Last season, the ASU baseball team won its first Super Regional game against Fresno State but squandered the chance to go to the College World Series because of its inability to close out the series in Game 2.
FSU went on to win that series in three games, then captured the NCAA Championship, while the Sun Devils watched from home.
This season, the No. 5 Sun Devils didn’t waste any opportunities to slam the door on their Super Regional opponent.
ASU beat Clemson 7-4 on Saturday and 8-2 on Sunday to win the series 2-0 and advance to their third CWS in five years.
“It looked easy, but it certainly wasn’t,” ASU coach Pat Murphy said. “Even though we’ve been to Omaha three of the last five years, this one seems a little sweeter because of the type of club we have. These guys — they just believe.”
And the fifth inning was all the Sun Devils (49-12) needed to punch their ticket to Omaha.
ASU struck for five runs by utilizing four hits, two walks and an error.
Junior center fielder Jason Kipnis gave the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead when he sent a hard single up the middle to score freshman designated hitter Johnny Ruettiger and freshman second baseman Zack MacPhee.
The Sun Devils blew the game open when junior left fielder Kole Calhoun blasted a two-run double to left-center and sophomore right fielder Matt Newman sent an RBI double to right-center to make the score 5-1.
“Our offense usually takes the first four innings off,” Murphy said.
“They take the first four innings and don’t score a run and look terrible, and then it’s just like setup swings for their second and third time around.”
And on the mound, junior pitcher Josh Spence showed why he would be the ace on most teams in the country. He pitched a complete game and gave up four hits while striking out 10 batters in his first start since suffering a back injury in the Tempe Regional.
“I didn’t expect it because I’m not surprised by it,” Murphy said. “This is how [Spence] pitched early [in the season] every time out. There’s a reason he’s 9-1. That performance today is as good as I’ve been around.”
ASU tacked on three more runs in the ninth inning to give Spence even more breathing room heading into the bottom half of the frame.
The Sun Devils took a 1-0 series lead after Saturday’s 7-4 win against the Tigers.
And even though it was far from his best start, ASU junior pitcher Mike Leake still grabbed most of the spotlight on Saturday.
Leake (16-1) admitted he had “sophomore year” stuff and was “too amped” for what was likely his final home game in maroon and gold, but he still did enough to win his 13th consecutive start.
The victory was the 40th of Leake’s career, which ties him with College Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Bane for third on ASU’s all-time wins list, which moves him into a first-place tie for the most wins by a Sun Devil pitcher in three seasons.
“We didn’t play great defense behind Mike, but he gutted it out,” Murphy said. “You win 16 games as a college junior [and] win your 40th game of your career at Arizona State in the Pac-10 playing the non-league schedule we play — what do you say?”
Leake pitched eight innings and allowed eight hits and three earned runs while tallying seven strikeouts and just one walk.
While Leake was not as dominant as he has been in recent weeks, the Sun Devil bats picked him up in the latter innings.
“[That was the] first time that happened this year,” Murphy said. “We never score any runs for Mike.”
After Clemson took a 2-1 lead in the top half of the fifth inning, ASU countered with two of its own runs in the bottom of the frame on RBI singles by junior catcher Carlos Ramirez and junior Calhoun.
The Sun Devils added another run in the sixth inning to make the score 4-2, but Clemson tied the game 4-4 in the seventh on a two-run single by sophomore designated hitter Chris Epps.
But ASU responded again in the bottom half of the inning, this time on an RBI double by sophomore Newman to make the score 5-4 and give the Sun Devils the lead for good.
“[The run support] was nice, because I kept giving up the lead and then they kept getting it for me,” Leake said. “They kept battling. Hats off to [the hitters]. They won this game.”
Leake saved his best work of the night for the eighth inning, as he needed just six pitches to retire the side in order and struck out the final batter he faced.
“I was just telling myself, ‘This could be your last inning at ASU, so you might as well do something with it,” Leake said.
Reach the reporter at gina.mizell@asu.edu
