Blogging with the Devils

Now who’s laughing?

Answer: Pat Murphy and the Arizona State baseball team. A little.

The Sun Devils were mocked, ridiculed and scorned thrice-over for blowing a 1-0 series lead to Fresno State in the Tempe Super Regional.

Did you notice who won the College World Series on Wednesday night? Fresno State, which won six elimination games and beat four nationally-ranked teams in a month.

The Bulldogs were the first No. 4 seed of a regional to reach a CWS (it’s about the equivalent of a No. 13 seed winning the NCAA men’s basketball tournament), then the Bulldogs pulled off a top-three when it comes to all-time improbable NCAA championship runs.

Yes, ASU was the better team and shouldn’t have lost consecutive home games.

Except nobody was a better team in June than Fresno State, and because of that, ASU can pull parts of itself off the hook.

Greg Bordes forces Gavin Hedstrom of Fresno State at second base and fires to first on a double-play attempt during the Tempe Super Regional. (Ralph Freso/Tribune)

Arizona State shortstop Greg Bordes has signed a free-agent contract with the Diamondbacks and will report to the team’s Single-A club in Yakima, Wash., his father, Charlie, said.

Bordes, who had a year of eligibility remaining at ASU, batted .304 with 21 RBIs in 44 games (21 starts) this season. A utility bench player for much of his Sun Devil career, he became the regular shortstop in April after Marcel Champagnie struggled defensively.

A product of Mesa Dobson High, Bordes started and had at least one hit in each of ASU’s six NCAA tournament games, going 9-for-22 with seven RBIs.

Bordes’ brother, Brett, pitched at ASU from 2003-06 and is currently with the Delmarva Shorebirds, the Baltimore Orioles’ Single-A affiliate in Salisbury, Md.

An internal investigation of ASU’s baseball program is complete, and the school is preparing a report to submit to the NCAA and Pac-10, athletic director Lisa Love said. She added that ASU will publicly disclose the findings after the report is finished.

Arizona State’s two best hitters — good friends who plan to go on vacation together sometime after the season — were involved in a scuffle as the Sun Devils were on the field before Game 3 of the Tempe Super Regional on Monday.

The incident between third baseman Brett Wallace and first baseman Ike Davis, however, was a joke.

The two sold it, as they jawed and pointed to one another while being separated by their teammates, some of whom ended up on the ground in a ruckus that was caught by ESPN cameras.

“We wanted to do it to loosen up the team a little bit and maybe get the other team to think about other things,” Davis said after the game. “It didn’t work, but it was fun.”

The Sun Devils did the same thing – Travis Buck and Jeff Larish were the “combatants” then — before a tournament game against Coastal Carolina in 2005.

The Tempe Super Regional comes down to one game on Monday at Packard Stadium, with the winner advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., for a first-round date with Rice, likely on Sunday.

Here are the lineups:

FRESNO STATE (41-29): SS Danny Muno, CF Gavin Hedstrom, 2B Eric Wetzel, LF Steve Susdorf, 1B Alan Ahmady, RF Steve Detwiler, 3B Tommy Mendonca, DH Jake Johnson, C Danny Grubb

Right-hander Justin Miller (6-3, 4.62 ERA), who worked 1 2/3 innings of relief on Saturday, is the starting pitcher.

ARIZONA STATE (49-12): RF Ryan Sontag, LF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, C Petey Paramore, P/DH Matt Newman, RF Mike Leake, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Newman (1-0, 4.60 ERA) will throw the first ball, but it figures to be pitching-by-committee for both teams.

ANALYSIS: The P/DH designation for Newman enables the Sun Devils to remove him from the game and still keep the designated hitter active. Leake is in the outfield instead of Michael Jones, probably because his hitting numbers are better (a .341 average to Jones’ .172). And you can bet that Leake — who threw 118 pitches on Saturday — will be called on to work an inning or two if needed.

Here are the lineups for Game 2 of the Tempe Super Regional on Sunday at Packard Stadium. If Arizona State wins, its next game would be at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., home of the College World Series.

ARIZONA STATE (49-11): RF Ryan Sontag, LF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, DH Kiel Roling, C Petey Paramore, RF Matt Newman, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Left-hander Josh Satow (9-3, 4.58 ERA) is aiming for a fourth straight postseason-advancing victory for the Sun Devils. In 2007, he was the winner in the regional clincher against Nebraska and Game 2 of the super regional against Mississippi. Last week, he got the decision in ASU’s 12-0 win against Oklahoma that ended the Tempe Regional.

FRESNO STATE (40-29): SS Danny Muno, CF Gavin Hedstrom, 2B Eric Wetzel, LF Steve Susdorf, 1B Alan Ahmady, RF Steve Detwiler, 3B Tommy Mendonca, DH Jake Johnson, C Danny Grubb

Right-hander Clayton Allison (3-5, 3.74 ERA) has the Bulldogs’ season in his hands.

ANALYSIS: No surprises in the Sun Devil lineup, but Roling batting in the No. 5 spot in front of Paramore is a change.

Who is hitting where for the first game of the Tempe Super Regional on Saturday at Packard Stadium:

FRESNO STATE (40-28): SS Danny Muno, CF Gavin Hedstrom, 2B Eric Wetzel, LF Steve Susdorf, 1B Alan Ahmady, 3B Tommy Mendonca, C Ryan Overland, RF Steve Detwiler, DH Jordan Ribera

Left-hander Justin Wilson (7-4, 4.17 ERA) is the starting pitcher.

ARIZONA STATE (48-11): RF Ryan Sontag, LF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, C Petey Paramore, DH Kiel Roling, CF Michael Jones, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Right-hander Mike Leake (10-2, 3.12 ERA) takes the mound.

ANALYSIS: With a southpaw pitching for Fresno State, left-handed-hitting Matt Newman is benched in favor of Jones, who went 2-for-4 with a home run in the final two games of the Tempe Regional.

Petey Paramore

As the Arizona State baseball team continues preparations for the best-of-three super regional against Fresno State that begins on Saturday at Packard Stadium, catcher Petey Paramore (quadricep strain) is expected to play.

“He’ll be fine,” coach Pat Murphy said before Wednesday’s workout.

With a smile, Murphy added, ”He’s getting treatment. It’s OK that he’s in the (trainers’ room). Petey is a horrible practice player.”

Paramore, who is expected to be one of three Sun Devils drafted early in the major-league amateur draft on Thursday, was injured while rounding first base on a fourth-inning double in Sunday’s Tempe Regional-clinching victory against Oklahoma.

Should a third game be necessary in the super regional, Murphy said, his starting pitcher will be “Seth Newman.” That means that Murphy likely will not be as forthcoming about his plans as he was for the regional round, when the coach announced Matt Newman as his No. 3 starter, over fellow freshman Seth Blair.

Newman, a left-hander, pitched in the regional opener against Stony Brook, allowing five hits and three runs in two-plus innings.

Oregon, which fields a varsity baseball program next year for the first time since 1981, is scheduled to visit Packard Stadium on May 15-17, 2009. In Pac-10 play, the Ducks host Arizona, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA and Washington and play at ASU, California, Southern California and Washington State.

Fresno State first baseman Alan Ahmady has 27 hits in the Bulldogs’ last 16 games, and his 81 RBIs are the second-highest single-season total in school history. (Associated Press photo)

What Arizona State coach Pat Murphy calls “the Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament” is coming to Packard Stadium this weekend to face the Sun Devils for the right to go to the College World Series.

Fresno State, the No. 4 seed in what was considered the toughest regional, Long Beach (Calif.), polished off San Diego, 5-1, on Monday night to advance to a best-of-three super regional against ASU that will begin on Saturday.

The Bulldogs, who beat second-seeded San Diego twice and No. 1 seed Long Beach State once en route to the regional title, have won nine of their last 10 games. They are the second fourth seed — the other was Missouri in 2006 — to advance to a super regional since the NCAA adopted the format in 1999.

“We have been on a pretty good run,” coach Mike Batesole said. “We’ve been on a stretch of games that we have had to win, and we have played pretty good baseball.”

And the Bulldogs (40-28) have managed to do it without the services of their top pitcher, junior Tanner Scheppers, a right-hander who went 8-2 with a 2.93 ERA before suffering a stress fracture in his pitching shoulder that will likely sideline him for the rest of the season. The hard-throwing Scheppers was projected as a first-round draft choice.

Fresno State has gotten timely tournament pitching performances from left-hander Justin Wilson and righty Clayton Allison, and on Monday, right-hander Holden Sprague limited San Diego to a run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. Brandon Burke gave up just one hit the rest of the way for his 11th save of the season.

Said Sprague, who was charged with slowing a San Diego squad that beat the Bulldogs 15-1 on Sunday to force Monday’s contest: “That’s the good thing about baseball … there’s always tomorrow. Our job was to get the job in Burke’s hands and let him go what he does.”

While a regional typically tests a team’s pitching depth, playing four games in Long Beach was not a culture shock for Fresno State. A WAC regular-season weekend series consists of four games, usually with a doubleheader on Saturday.

“We were already playing 27 of 36 weekend innings without Tanner,” Batesole said. “Then someone had to take his spot. Sprague and Burke have taken on a few more innings, and those two have really big for us.”

Batesole’s lineup has five regulars hitting above .300, including senior left fielder Steve Susdorf, the WAC player of the year. Susdorf is batting .342 with 10 home runs and 77 RBIs, but the hottest bat belongs to first baseman Alan Ahmady, a sophomore who leads the team in average (.382) and RBIs (81) and has 12 home runs.

While the Bulldogs won a regional for the first time in 17 years, they are not postseason neophytes. Fresno State has won the last three WAC championships, and Batesole has taken five teams to the NCAA tournament.

“This is the team I am the most proud of,” Batesole said. “This is definitely the toughest of the last three teams we’ve had. We’ve fought through a lot of adversity, a lot of guys banged up or out. But this team keeps grinding away, and the success of the last two years has taught these guys how to win.”

Oklahoma’s reward for its walk-off victory against Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon is an evening rematch with the Arizona State squad that drilled the Sooners 15-3 on Saturday. With a victory, the Sun Devils will end the Tempe Regional and advance to the best-of-three super regional against the champion of the Long Beach (Calif.) Regional, either Fresno State or San Diego.

The lineups:

OKLAHOMA (36-25-1, No. 3 regional seed): RF Jamie Johnson, CF Aljay Davis, 2B Mike Gosse, LF Casey Johnson, 1B Aaron Baker, C J.T. Wise, DH Jarod Freeman, SS Bryant Hernandez, 3B Matt Harughty

The Sooners’ best remaining pitching option is right-hander Jeremy Erben (1-3, 6.16 ERA), a sophomore who has 16 appearances (nine starts) this year.

ARIZONA STATE (47-11, No. 1 regional seed): LF Ryan Sontag, CF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, C Petey Paramore, DH Kiel Roling, RF Matt Newman, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Left-hander Josh Satow (8-3, 4.99 ERA) is the starting pitcher.

ANALYSIS: ASU coach Pat Murphy sends out the same lineup the engineered 15 runs, 15 hits and 10 walks against Oklahoma on Saturday.

Here are the lineup cards for Game 4 of the Tempe Regional at Packard Stadium on Saturday. Per NCAA tournament policy, Arizona State is the designated visiting team because it has already been the home team during the regional, and Oklahoma has not.

ARIZONA STATE (46-11, No. 1 regional seed): LF Ryan Sontag, CF Jason Kipnis, 3B Brett Wallace, 1B Ike Davis, C Petey Paramore, DH Kiel Roling, RF Matt Newman, 2B Raoul Torrez, SS Greg Bordes

Right-hander Mike Leake (9-2, 3.18 ERA) is the starting pitcher.

OKLAHOMA (35-24-1, No. 3 regional seed): RF Jamie Johnson, CF Aljay Davis, 2B Mike Gosse, LF Casey Johnson, C J.T. Wise, 1B Aaron Baker, SS Bryant Hernandez, DH Jarod Freeman, 3B Matt Harughty

Righty Ryan Duke (7-4, 3.60 ERA) takes the mound.

ANALYSIS: No surprises in the ASU lineup. After serving as the starting pitcher, then the designated hitter, on Friday, Newman is back in the outfield, which returns Michael Jones to the bench.