Baseball closes season at Arizona with conference standings on the line
No. 16 Arizona State (35-18, 17-10) at No. 13 Arizona (36-16, 18-9)
WATCH AND LISTEN:
RADIO - live on The Fan AM 1060 | WEBCAST - watch all three games live on Arizona Wildcats All-Access (requires a subscription)
GAMETRACKER ONLINE:
FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY
SOCIAL MEDIA:
YOUTUBE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
ARIZONA STATE'S 100 MAJOR LEAGUE PLAYERS:
Photo Gallery - All 100 ASU Major League Players | Release - Calhoun Becomes 100th Sun Devil To Play Major League Baseball | Social Media Reacts - Arizona State's 100 Major League Players | Stats & Info - Major League careers of all 100 players
ARIZONA STATE ALL-MLB TEAM:
Fans still have time to vote for the Arizona State All-MLB Team on Twitter. Tweet @ASU_Baseball your top Sun Devil baseball players who went on to play in the Major Leagues. The votes will be tallied and a team will be released early next week.
The 16th-ranked Arizona State baseball team closes out the 2012 regular season with a three-game Pac-12 series against the 13th-ranked Arizona Wildcats at Hi-Corbett Field in Tucson May 25-27. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is set for 6 p.m., while the season finale will begin at 12 p.m.
Can't Make It?:
You can listen to Tim Healey and Seth Dhaenens of the Sun Devil Sports Network as all three games will be broadcast live on the Fan AM 1060. Live, up-to-the-minute stats will also be available online through gametracker, which can be accessed on the baseball weekly release on the thesundevils.com or under the online baseball schedule. All three games will also be webcast on arizonawildcats.com to all-access subscribers, which requires a subscription.
Date/Time:
Friday - May 25 - 6 p.m.
Saturday - May 26 - 6 p.m.
Sunday - May 27 - 12 p.m.
Stadium:
Hi Corbett Field - Tucson, Ariz.
Pitching Matchup:
Friday-
ASU - RHP Brady Rodgers - (10-2, 2.36 ERA)
Arizona - RHP Kurt Heyer - (10-2, 2.20 ERA)
Saturday-
ASU - RHP Trevor Williams - (11-2, 1.86 ERA)
Arizona - RHP Konner Wade - (7-2, 4.48 ERA)
Sunday-
ASU - RHP Alex Blackford - (1-3, 5.57ERA)
Arizona - RHP James Farris - (6-3, 4.22 ERA)
This is the final weekend of Pac-12 play and the top of the standings is still undecided. Arizona State is two games back of the Oregon Ducks, who play at No. 23 Oregon State. If Arizona State sweeps and Oregon loses all three, or ASU wins two of three against the Wildcats and Oregon loses two to the Beavers, the Sun Devils will ensure themselves at least a tie for the best record in the conference. The regular season head-to-head tiebreaker only applies to determining the automatic qualifier for the postseason.
Pac-12 Baseball Standings as of May 24, 2012
No. 5 Oregon, 19-8
No. 13 Arizona, 18-9 (1 GB)
No. 16 Arizona State, 17-10 (2 GB)
No. 9 UCLA, 17-10 (2 GB)
No. 14 Stanford, 17-10 (2 GB)
In The Polls:
NCBWA: #22
Baseball America: #16
Collegiate Baseball: #17
Perfect Game: #13
Devils vs. Arizona
The Sun Devils are 186-118^ all-time against Arizona after the 1959 season. ASU lost the teams' previous meeting this year, 10-2, after winning the first game, 12-8. Both were played at Packard Stadium. ASU took 4-of-5 against the Wildcats last season, including 2-of-3 in a Pac-10 series at Packard Stadium and both non-conference contests in Tucson. The Devils lost the series opener, 2-5, before winning the next two, 5-1 and 8-1. In Tucson, ASU won 10-5 and 4-3. The Devils have not ended the regular season against Arizona since 2008, when UA won 2-of-3 in Tucson (W 13-6, L 3-4 (11), L 4-7). Head coach Tim Esmay is 8-4 against the Wildcats in his three seasons at ASU after going 3-2 in 2010, 4-1 in 2011 and 1-1 so far in 2012.
^Some wins in 2007 later vacated due to NCAA sanctions. Records do not reflect vacations.
State Farm Territorial Cup Series:
This weekend marks the final three games of the five-game State Farm Territorial Cup Series between the two schools. The Sun Devils and Wildcats split the first two contests at Packard Stadium. Arizona is currently atop the standings by six points, 11.5-5.5, with just three baseball games remaining in the State Farm Territorial Cup schedule. Check out the history and news, and interact with fellow fans on www.territorialcupseries.com.
Making A Habit Of Sweeping:
Following their three-game conference sweep over Washington this past weekend, the Sun Devils have now recorded four straight Pac-12 home series sweeps. This is the first time since 1988, and only the third time in program history, that ASU has swept four consecutive Pac-12 home series' (the other came in 1981). ASU has swept four Pac-10/12 opponents in a season just seven times since 1979, but have recorded at least three series sweeps over conference opponents in each of the past six seasons. ASU has swept at least five three-game series' in eight straight seasons.
An ESpecial Coach:
This is already the second time in three seasons head coach Tim Esmay has orchestrated six three-game series sweeps. Since 1979, Pat Murphy did it four times in 15 seasons and Jim Brock completed the feat six times in 23 seasons.
50 Seasons Of Success:
The baseball program has secured its 50th straight 30-win season, which is the longest current streak in Div. 1 baseball. Florida State is close with 48 consecutive. The streak started with the 1963 season when ASU went 34-13. The team went 28-18 its first year in 1959, 32-13 in 1960, 36-13 in 1961 and 27-18 in 1962. The Sun Devils have never had a losing season in their 54 years, and three coaches (Jim Brock, Pat Murphy and Tim Esmay) have never won fewer than 30 games.