Arizona State lefty Cole Carlon
Arizona State has two of the players in the nation. The Sun Devils, however, have had issues against power conference schools.
The Sun Devils will tangle with No. 2 seed Ole Miss Friday at 8 p.m. in Lincoln Regional at the University of Nebraska. South Dakota State faces host Nebraska in the first game.
They lost all three games in Arlington against NCAA Regional hosts Mississippi State and Texas A&M. State beat the Sun Devils 8-4, A&M won 9-3 and Tennessee beat them 5-3. Oklahoma split with ASU, losing 15-3, but beat them 4-3.
In the Big 12 Conference Tournament, ASU beat Cincinnati 10-2. The Bearcats are headed to Starkville. ASU lost to West Virginia, 7-3, in the semi finals. West Virginia is the last host seeded team at 16.
The concern for Ole Miss, 36-21, will be the Sun Devils ace pitcher Cole Carlon and power hitter Landon Hairston.
Carlon is a projected first round draft pick in June’s Major League Draft. He has 124 strikeouts, averaging 14.49 strikeouts per game, ranked fourth in the nation.
Carlon is 5-2 with a 3.51 earned run average.
The two primary reliever is Derek Schaefer with eight saves.
Hairston has 28 home runs to rank fourth in the nation. The team has hit 108 homers. Nu’u Contrades has 17 as does Austin Pocdig. Dominic Smalldino has 16. The Sun Devils have a .320 batting average led by Hairston at .413.
