After three consecutive years of bowing out in the first round of the collegiate baseball playoffs, ASU made a statement Friday night that it wants to stay around for a long time this year.
The No. 1 Sun Devils brought their offensive prowess to Tempe Diablo Stadium and wasted no time scoring at will in a 14-2 thumping of fourth-seeded Central Connecticut State.
The post-season jitters were present early in the contest as both teams combined to commit four errors in the first two innings. ASU capitalized on three from the Blue Devils, taking an 8-1 lead after three innings.
"I think the anxiety got us in that we put pressure on ourselves to try and play well," Central Connecticut head coach Charlie Hickey said. "Obviously ASU is a pretty focused team with some goals of going to Omaha. They showed the difference here today."
ASU center fielder Andre Ethier had a marvelous night, knocking in three runs and saving a couple more with a superman-like grab in right-center field off Nick Macellaro in the third.
"We practice angles," Ethier said. "Travis (Buck) ran in front and I called him off at the last second. He let it go by and I just happened to put my glove out there and it dropped right in."
With a 4-1 lead in the second, Ethier drove home his first run of the game with a sharp single up the middle. After a run scoring hit by sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia in the third extended ASU's lead to 6-1, Ethier tacked on another pair of runs with a single to center field.
"With the wind swirling our approach was to stay up the middle," said Ethier, who was 3-for-4 with two walks. "We stuck to our game plan and played Sun Devil baseball."
On the mound senior Jered Liebeck got the win despite tossing just two innings of relief. He replaced sophomore starter Mark Sopko in the fifth and did not allow a run while giving up two hits.
"He hadn't started since March 7th... I thought he performed admirably," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said.
The surprise for Central Connecticut came in Hickey's decision to go with Lewis Pappariella instead of ace Barry Hertzler.
Pappariella sported a respectable ERA of 3.42, but it pails in comparison to that of Hertzler's 1.52 ERA and a healthy 9-2 record. Pappariella gave up eight earned runs in five innings of work and threw 126 pitches.
"I guess I'll be second guessing that for eight months, but I don't necessarily know in hindsight if that would have made a difference," Hickey said. "I don't know if he pitched a great game tonight if we would have won anyway."
The win marks the fourth consecutive year in which ASU was victorious in the first game of its regional. Although the Sun Devils have put themselves in great position to advance in years past, they've been unable to move on.
"I don't look back," Murphy said. "I look at this year and what this team is capable of. I'm not worried about our chances. We're just going to keep playing."
ASU hasn't been a No. 1 seed since 2000 when it was co-Pac-10 champion with USC and Stanford. That season, ASU had its best chance to play a Super Regional after winning its first two games, but Texas spoiled it with back-to-back victories on the final day to put an end to ASU's brilliant season.
Each of the last two years, the Sun Devils have been eliminated before reaching a game in which they could have advanced. The guys who've been around dislike the bitter taste it's left in their mouths.
"I think we've matured a lot," said ASU junior left fielder Nick Walsh, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI while competing in his third regional tournament. "I think we realize that we're good enough to win, we just can't be looking ahead. We have to play tomorrow."
The Sun Devils face New Mexico State tomorrow at 2 p.m. for a chance to compete in the Regional Final on Sunday. The Aggies needed 11 innings to take down UNLV 14-12 in the first game of the tournament.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
