The Lobos (30-13) head to Phoenix this weekend to play a key non-conference series against Arizona State Sun Devils (23-15). This is a huge series for the Lobos, as they look to lock up an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, which would take away some of the pressure to win the Mountain West Tournament in Albuquerque in a few weeks. While the Sun Devils aren’t as strong as they normally are, they are still a very good college team and wins against them will look good on your resume for the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos were able to win one out of three against Texas Tech this season, which helps their at-large case, but they do probably need a couple of wins against the Sun Devils to really feel good about their chances to make the tournament. However, the Lobos can’t worry about the NCAA Tournament too much right now, as thye just need to focus on each game and series that is in front of them for the next few weeks. At the end of the day, this series will be a good test for the Lobos, and I think that it could give them great confidence going into the last three conference series.

Scattered Thoughts:

• The Lobos could be without the services of Jared Holley in the first game of the series, after he was ejected in Tuesday’s game for yelling at a teammate for not sliding. This is a major problem that I have with the automatic one game suspension for an ejection: Holley shouldn’t have been ejected in the first place and it is a shame that an umpire can affect a game that he will have no part in.
• Chris DeVito should be back in the lineup after hurting his hamstring last weekend, but it should be expected that he will be the DH this weekend.
• It’s looking very possible that the Lobos could have an All-American and the Mountain West Player of the Year and for it to not be the same Lobos hitter. DeVito is having an All-American type of season, but Carl Stajduhar has been exceptional for the Lobos in conference play. In conference games, Stajduhar is hitting .460 with an on-base percentage of .520 with 18 runs, 28 RBI, 8 doubles, 2 triples and 5 homeruns. I would have Stajduhar ahead of DeVito for Conference Player of the Year right now, but I think that he and DeVito are the front runners for the award.
• Michael Eaton has returned from his abdominal injury and will probably get the start at second base if Holley is suspended for the game. Eaton, who came into the year as the starting second baseman, saw his role go to Holley when Holley came in and became one of the most important Lobos this season.

Arizona State Sun Devils:

The Sun Devils are one of the national powers out of the the Pac 12 Conference when it comes to college baseball. Their tradition and culture is one of the best in college baseball, with a long history of great players and great teams behind them. While the team this year isn’t a top 10 team like it is in a lot of years, they are still probable for the NCAA Tournament and have the pitching to give teams fits in a regional. The Sun Devils are led by second-year Head Coach Tracy Smith, who had great success in the Midwest at Miami (Ohio) and Indiana. Look for Coach Smith to have a much better team next season.

The Sun Devils on offense are not that great of a ball club, with only two players hitting over .300. That means that the Lobos will have a huge advantage when it comes to hitting this weekend. Two Sun Devil players to watch at this plate this weekend are David Green and Colby Woodmansee. Both players are hitting .313 on the season, while Greer has 4 home runs and 24 RBI and Woodmansee has 6 home runs and 31 RBI. It will be important for the Lobo pitching staff to make sure that both of these players don’t have big weekends that could help them win the series for the Sun Devils.

The real strength of the Sun Devil team is their pitching staff, which has a team ERA of 3.44 with opponents only hitting .257. The ace of the staff for the Sun Devils is Friday night starter Seth Martinez, who is 6-3 with a 1.89 ERA in 71 1/3 innings pitched. He’s been really hard for his opponents to hit, as he has 58 punch outs and only 17 walks. It is unclear who else the Sun Devils will start in the series, as Martinez is the only pitcher that has started a game every weekend. Last week Eli Lingos started the Saturday game and Zach Dixon started the Sunday game, so they might be reasonable guesses to start the other games this weekend. While it is unknown who is going to start, it will be a pitcher with the potential to shut down a good offense.

MW Standings:

• UNM 16-5
• FSU 14-7
• Nevada 9-8
• AFA 9-10
• UNLV 8-10
• SDSU 5-10
• SJSU 5-16

The key series this weekend in the MW is FSU heading to AFA to play a three-game series. If the Falcons are able to win the series, it would give the Lobos a huge lead in the standings.

Series Prediction:

Due to the unknowns of DeVito’s status and if Holley will be able to play Friday, I think all four possible outcomes have a decent chance of happening. The two most likely outcomes are a 2-1 series either way. If Holley and DeVito don’t play on Friday, I expect the Sun Devils to win the game in a low-scoring affair.

Game Info:

Who: New Mexico Lobos (30-13) AT Arizona State Sun Devils (23-15)

When: Friday April 29th 7:30 PM, Saturday April 30th 7:30 PM, Sunday May 1st 1:30 PM

Where: Phoenix Municipal Stadium

Radio: 101.7 The Team

Stream: ASU Video Stream