Baseball heads to Cal State Fullerton for NCAA Regional

Arizona State University baseball has been selected as the No. 2 seed in the Fullerton Regional, hosted by No. 5 national seed Cal State Fullerton. ASU will face No. 3 seed New Mexico at 4 p.m. PT on Friday, May 31.

The four-team, double-elimination regional will be played at Goodwin Field on the Cal State Fullerton campus May 31-June 3. Cal State Fullerton will take on Columbia in the opposite pairing. The Fullerton Regional is matched up with the Los Angeles Regional, hosted by UCLA.

The Sun Devils earned an at-large berth by virtue of finishing tied for fourth in the Pac-12. They were picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll. ASU went a combined 12-5 this season against teams in the field (2-0 Arkansas, 2-0 Wichita State, 1-0 New Mexico, 2-1 Oregon, 2-1 UCLA, 2-1 Valparaiso and 1-2 Oregon State).

ASU is making its 36th NCAA postseason appearance, which is tied for the fifth most among all schools, and will be playing in its 30th NCAA Regional. The Devils have now made 13 consecutive postseason appearances when the team has been eligible (2012 NCAA postseason ban).
* - Postseason appearance and victories in 2007 later vacated due to NCAA sanctions. Numbers do not reflect vacations.

Head coach Tim Esmay will be making his third NCAA postseason appearance since taking over the helm at ASU in 2010. He has led the Devils to the postseason in all three years the team has been eligible. Coach Esmay took the 2010 team to the College World Series and the 2011 team to the Austin Super Regional. He is 9-4 all-time in the postseason, including 5-2 in 2010 and 4-2 in 2011.

Coach Esmay joins former Sun Devil head coach Jim Brock as the only two managers in school history to lead the Sun Devils to the postseason in three of their first four seasons in Tempe.

Each game at the Fullerton Regional will be televised by ESPNU/ESPN3 and every ASU game will be broadcast by the MidFirst Bank Sun Devil IMG Network on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 and on the All-Access Player on thesundevils.com.

The Sun Devils finished the regular season ranked first in the Pac-12 in slugging percentage (.450), hits (581), RBI (335), doubles (115), home runs (46) and total bases (884). They were second in batting average (.296), runs scored (360) and triples (25), and third in on-base percentage (.378).

Third baseman Michael Benjamin paced the team offensively as he finished first in the conference in slugging percentage (.569), hits (81) and total bases (132). He is the only player in the Pac-12 to place in the top four in the conference in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits and home runs.

Freshman left-handed starting pitcher Ryan Kellogg finished the regular season at 11-0 and ranks third on ASU's single-season freshmen wins list. He is the only pitcher in the conference with at least nine wins to go undefeated. Freshman right-hander reliever Ryan Burr is third in the conference in saves with 11 and tied the school record for single-season freshmen saves.

ASU is 120-29 all-time against New Mexico, including 1-0 in the postseason. The Devils won the last meeting between the two teams this season, 4-3 (11), March 13 in Tempe. ASU defeated the Lobos in game one of the 2011 Tempe Regional, 4-2, on a three-run walk-off home run from Joey DeMichele.

The Sun Devils are 31-27 all-time against Cal State Fullerton, including 7-9 in the postseason. This is the third Fullerton Regional ASU has gone to after making trips in 2001 and 2004. The two teams split their last four games, all midweek non-conference matchups, including two in 2012 in Tempe and a pair in 2011 in Fullerton.

ASU has never faced Columbia.

Postseason Success
• 36 NCAA postseason appearances are tied for fifth most in NCAA history (tied with USC and Clemson)
• 30 NCAA Regional appearances, and 19 Regional titles
• 150 NCAA tournament wins are fifth most in NCAA history
• 22 CWS appearances are tied for the third most in NCAA history
• 10 CWS final appearances, which is third most in NCAA history
• 61 CWS wins are third most in NCAA history
• Five National Championships are the fourth most in NCAA history behind USC (12), and LSU (6) and Texas (6)
• 13 consecutive postseason appearances when team has been eligible (2012 NCAA postseason ban)
* - Postseason appearance and victories in 2007 later vacated due to NCAA sanctions. Numbers do not reflect vacations.

For more info and schedules on baseball's road to Omaha, vist TheSunDevils.com.