Baseball injury updates
May 5th, 2008, 3:44 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
Ike Davis
A rib muscle strain will likely keep Arizona State first baseman/pitcher Ike Davis sidelined at least through this weekend’s series against Loyola Marymount, coach Pat Murphy said on Monday.
Davis has not played in the Sun Devils’ last five games. That absence has enabled third baseman Brett Wallace to pass him for the team lead in batting average (.404 to .401) and tie him in home runs (15). Davis still tops the team in RBIs, with 62 to Wallace’s 59.
“He can’t play right now,” Murphy said. “We can’t afford to risk it.”
The Sun Devils play at Kansas State on Tuesday and Wichita State on Wednesday. Davis made the trip, but pitcher Stephen Sauer remained in Tempe to rest his ailing right shoulder.
The Loyola Marymount games are ASU’s last in nonconference play. It finishes the regular season with Pac-10 series against Washington and at Arizona.
Assuming Davis does not play this weekend, he will have three weeks of rest before league action resumes. The Sun Devils hope that is enough time.
Murphy tried to use Davis as a decoy during Sunday’s game at UCLA, as the junior was announced as a pinch hitter to try and force the Bruins into a pitching change. Coach John Savage did not bite, and Davis never stepped to the plate, as he was immediately replaced by outfielder Michael Jones.
The NCAA releases its latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores on Tuesday. In 2007, 19 of ASU’s 22 varsity teams had multi-year academic progress rate scores of at least 925, the mandated minimum by the NCAA. The school received no penalties resulting from APR scores, which measure current academic performance.
