Simply put, the weekend could not have gone any better for the ASU baseball team.
The No. 2 Sun Devils dominated No. 9 UCLA on the road in Westwood, Calif., outscoring the Bruins 23-5 in a three-game sweep that has given ASU (38-5, 14-4 Pac-10) some breathing room in its quest for a fourth straight conference championship.
In addition to ASU's sweep, Stanford, which trailed ASU by just one game entering the weekend, was swept on the road at Washington, leaving the Sun Devils at least three games ahead of every team in the Pac-10.
With a series victory already in hand after wins on Friday and Saturday, the Sun Devils saved their best performance of the weekend for Sunday, throttling UCLA 12-3.
Sophomore pitcher Jake Borup improved to 9-1 on the season after pitching six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, and he got more than enough support from an ASU offense that scored 55 runs during a 5-0 week.
Sophomore second baseman Zack MacPhee started the offensive onslaught with a two-run home run in the top of the first, his eighth dinger of the season.
UCLA (30-10, 7-8) scored on a wild pitch and a groundout to knot the score at two in the second inning, but it was all ASU after that.
Sophomore infielder Riccio Torrez began the rout with an RBI single in the third inning that scored sophomore Drew Maggi.
Riccio's brother, senior infielder Raoul Torrez, got into the act in the fourth with a two-run homer to put the Sun Devils up 5-2.
Senior outfielder Kole Calhoun kept the longball show going in the fifth with a two-run blast to right-center field, tying him with MacPhee for the team lead with eight dingers.
Sophomore Johnny Ruettiger notched three base hits in the game, one of seven Sun Devils who turned in a multi-hit performance against a UCLA pitching staff that had the Pac-10's lowest earned run average entering the weekend.
ASU came out of the gates strong in a 6-1 victory on Saturday, scoring four runs in the first inning with run-scoring singles by the Torrez brothers and sophomore Zach Wilson. It was all the cushion junior starter Merrill Kelly would need, as he pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball to move his record on the season to a perfect 9-0.
Freshman Brady Rodgers was stellar in relief, keeping UCLA off the board in the final 3 1/3 innings to earn his third save of the season. Rodgers and Kelly each were able to escape from jams with the help of three double plays turned by the ASU infield.
UCLA left 12 runners on base in the contest.
Friday's game, a 5-1 victory for the Sun Devils, was a pitcher's duel most of the way.
ASU junior Seth Blair pitched 6 2/3 innings while allowing one run on six hits. UCLA sophomore Gerrit Cole was equally impressive, yielding two runs in seven innings while striking out nine.
ASU broke a 1-1 tie with a four-run eighth that was highlighted by a two-run triple by Ruettiger, who hit .667 (6-for-9) in the series.
The Sun Devils host UA in a non-conference game on Tuesday and will then have a bye weekend.
After a two-game series against BYU (May 10-11) ASU closes out its regular-season schedule with Pac-10 series at UA (May 15-17), home against Oregon State (May 21-23) and at Stanford (May 27-29).
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu
