Arizona State vs. Florida Game Notes

Jun 22, 2005

June 22, 2005

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2005 Arizona State Baseball -- CWS Quick Notes
Arizona State vs. Florida (1 p.m. -- Rosenblatt Stadium)

What's on Tap -- The Arizona State Sun Devils (41-24, 7-2 NCAA Tournament) take on the University of Florida at the 2005 College World Series. The Sun Devils must beat the Gators twice to advance to the CWS Championship round against either Texas or Baylor. ASU has stayed alive with a 4-2 victory over Tennessee on Sunday and a dramatic 8-7 win over Nebraska on Tuesday. The game is scheduled to start at 1:07 p.m. CT and will be televised live on ESPN (HD) with Gary Thorne and Eric Karros calling all the action from Rosenblatt Stadium.

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Florida - Bryan Ball, RHP (7-4, 3.29 ERA)
Arizona State - Erik Averill, LHP (10-4, 3.57 ERA)

SportsCenter Highlights -- Senior Jeff Larish had his own segment on ESPN's SportsCenter with Steve Levy following his historic three-home run game against Nebraska. His third home run also landed the No. 3 spot on SportsCenter's 'Top 10 Plays' Tuesday evening. The game-winning single in the bottom of the 11th inning by freshman J.J. Sferra was No. 2 on the list.

Today's Starting Pitcher (Erik Averill) -- Junior left-hander Erik Averill is ASU's probable starter for Wednesday's game against the University of Florida. Averill will be pitching on two days rest after starting Sunday's game against Tennessee (ND, 5.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 3 K, 75 pitches). On the season, Averill is 10-4 with a 3.57 ERA and in three postseason starts is 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA giving up only six runs in 22.1 innings.

Year	ERA	W-L	App	GS	CG	SHO/CBO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	2B	3B	HR	BF	B/Avg	WP	HBP	SFA	SHA
2003....	3.66	8-2	20	15	0	0/3	0	86.0	87	41	35	19	61	19	6	7	373	.264	2	16	4	4
2004....	5.19	4-4	26	4	0	0/0	2	76.1	83	50	44	23	56	11	2	5	341	.280	6	8	6	8
2005....	3.57	10-4	23	19	4	1/0	0	118.1	126	56	47	30	92	27	2	7	509	.274	4	9	1	9
TOTAL...	4.04	22-10	69	38	4	1/3	2	280.2	296	147	126	72	209	57	10	19	1223	.273	12	33	11	21

ASU in Postseason Play -- Arizona State is making its 29th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 19th in the College World Series. The 19 appearances are tied for fourth with Oklahoma State for the most trips to Omaha. ASU's postseason run includes a string of six straight years in the Field of 64 and eight in the last nine years dating back to 1997. The Sun Devils have advanced to the postseason in eight of head coach Pat Murphy's 11 seasons in Tempe, including an appearance in the national championship game in 1998. ASU has an all-time 136-57 record in the NCAA Tournament and has won five national championships to rank second among all NCAA schools (1965, 67, 69, 77, 81). ASU also leads the NCAA with five runner-up finishes and ranks third with 57 CWS victories. ASU's regional championship was the 14th in school history and the first achieved at Packard Stadium since 1993.

Last Time Out -- Arizona State senior first baseman Jeff Larish tied a school and College World Series record with three home runs, and freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra drove in the game-winning run with a bloop single in the 11th inning as the Sun Devils rallied for an 8-7 victory Tuesday at Rosenblatt Stadium and eliminated hometown favorite Nebraska. Larish's record-tying third homer tied it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and Sferra's single in the 11th punctuated the 4-hour, 7-minute game, sending the Sun Devils (41-24) against No. 7 Florida on Wednesday. Arizona State needs to beat the Gators twice to reach the best two-out-of-three championship round. Larish's two-out, ninth-inning drive over the center-field wall off Husker closer Brett Jensen made him only the third player in CWS history to hit three homers in a single game, matching the record set by Florida State's J.D. Drew in 1995 and tied by Stanford's Edmund Muth in 2000. It is the first such performance recorded by a winning team in an elimination game. His three homers give him 23 on the season, tying him for third in the single-season ASU record books, and he now has 51 in his career. He became the ninth Sun Devil to hit three in a single game, most recently by Jeremy West in 2003 vs. Washington State. Larish's third blast also negated Andy Gerch's three-run blast for Nebraska (57-15) in the top of the ninth which gave the Huskers a 7-5 lead. Larish, who bats left-handed, led off the game with an opposite-field shot and homered to right in the third.

40-Win Seasons -- The Sun Devils captured their 41st win of the season Tuesday against Nebraska, marking the 27th time in school history that ASU has recorded at least 40 wins in a season. It also marks the third straight season with at least 40 wins and fifth during the 11-season Pat Murphy tenure (1995-P).

Taking on the Tough Guys -- Tuesday's game against third-ranked Nebraska marked ASU's 39th game (out of 65) against a team that has been ranked at some point this season and the 23rd game vs. a top-10 team.

Tuffy is Tough With RISP -- In nine postseason games this season, senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch is hitting .405 (15-for-37) with six doubles and 16 RBI. In the postseason, Gosewisch is also batting .556 (10-for-18) with runners in scoring position and is 3-for-3 with the bases loaded. For the season, Gosewisch is hitting .390 (39-for-100) with runners in scoring position and is a career .526 (20-for-38) hitter with the bases loaded.

Mr. Omaha, Joey Hooft -- Senior third baseman Joey Hooft entered the College World Series hitting only .125 (2-for-16) in the NCAA Tournament. But, Hooft has caught fire while making his third trip to the College World Series (2003 and 2004 with Miami, Fla.). He is 4-for-11 (.364) at the CWS this season and 8-for-22 (.364) in career in Omaha. Hooft went 1-for-5 in Tuesday's win against Nebraska, but saved his best for last, leading off the bottom of the 11th with a single and scored the game-winning run on J.J. Sferra's single to right field.

ASU Plays Again Without Garrison -- Freshman right-handed pitcher Seth Garrison underwent emergency appendectomy surgery early Sunday morning at Bergan-Mercy Hospital in Omaha. Garrison was in ASU's dugout in street clothes against Nebraska and will most likely not be available to pitch the rest of the College World Series. ASU's players have scribbled #17 into their hats with white-out to pay tribute to their teammate.

Winning at the CWS -- Arizona State is playing in its 19th College World Series (fourth most in NCAA history) and have won two or more games in all but three of those appearances. The exceptions are 1-2 in the first appearance in 1964, and 0-2 showings in 1987 and 1993. ASU now owns an all-time 57-31 record in CWS play, trailing only Texas (75) and USC (74) for most wins in Omaha.

Larish Goes Deep... Three Times -- Senior first baseman Jeff Larish tied an ASU and College World Series record with three home runs in Tuesday's dramatic 8-7 victory. It was Larish's fifth multi-homer game of the season and the seventh of his career. He now has six home runs in nine postseason games this season and nine in his career in the NCAA Tournament. With his three home runs, he now has 51 in his career to rank second in the ASU career record books and 23 on the season to rank tied for third. In addition, Larish also recorded his 49th career multi-walk game and now has 199 walks in his four-year career. He needs only one more walk to become the first Pac-10 player to record 50 home runs and 200 walks in a career. He is hitting .321 (78-for-243) with 70 runs, 23 home runs, 66 RBI and a .679 slugging percentage. With 12 total bases on the three home runs against Nebraska, he moved into third place in the ASU career record books with 500 career total bases. Here is a look at where Larish ranks in the ASU record books for career and single-season home runs and also his career statistics:

ASU Career Home Runs:
1. Bob Horner (1976-78) 56
2. Jeff Larish (2002-P) 51
3. Mike Kelly (1989-91) 46
4. Barry Bonds (1983-85) 45
5. Dan Rumsey (1986-89) 44

ASU Single-Season Home Runs:
1. Mitch Jones (2000) 27
2. Bob Horner (1978) 25
3. Jeff Larish (2005) 23
Barry Bonds (1985) 23
Oddibe McDowell (1984) 23

Year	Avg	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	SLG%	BB	HBP	SO	GDP	OB%	SF	SH	SB-ATT	PO	A	E	FLD%
2002....	.328	34-33	128	31	42	4	3	3	24	61	.477	29	0	19	3	.447	2	0	0-1	30	45	5	.938
2003....	.372	65-64	234	80	87	18	2	18	95	163	.697	78	6	42	5	.528	6	1	3-5	507	29	6	.989
2004....	.308	57-57	237	46	73	17	0	7	49	111	.468	35	1	50	4	.396	2	0	3-7	93	2	0	1.000
2005....	.321	65-65	243	70	78	16	1	23	66	165	.679	57	6	60	3	.456	3	3	11-15	472	29	9	.982
TOTAL...	.333	221-219	842	227	280	55	6	51	234	500	.594	199	13	171	15	.461	13	4	17-28	1102	105	20	.984

Eliminating the Big Boys -- Between the Super Regional and the College World Series, ASU has had a flare for the upset knocking off the a pair of national seeds (No. 3 Nebraska, No. 6 Cal State Fullerton) and sixth-ranked Tennessee. ASU is now 4-0 in elimination games this season.

The Comeback Kids -- ASU's come-from-behind win was the latest installment of ASU's comeback heroics. ASU trailed 7-2 to Cal State Fullerton in the Super Regional final and rallied for 9-8 victory. ASU also came from behind in Sunday's 4-2 win over Tennessee, trailing 2-0 after six innings and 2-1 after seven innings. Four of ASU's seven NCAA Tournament wins have been come-from-behind victories.

From Batboy To Game-Winner -- Freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra drove in the winning run with a bloop single in the bottom of the 11th inning. Sferra was ASU's batboy during its last trip to the College World Series in 1998 and is now hitting .312 (59-for-189) with 20 RBI.

Extra Innings -- ASU improved to 3-2 in extra inning this season with the 8-7 win in 11 innings over Nebraska and played in extra frames in postseason play since the 1994 College World Series (6-3 loss to Oklahoma in 11 innings)... the 11-inning game is the 76th extra-inning game in CWS history and the 43rd to go beyond 10 innings.

Buck Continues Hot Hitting -- Travis Buck started the season slow hitting only .246 in the first 15 games, but has since heated up going 93-for-220 (.423) over the last 50 games. Buck has recorded at least one hit in 26 of the last 29 games and for the season has gone hitless in only 11 games. He leads the team with 35 multi-hit games, including going 4-for-5 Sunday vs. Tennessee, and has recorded two or more hits in 18 of the last 29 contests. The Golden Spikes, Wallace Award and Baseball America Player of the Year candidate leads the team hitting .384 (108-for-281) with 23 doubles, 79 runs scored, three triples, five home runs and 41 RBI. He also leads the team with 27 stolen bases to rank second in the Pac-10. In 190 career games as a Sun Devil, Buck has at least one hit in 148 games (78%) and has recorded 79 multi-hit games. He recently became only the 21st player in ASU history to record 100 hits in a season and ranks tied for 10th in ASU single-season history with 108 hits. He also ranks eighth in ASU history with 270 career hits, ninth with 202 runs scored and is only the fourth player in ASU history to record 100 hits, 20 doubles and 20 stolen bases in the same season. He became ASU's 22nd all-time first-round draft pick when he was selected 36th in the 2005 MLB Amateur Draft by the Oakland A's.

Year	Avg	GP-GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	SLG%	BB	HBP	SO	GDP	OB%	SF	SH	SB-ATT	PO	A	E	FLD%
2003....	.326	66-65	239	59	78	13	3	4	46	109	.456	35	11	28	9	.432	2	5	12-14	94	4	4	.961
2004....	.373	59-59	225	64	84	16	1	9	58	129	.573	41	11	34	6	.486	3	6	13-16	118	5	1	.992
2005....	.384	65-65	281	79	108	23	3	5	41	152	.541	27	6	35	5	.448	1	6	27-36	96	40	6	.958
TOTAL...	.362	190-189	745	202	270	52	7	18	145	390	.523	103	28	97	20	.455	6	17	52-66	308	49	11	.970

No Rest For Bordes -- Junior LHP Brett Bordes made his 37th appearance of the season in Tuesday's 8-7 win over Nebraska, moving into sole possession of second place in the ASU single-season record books. Bordes is 5-6 with a 3.87 ERA after allowing only two hits in three shutout innings Tuesday vs. Nebraska. The lefty has pitched in 13 of ASU's last 16 games, including seven of nine postseason games, and ranks fourth in the ASU record books with 77 career pitching appearances. In two appearances in the CWS he has allowed only one run and has struck out seven in 5.1 innings.

ASU Single-Season Pitching Appearances:
1. Noah Peery, 1994 39
2. Brett Bordes, 2005 37
3. Chuck Crumpton, 1998 36
4. Ryan Bradley, 1997 35
5. Ryan Bradley, 1996 34
Kevin Dukes, 1981 34

ASU Career Pitching Appearances:
1. Kendall Carter, 1981-84 102
2. Ryan Bradley, 1995-97 99
3. Kevin Dukes, 1978-81 82
4. Brett Bordes, 2003-P 77
5. David Cassidy, 1986-89 74
Ken Hansen, 1968-71 74

Quick Hits:

- Jeff Larish leads the Pac-10 with 23 home runs, becoming only the 12th Sun Devil to hit 20 homers in a season.
- ASU is hitting .305 (95-for-311) and pitching for a 3.67 ERA in nine games in the NCAA Tournament.
- Tuesday's game against Nebraska was the latest played game in ASU baseball history. The previous was June 20, 1969 in the CWS.
- Tuffy Gosewisch has a current five-game hitting streak and has combined to go 9-for-21 (.429) with six RBI during the streak.
- Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch has made only two errors in 526 fielding chances this season for a .996 FLD%.
- 20 of ASU's 24 losses this season have come against teams that have been ranked at some point this season.
- ASU played error-free in the field Tuesday vs. Nebraska, marking the 19th time this season without a fielding error.
- Colin Curtis recorded his 25th multi-hit game of the year and seventh with three or more hits after going 3-for-5 vs. Nebraska.
- J.J. Sferra recorded his team-leading 16th bunt single of the year and notched his 18th multi-hit game by going 2-for-5 vs. Nebraska.
- Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch has thrown out nine of the last 15 attempted base stealers.

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