ASU’s Kipnis Named Pac-10 Baseball Player of the Week and UCLA’s Murphy Named Pitcher of the Week

This is the first weekly honor for Kipnis and Murphy’s third.

Media Release

(Walnut Creek, CA) - Arizona State redshirt sophomore outfielder Jason Kipnis has been named the Pacific-10 Conference Baseball Player of the Week and UCLA junior left-handed pitcher Tim Murphy has been named Pitcher of the Week for May 19 - 25, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today.

Kipnis, from Northbrook, Ill., helped Arizona State clinch their second straight Pac-10 title, going 8-for-13 (.615) with a double, a triple, a homer and six runs batted in during the final week of the regular season. He also stole a base, drew four walks and played perfect defense in the outfield.

Murphy, from Vista, Calif., pitched his second complete game shutout of the season, helping the Bruins blank No. 15 California, 8-0, in Friday’s series opener at Evans Diamond. Murphy scattered five hits in nine innings, totaling 10 strikeouts while walking four hitters. Murphy’s complete-game effort helped pave the way for UCLA’s series victory at California over the weekend. UCLA blanked the Golden Bears, 7-0, on Saturday to become the first Bruin baseball team to post back-to-back shutouts since 1978. With the win, Murphy improved to 5-6 on the season with a 3.52 ERA and team-highs of 107 strikeouts and 94.2 innings.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, Arizona State, Pac 10, UCLA

ASU’s Kiel Roling Named Pac-10 Baseball Player of the Week and UCLA’s Tim Murphy Named Pitcher of the Week

This is the fourth honor of Roling’s career and the second honor for Murphy.

Media Release

(Walnut Creek, CA) - ARIZONA STATE junior first baseman Kiel Roling has been named the Pacific-10 Conference Baseball Player of the Week and UCLA junior left-handed pitcher Tim Murphy has been named Pitcher of the Week for May 12 - 18, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today.

Roling, from Grand Junction, Colo., went 9-for-13 (.692) leading the Sun Devils to a 4-0 week. He knocked in eight runs, slugged 1.385 and scored five runs helping Arizona State beat LMU on Monday and sweep Washington. He also played solid defense at first base, a spot he was playing due to the injury to Ike Davis. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arizona State, Pac 10, UCLA

With just two weeks of conference play remaining and no conference tournament, the Pac-10 championship is still within reach of several teams. Arizona State is currently in first place with a one game lead over Stanford, while Washington is another one game back in third place. Cal and Oregon State are tied for fourth place, however they both have only three conference games remaining while all other teams will still play six more.

This weekends most intriguing match up happens in Tempe, as Washington brings it’s league best 3.57 ERA to face the conference’s most offensive team Arizona State (.333 team batting average). Brett Wallace and Ike Davis (who is rumored to be returning to the starting line-up after missing the last ten games due to a rib injury) are the only two player in the league with batting averages over .400, while Jorden Merry is scheduled to head to the mound on Friday night for the Huskies with his 2.31 ERA and perfect 8-0 record on the line. Then on Sunday the leagues best strike out pitcher Nick Haughian will look to add to his 99 K’s while facing the nations second most disciplined team at the plate as ASU has 320 walks for the season.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cal 5 - @ Stanford 2

UCLA 11 - @ Oregon State 4

Washington State 5 - @ Washington 1

@ Arizona State 9 – Loyola Marymount 5

@ Arizona 7 – Utah Valley State 0

Cal State Northridge 5 – @ USC 4

With the win Cal takes the series victory from their across the bay rivals. Craig Bennigson picks up the win and throws 6 innings, gives up 1 earned run, walks 2, strikes out 4 and gives up 7 hits. Jeff Kobernus was the most prolific hitter going 3 for 4 with 2 critical Golden Bear RBI’s. Erik Davis takes the loss after throwing 7.2 innings, giving up 6 hits, 5 earned runs, walks 4 and strikes out 7.

Charles Brewer gets his 7 victory for UCLA after throwing 7.1 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 earned runs, walking 5 but striking out 9. Cody Decker was the designated hitter for the Bruins and accomplished that going 2 for 5 with a home run and 4 RBI’s. Tanner Robles started for O,SU but only lasted 0.2 of an inning facing just 6 batters allowing 2 hits, 3 runs, walking 2 and striking out just 1. Read the rest of this entry »

ASU 10 – @ UCLA 5

@ Cal 11 - Arizona 5

Washington 5 – @ USC 4

ASU moves a half game in front of Stanford for first place in the Pac-10. The starting pitching for both teams ended up with nearly identical box scores, but neither figured in the decision. Mike Leake for ASU and Tim Murphy for UCLA both struck out 10, walked zero and gave up 8 hits. Tommy Rafferty picked up his 9^th win (tied for most in the nation) after pitching the final 2 innings and gave up zero runs, 1 hit, 1 walk and struck out 2. Offensively Jermaine Curtis for UCLA had the most hits going 4 for 5 with a double. For ASU Jason Kipnis went 3 for 5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI’s while Marcel Champagnie also had 3 hits, 2 RBI’s and stole 2 bases.

Cal snaps a four game loosing streak with the win. Tyson Ross of Cal picked up the win allowing 11 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 5 strike outs in 8 innings. Cal also got home runs from Charlie Cutler, Josh Satin, Brett Jackson and Blake Smith. Defending Pac-10 pitcher of the week Preston Guilmet takes the loss for Arizona as he gave up only 7 hits but 7 earned runs along with 1 walk and 8 strike outs in 6.1 innings.

Washington’s Jorden Merry picked up his 7th win after going 7.2 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 4 walks and 3 strike outs. Tommy Milone takes the loss for USC after he went 8 innings, giving up 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 0 walks and 7 strike outs. Kyle Conley was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate for Washington with 2 RBI’s.

Media Releases

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Pac 10, Pac 10 Recap, USC, Washington

USC 10 - @ Stanford 9

@ ASU 18 – Cal 2 (7 innings)

@ OSU 3 - Arizona 2

UCLA 4 - @ Washington 3

San Jose State 6 - @ WSU 2

USC snaps a six game loosing streak. Stanford’s loss drops them into a tie with ASU for first place in the Pac-10. Derek Perren went 2 for 3 for USC with a double, a home runs and 5 RBI’s. Jason Castro had another good day for Stanford, going 2 for 5 with a home run and 3 RBI’s.

ASU scored 10 runs in the second inning on only 3 hits. ASU’s win and Stanford’s loss puts both teams in a tie for first pace in the Pac-10 standings. The game was concluded after seven innings due to a combination of the 10 run mercy rule and Sunday travel requirements. Ryan Sontag was perfect at the plate for ASU going 3 for 3 including a triple. Petey Paramore’s only hit for ASU was a two run home run into a very strong wind blowing in. Cal starter Daniel Wolford only faced two batters and left the game after developing blisters. Dwight Tanaka of Cal was hit in the batting helmet by a pitch and left the game. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon State, Pac 10, Pac 10 Recap, San Jose St., Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

@ ASU 11 – Cal 7

@ Stanford 26 – USC 5

@ OSU 4 - Arizona 3

UCLA 8 - @ Washington 1

@ WSU 8 – San Jose State 3

After pitching a complete game on Friday, Mike Leake started at 1B in place of an injured Ike Davis on Saturday for ASU. He was fantastic defensively and even better offensively, driving in the winning run with a 3 RBI triple in the 7^th. David Cooper had 3 singles for Cal, but no RBI’s. while Dylan Tonneson hit a 3 run home run to tie the game up in the 6^th, but had trouble behind the plate as the catcher.

Stanford didn’t need Erik Davis to pitch a complete game as the offense exploded for 24 hits. Toby Gerhart came on as a pinch hitter and went 2 for 2 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI’s, while Jason Castro went 4 for 6 with a triple and 4 RBI’s.

OSU snapped Arizona’s 13 game winning streak. Lonnie Lechelt goes 3 for 4 with a double and a run for OSU, while Tanner Robles picks up the win throwing 7.2 innings, walking 0, striking out 7, while giving up only 2 hits and 2 earned runs. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon State, Pac 10, Pac 10 Recap, San Jose St., Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

@ ASU 11 – Cal 7

Arizona 7 - @ OSU 0

@ Stanford 4 – USC 0

@ Washington 5 – UCLA 2

@ WSU 8 – San Jose State 3

ASU takes over sole possession of second place in the Pac-10.  Mike Leake throws a complete game and picks up the win, walks 4, strikes out 6 and allows 11 hits.  Tyson Ross takes the loss allowing 9 runs, 8 earned, walks 5, strikes out 5 in 5.1 innings.

Arizona wins its’ 13 straight game.  Preston Guilmet goes the distance in blanking OSU, walks 1, strikes out 10 and allows only 5 hits.  C.J. Ziegler, Brad Glenn and Jon Gaston homer.  Mike Stutes takes the loss while going the distance, walking 8, striking out 10, giving up 6 hits and 6 earned runs.

Stanford remains in first place in the Pac-10 with the win.  Austin Young goes 7.1 innings for the win, walks 2, strikes out 1 and allows just 3 hits.  Brent Milleville had 3 hits including 2 doubles.  Tommy Milone takes the loss while going the distance, walking 2, striking out 7, giving up 9 hits and 4 earned runs.

Matt Way throws a complete game and picks up the win for WSU, walks 1, strikes out 8, allows 6 hits and 3 earned runs.

Media Releases

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon State, Pac 10, Pac 10 Recap, San Jose St., Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

(Fullerton, CA) – It required extra innings on Wednesday night at Goodwin Field, but this time it was Arizona State that pushed across a pair of runs in the final inning to defeat Cal State Fullerton 10 to 8, and earn a split in the two game mid-week series.  There was plenty of offense early, but as the temperature cooled on Wednesday night, so did the bats.  After ASU pushed across a single run in the top of the sixth to tie the game up, it was nothing but zeros until the top of the tenth.  After two fly balls to the outfield retired the first two Sun Devils, a walk and a pair of plunked batters loaded the bases up for sophomore Raoul Torrez.  Having struck out already four times earlier in the evening, Raoul didn’t wait and slapped the first pitch he saw through the middle, bringing home the winning as well as an insurance run.

 

Read the rest of this entry »

@ Stanford 7 – Saint Mary’s 4

ASU 10 - @ Cal State Fullerton 8

@ Arizona 10 – New Mexico 4

@ OSU – Portland (rained out)

Media Releases

Read the rest of this entry »

(Fullerton, CA) – Cal State Fullerton continues to be a difficult place for Arizona State to play, and on a cool Tuesday night these two quality programs battled back and forth for over four exciting hours.  Yet at the end ASU couldn’t get the final out, and instead CSF short stop Christian Colon secured the victory with a single through the left side that brought home Gary Brown for the 10 to 9 victory in the bottom of the ninth.

Read the rest of this entry »

@ UCLA 8 – UNLV 7 (11 innings)

@ Arizona 4 – New Mexico 1

@ Cal State Fullerton 10 – ASU 9

@ Cal 10 – Cal Poly 8

San Diego State 6 - @ USC 3

@ WSU 9 – Gonzaga 8

@ Portland – Washington (rained out)

Media Releases

Read the rest of this entry »