August 20: BeDeviling the hitters

Wichita State, winning 9 of their past 10 once more, have now passed 100 wins to re-establish their 19 game lead over Texas A&M.  Moving into sole possession of 3rd place are the Texas Longhorns, who are finally finding some offense to accompany their masterful starting rotation.  The Miami Hurricanes have fallen back under .500 after losing seven of ten, the most recent an embarrassing 9th inning loss to the last-place '85 MSU Bulldogs.  And struggling to stay in the upper division, currently in 5th place, are the Arizona State Sun Devils, to whom we now turn our attention.

Who's Getting It Done:   Gary Gentry (24-10, 2.13) may be the best pitcher in the league.  He leads the league in wins, in complete games, and in strikeouts, with his lead in the latter category being over 100 K's ahead of runner-up Roger Clemens.  Jeff Pentland is doing pretty much everything, leading the team in hitting (.298), homers (8), playing errorless ball in centerfield, and winning 13 games as a starting pitcher with a strikeout total that is the league's 3rd best.

Run support, anyone?

Who's Not:  Someone should encourage the Sun Devils to try those newfangled aluminum bats, because like their fellow wooden-bat era '71 Trojans, the Devils can't muster the same sort of offensive firepower as more modern teams. ASU's .218 team average places them ahead of only slump-ridden Mississippi State, and their 45 team homers is better than only USC.  After Pentland, the second-best average for a regular starter belongs to Ron Davini at .249, and it's all downhill from there.  OF Scott Reid, a prime offensive threat for ASU in '67, does lead the team in RBIs but is batting 100 points below his 1967 average.  The starting pitchers have been sharp but practically need to throw shutouts to win games.  However, throwing shutouts has proved difficult because the Sun Devil defense is among the league's worst (LF Ralph Carpenter seems to drop nearly every ball hit to him), and the bullpen has been terrible.  The team's total of 3 saves is the league's worst, and aside from Larry Gura (6-9, 2.59) the ASU relievers haven't been able to keep the opposition to under a run per inning, forcing the starters to remain in the game past the limits of their endurance.  For the Sun Devils to lay claim to being the best of all time, they would need to show more offensive punch, improve their fielding, shore up the bullpen---or, just pitch Gary Gentry every game.


Arizona State Sun Devils **Team Batting Stats**
Last           First     AVE   G    AB   SO   BB   H    2B   3B   HR   R    RBI  SB   E
Nelson         Fred      .201  131  541  59   56   109  20   8    0    57   35   49   20
Carpenter      Ralph     .212  131  532  160  26   113  16   2    6    39   43   20   52
Reid           Scott     .207  131  503  158  89   104  26   3    8    58   42   27   8
Grangaard      Dave      .192  131  475  226  49   91   17   7    7    43   47   3    30
Davini         Ron       .249  131  465  108  32   116  29   6    4    42   54   24   4
Linville       Larry     .179  131  458  143  43   82   15   1    2    46   24   18   10
Paulson        Joe       .238  119  453  102  53   108  20   3    4    40   42   1    8
Lind           Jack      .225  131  427  140  72   96   19   4    5    47   37   20   38
Bobb           Randy     .218  83   293  49   21   64   17   2    1    21   25   1    0
Pentland       Jeff      .298  98   282  38   20   84   18   4    8    36   43   0    0
Perry          Kent      .258  35   31   8    4    8    2    1    0    3    4    0    0
Rice           Wayne     .143  18   7    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    1
Vitek          Bernie    .000  7    7    1    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
Musser         Marc      .167  9    6    2    3    1    1    0    0    2    0    0    0
Detter         Roger     .400  2    5    2    0    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    1
Massarand      Bill      .000  7    3    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
-              -         .218  1427 4488 1197 469  979  200  41   45   434  396  163  172

Arizona State Sun Devils **Team Pitching Stats**
Last           First     ERA   G    GS   CG   W    L    SV   IP    SO   BB   H    R    ER
Gentry         Gary      2.13  35   35   32   24   10   0    325.2 397  112  222  90   77
Pentland       Jeff      2.33  28   28   27   13   15   0    251.0 289  65   224  93   65
Burgess        Tom       3.32  27   27   25   12   15   0    244.0 285  130  193  106  90
Gura           Larry     2.59  25   13   11   6    9    1    153.0 127  51   129  58   44
Nurnberg       Doug      5.83  17   17   1    3    12   0    120.1 117  79   161  98   78
Chipps         Sam       3.09  7    7    6    3    4    0    78.2  50   15   85   31   27
Kwasny         Rich      11.05 4    4    0    0    4    0    22.0  43   31   32   32   27
Brown          Jim       9.00  13   0    0    1    0    2    10.0  21   8    20   11   10
Mulligan       Greg      24.92 4    0    0    0    0    0    4.1   5    2    13   13   12
-              -         3.20  160  131  102  62   69   3    1209.01334 493  1079 532  430

College Greats League Standings

Year      Team                     W    L    PCT   GB   L10
1982      Wichita State Shockers   101  30   .771  -    9-1
1989      Texas A&M Aggies         82   49   .626  19.0 7-3
1983      Texas Longhorns          69   62   .527  32.0 8-2
2001      Miami Hurricanes         64   67   .489  37.0 3-7
1967      Arizona State Sun Devils 62   69   .473  39.0 2-8
1995      Cal State Fullerton Titan60   71   .458  41.0 5-5
1997      LSU Tigers               59   72   .450  42.0 3-7
1971      USC Trojans              55   76   .420  46.0 7-3
1985      Oklahoma State Cowboys   52   79   .397  49.0 3-7
1985      Miss State Bulldogs      51   80   .389  50.0 3-7