Pac-10 title defense starts with USC

 by Andrew Pentis
 published on Friday, March 28, 2008

Bettina Hansen / THE STATE PRESS

DUEL ON THE DIAMOND: Junior ASU infielder Marcel Champagnie catches the ball as Wildcat outfielder Brad Glenn slides into second base during the Sun Devils’ 6-5 win over UA on March 20 at Packard Stadium.

As ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy watches his team start its defense of the Pac-10 title this weekend against visiting USC, he might as well be reading an adventure novel that he just can't put down.

"It's a new chapter of the season," he said at practice Thursday. "We got through chapter one and did OK. The difference is chapter two has got a lot more girth to it. If you can get through chapter two, you can be ready for the final."

And the ultimate objective for the No. 1 Sun Devils (22-1) is to return to the College World Series. Standing in their way are eight conference teams; chief among them is the Trojans. USC (11-11, 2-1) took two of three from No. 8 UA but was swept by Loyola Marymount this week.

The Trojans will start junior Tommy Milone on Friday, sophomore Kevin Couture on Saturday and junior Ryan Cook on Sunday.

ASU junior third baseman Brett Wallace, who has continued to be the focal point of the Sun Devils' lineup, remembers facing Milone in 2007.

In the last matchup between the Trojans and ASU, Milone yielded six runs while Wallace went 4-for-4 at the plate and hit two home runs.

Wallace said studying film of an experienced USC pitching staff can help, but it's not a cure-all.

"The best experience you can have is facing them," he said.

Wallace, who is getting on base a ridiculous 52 percent of the time and leads the team in runs (32) and long balls (9), said he does not expect much to change as top competition arrives in Tempe.

"Every day in the Pac is going to be tough," Wallace said. "I don't think we change our mindset."

But with the past week off, ASU did have time to rest its pitchers and change the starting rotation.

"You want your two horses going against their guys," Wallace said.

Senior Josh Satow will start Friday night, and sophomore Mike Leake and junior Stephen Sauer will likely toe the rubber to finish the weekend.

Sauer emerged from a trio of candidates to start behind the team's top two pitchers, with success out of the bullpen. The right-hander has 36 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings spread out over 11 appearances. Batters are hitting just .154 against him.

Freshman pitcher Seth Blair started the season like a gangbusters ballplayer but cooled down while junior pitcher Jason Franzblau was expected to make an immediate impact after winning eight games for Winthrop in 2007.

Murphy said Franzblau is still a work in progress.

"Somewhere down the line, I think Franzblau will help us."

Reach the reporter at: apentis@asu.edu.

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