ASU weekend preview: Baseball heads to Washington State with Pac-12 Tournament hopes

ASU's Joe Lampe (5) watches his teammates from the dugout during a home game against UNLV held at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Apr. 26, 2022.
ASU's Joe Lampe (5) watches his teammates from the dugout during a home game against UNLV held at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Apr. 26, 2022.

Arizona State baseball faces its final series of the regular season with the important task of clinching a spot in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament in Scottsdale.

The inaugural tournament will be held at Scottsdale Stadium from Wednesday, May 25 through Sunday, May 29, and will feature the top eight teams in the conference in a double-elimination tournament. ASU (13-14) is currently sixth and is just ahead of Washington (14-16) and California (11-16) in the final three spots. Washington concluded its conference schedule last weekend and will await its tournament fate.

If ASU remained at sixth overall, it would play the third seed in the fourth and final game of the first round. The current third-place team is No. 23 UCLA.

NCAA Golf Championships in Scottsdale: Young Arizona State women's golf team poised for run at national championship

ASU will close out its season at Washington State (24-26, 9-18) beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. The Cougars were swept last weekend by UCLA, but nearly took Sunday’s game in an 8-7 loss. ASU earned one win against Oregon last weekend to avoid a sweep.

ASU center fielder Joe Lampe is on a 21-game hitting streak and leads the team with 11 home runs. Nate Baez has competed with Lampe all season at the plate and has 10 home runs and a team-leading 47 RBIs.

The series will continue on Friday at 4 p.m. and close out on Saturday at 12 p.m. The games can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks.

Around campus

  • ASU men’s golf clinched its spot in the upcoming NCAA Men’s Golf Championships in Scottsdale after finishing first at the NCAA Regional in Stockton, CA on Wednesday. The Sun Devils shot 17-under on the final day to finish well ahead of conference opponent, Stanford. At the Bryan Regional, Arizona finished first ahead of reigning NCAA champion, Pepperdine.

  • ASU women’s golf will compete at the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale beginning Friday and will end on Wednesday, May 25. ASU senior  Alexandra Forsterling is ranked sixth overall by Golfweek. ASU tees off at No. 10 starting at 12:25 p.m. on Friday. The event is free and open to the public.

Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com or 602-647-4122. Follow her on Twitter @jennarortiz

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Preview: ASU baseball hits the road with Pac-12 Tournament hopes