The battle for the top seed at the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament will be heavily influenced by the series in Tempe this weekend. First-place No. 7 Stanford (28-13, 15-6 Pac-12) heads to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to take on No. 22 Arizona State (29-15, 14-6 Pac-12), which sits a half a game behind the Cardinal in the standings. 

If you like offensive fireworks, then this will be the series for you. Let’s dive into the numbers. 

In the batter's box...

These teams both enter the weekend ranked in the top-three for Pac-12 teams in runs. Stanford has scored at least six runs in each of its last five games. Arizona State is coming off its first Pac-12 series loss, but the offense wasn’t to blame after scoring 24 runs across three games.

The Cardinal (64) and Sun Devils (73) have hit plenty of home runs. Each team has six players with at least seven long balls. Stanford’s Braden Montgomery is the lone Cardinal slugger with double digit dingers, leading the team with 10. Arizona State’s Luke Keaschall has hit 14 homers, which is tied for second in the conference. 

Montgomery leads a complete team-effort on offense. His .324 batting average only ranks fifth on the team for instance. Third baseman Tommy Troy leads the squad in that category at .383. Troy also has nine doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 13 stolen bases. 

Leadoff hitter Eddie Park leads the team with 15 doubles. Left fielder Alberto Rios leads the team in OPS (1.125) with 12 doubles and nine home runs to his name. First baseman Carter Graham is always a threat to hit one out. He only has eight home runs this season but belted out 22 balls last season. 

Keaschall, a San Francisco transfer, has been an integral part of the Arizona State lineup. Not only does he lead the team in home runs, but his 23 doubles are the best in the nation as well. He has also stolen 16 bases. First baseman Jacob Tobias and utility Wyatt Crenshaw have been very important as well as the two have combined for 22 doubles and 18 home runs. 

Nick McLain has been very good since returning from injury on April 11. The sophomore outfielder has a .380 batting average, three doubles, six home runs and 17 RBIs. On the flipside, the Sun Devils also lost catcher Ryan Campos to an injury on April 11. Campos’ .413 leads the team. However, he did travel to Oregon and the door is open to a return against Stanford.

Stanford's top hitters

• 3B Tommy Troy - .383 BA, 1.083 OPS, 9 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 27 RBI, 13 SB
• LF Alberto Rios - .374 BA, 1.125 OPS, 12 2B, 9 HR, 41 RBI
• RF Braden Montgomery - .324 BA, 1.070 OPS, 9 2B, 1 3B, 10 HR, 37 RBI, 38 BB

Arizona State's top hitters

• 2B Luke Keaschall - .375 BA, 1.222 OPS, 23 2B, 1 3B, 14 HR, 48 RBI, 16 SB
• 1B Jacob Tobias - .344 BA, 1.046 OPS, 6 2B, 4 3B, 10 HR, 53 RBI
• DH/OF Wyatt Crenshaw - .299 BA, .877 OPS, 16 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 30 RBI

On the mound...

Neither team is lights out on the mound as both the Cardinal (5.35) and the Sun Devils (5.87) are in the bottom half of the conference in team ERA. Another reason to believe there will be a lot of runs. 

Both teams have used the same three starters for each conference series this season. Stanford has rolled out Quinn Mathews every Friday night. The lefty is arguably the best arm between the two teams. He comes in with a 2.70 ERA this season in 76.2 innings.

Freshman Matt Scott has gotten the ball on Saturdays for the Cardinal. However, he hasn’t thrown more than three innings in his past two starts. Joey Dixon has been penciled as the Sunday starter. He has pitched into the fifth inning in every Pac-12 start and hasn’t yielded more than four earned runs in any of them. 

After a stellar year last year, Ryan Bruno had his share of struggles in non-conference play. But in conference play Bruno has a 2.25 ERA in nine appearances with a .100 batting average against. Drew Dowd and Brandt Pancer have the most appearances out of the bullpen and have combined for six saves. 

Arizona State usually starts Ross Dunn, Khristian Curtis and Jonah Giblin in that order each weekend. However, Giblin toed the rubber last Friday against Oregon, and this Friday the Sun Devils will reportedly shake things up again by starting left-hander Timmy Manning on Friday, followed by Dunn and Curtis on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Manning has only made five starts this season.

The Sun Devils back them with Owen Stevenson and Blake Pivaroff to close out games. Stevenson was brought in to be a starter but found his role in the bullpen. Both Stevenson and Pivaroff have sub 2.5 ERAs in conference play. 

The defense behind the pitching is middle of the Pac in terms of fielding percentage (Arizona State - .972, Stanford - .971). Arizona State leads the conference in double plays (37), while Stanford has only allowed 26 stolen bases. 

Stanford

Projected starters

• LHP Quinn Mathews (5-3, 2.70 ERA)
• RHP Matt Scott (5-3, 3.97 ERA)
• RHP Joey Dixon (3-0, 5.19 ERA)

Bullpen arms

• RHP Brandt Pancer (1-0, 4 SV, 4.28 ERA)
• LHP Drew Dowd (5-2, 2 SV, 5.31 ERA)
• LHP Nick Bruno (2-0, 4 SV, 5.32 ERA)

Arizona State

Projected starters

• LHP Timmy Manning (1-3, 8.07 ERA)
• RHP Khristian Curtis (4-3, 6.70 ERA)
• RHP Ross Dunn (4-3, 4.50 ERA)

Bullpen arms

• RHP Blake Pivaroff (2-1, 3 SV, 3.65 ERA)
• RHP Owen Stevenson (4-1, 4 SV, 4.85 ERA)
• RHP Jesse Wainscott (1-1, 2 SV, 6.53)

How to watch

All three games will air on Pac-12 Insider, Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app.

• Friday, 6:30 p.m. PT/MT
• Saturday, 6:30 p.m. PT/MT
• Sunday, 12:30 p.m. PT/MT