadium, and now travel to face non-conference foe Gonzaga (29-17, 9-9). The Zags currently sit in fifth place in the West Coast Conference after they won two of three games from St. May's last weekend.
ASU Update
The Sun Devils swept their third Pac-12 home series in a row with a drubbing of meager Utah. ASU outscored the Utes 26-6 of the course of the series. The Sun Devils currently sit two games back of conference leader Oregon in the Pac-12 standings. ASU plays six more Pac-12 games, including three at home next weekend against Washington.
Arizona State has been led by their pitching staff all year. Right-handers Brady Rodgers and Trevor Williams both rank inside the top five in the Pac-12 in ERA. Williams leads the conference in victories with nine, and Rodgers is second in the conference in innings pitched with 91 2/3.
Abe Ruiz and Joey DeMichele both rank inside the top ten in the Pac-12 in slugging percentage, RBI and total bases. The duo combines for just under a third of the team's RBI and just under half of the team's home runs.
Gonzaga Update
The Zags got their conference record up to .500 after a series win last weekend against St. Mary's. Gonzaga is 14-6 this season at home, and a perfect 7-0 in neutral site games.
Like ASU, Gonzaga boasts an impressive pitching staff. Sophomore left-hander Marco Gonzales is 6-1 with an ERA of 1.60, and left-hander Tyler Olsen boasts an ERA of 2.48 in 87 innings pitched.
At the plate, Gonzaga is led by senior outfielder Royce Bolinger, who leads the team in batting average (.399), hits (77) home runs (10) and RBI (39). Bollinger hales from Scottsdale and attended Chaparrel Hight School where he was an All-State selection his senior year of high school.
Series Preview:
Friday - 6 PM
ASU - RHP Brady Rodgers (8-2, 2.16)
Gonzaga - LHP Tyler Olsen (4-2, 2.48)
Saturday - 6 PM
ASU - RHP Trevor Williams (9-2, 1.87)
Gonzaga - LHP Marco Gonzales (6-1 1.60)
Sunday - 1 PM
ASU - RHP Alex Blackford (1-3, 6.12)
Gonzaga - TBD
All games played at Patterson Baseball Complex in Spokane, Washington, and can be heard on The Fan AM 1060.