ASU Baseball: Slumping Sun Devils head into pivotal series at Washington State

After starting the 2016 season with a record of 13-3, the Arizona State baseball team is now reeling after dropping six of their past seven games. Next up for Tracy Smith's club is a trip to Pullman for three games against Washington State. Here is your weekend preview.

Pitching Matchups

Thursday - RHP Seth Martinez (ASU) - 3-2, 1.94 ERA vs. RHP Ryan Ward (WSU) - 1-0, 3.64 ERA

Friday - RHP Ryan Hingst (ASU) - 3-0, 0.71 ERA vs. RHP Ian Hamilton (WSU) - 0-6, 4.14 ERA

Saturday - TBD (ASU) vs. TBD (WSU)

ASU Update (14-9, 1-5 Pac-12)

The Sun Devils experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows last week against Utah. Despite coming into the series with the worst record in the Pac-12, the Utes eased their way to a 3-1 victory in game one on Thursday night.

The team's fortunes turned the following evening as Ryan Hingst threw the 10th no-hitter in school history for the maroon and gold, but it was the visitors from Salt Lake City that had the last laugh as they took the rubber match in game three.

At the plate, junior David Greer has risen above the rest of his teammates with a .374 batting average and 16 RBIs. Only two other Sun Devils - Colby Woodmansee and Andrew Snow - are hitting over .300 for the season.

Washington State Update (8-14, 1-5 Pac-12)

After spending a combined 14 seasons as an assistant with the Oregon State and Oklahoma State programs, Marty Lees was hired as Washington State's head coach back in June. His first season on the Palouse has been a rough one thus far.

The Cougars have won just eight games in the first two months of the year, and only one of those victories has come against a power conference opponent. They do compete hard, and have enough talent to keep games close, but an inability to get a decent offensive and defensive performance on the same day has led to their poor record.

Washington State is led by second baseman Trek Stemp at the plate. The junior is hitting at a .374 clip and is second on the team in OBP with a .420 average.

Notes

• Washington State's diamond, Bailey-Brayton Field, has a capacity of 3,500 people, but a combination of bad weather and bad baseball has led to some terrible attendance numbers for the Cougars this season. The team is averaging just 564 fans per game through eight home contests in 2016.
• Hingst was named the Pac-12's pitcher of the week after throwing his no-hitter against Utah. He will make another Friday night start this week in Pullman.
• David Greer is tied for second in the Pac-12 in hits with 34 through 23 games. As far as RBIs go, Colby Woodmansee is tied for first in the conference with 22.
• Thursday and Friday's games will begin at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday's finale will start at 1:00 p.m. All three contests will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.