Devils Win Third Straight Series, Sweeping The Lobos

Mike Stockman
Phoenix Area Sports

Seth Martinez gets his 8th win of the season, throws 9 strike outs.

PHOENIX, AZ - (April 29, 2016) After a mid-week 0-8 loss to the Arizona Wildcats, the Arizona State University Sun Devils re-focused and won their third straight series - sweeping The University of New Mexico Lobos all three games that began on Friday evening, April 29, and ended Sunday afternoon, May 1, at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

In game one on Friday evening, the Devils started the game strong scoring six runs in the first two innings at the plate while pitching four strike outs in two innings. In the second inning, three straight doubles scored three runs boosting the score after two innings to a 6-0 lead for the Devils. The Devils finish the night with 12 hits, beating the Lobos by a score of 9-5.

The Devils' Coach Tracy Smith commented about Seth Martinez' pitching his eighth win of the season "We've grown to expect this from Seth. He made good pitches when he needed to". When asked about the intensity in this game's win, he said "we're viewing this as a conference weekend". He reminded us what he said after the mid-week loss to Arizona Wildcats "I know how the season's been to this point. It's a roller coaster - it's up, it's down. It seems like we never allow ourselves to get two (games) up. In spite of all that, I'm still saying we can win the Pac-12 conference...wouldn't that be a great story".

Game two was more of the same with the Devils getting 16 hits and keeping the Lobos scoreless until the seventh inning. The final score was 7-4.

Jordan Aboites steps in and steps up in game 2 win.

During the game, Jordan Aboites came in for an injured Andrew Snow and produced two hits, and an RBI. The winning pitcher was Eli Lingos, who pitched seven innings, got four strike outs, and only allowed one run.

After the game, Coach Smith was asked what he thought of Jordan's contribution. Smith responded "We've talked about what it means to be at Arizona State and what it means to be playing for this school with a dirtbag mentality...the "whatever it takes" attitude. I think that was another example of that". He finished his comment with "we talked a lot about it in practice, no excuses...just go get the job done. I thought he did a good job of that".

The final game of the series was a defensive battle on both sides. After eight innings, both teams were scoreless. The Lobos left eight runners on base throughout the game. In the botttom of the ninth inning, Colby Woodmansee was hit by a pitch. Then one batter later, Brian Serven was hit by a pitch, putting two runners on base. Andrew Shaps hit the game winning single to right field which gave time for Woodmansee to slide safely at the plate for a final score of 1-0.

The Lobos (30-16), travel  to Roswell, NM to play New Mexico State on Tuesday, May 3 at 6:00 p.m. Then, they travel to UNLV for a Mountain West match-up over the weekend in a three game series, starting Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

The Devils (26-15), pushing hard for the post season, host Pac-12 rival Oregon Ducks in a three game series starting Friday evening, 6:30 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. All three games can followed on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060.