Davis back for Sun Devils

Ike Davis' biggest contribution to the Arizona State baseball team in the last three weeks was a near-comical attempt to serve as a decoy pinch hitter.

In the eighth inning of a game at UCLA, Davis was announced and walked to the plate as ASU tried to force the Bruins into a pitching change. Considering that he was wearing turf shoes and a small ice pack under his uniform, it was not a very convincing ploy.

The Bruins kept their reliever in the game, and Davis was replaced before seeing a pitch. There will be no such attempted trickery when the Sun Devils play Washington in a Pac-10 series this weekend; the first baseman/closer is back for real after missing 10 games with a rib muscle strain.

"I'm feeling better. I'm not 100percent, but I'm starting to get there," said Davis, a junior who is batting .401 with 15 home runs and 62 RBIs and is 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA and four saves. "I'm going to try it out this weekend and see how it feels swinging.

"Ultimately, it's up to the coach, but I want to be in the lineup."

With ASU a game ahead of Stanford and two up on Washington in the Pac-10 standings with six league contests to go, coach Pat Murphy will gladly grant Davis' request to play.

"I'm excited to have him back," Murphy said. "It would be better if Ike had a few games under his belt going into an important series like this, but that's the way it is."

Davis still feels discomfort when throwing, so he said that pitching "is out for this weekend, unless something dramatic happens." However, it is possible that Davis could take the mound in a limited situational role.

"You don't know what's possible you get the adrenaline going," Murphy said. "When we get to the first game, I think we'll know a lot more."

The Sun Devils were 8-2 in Davis' absence, with Mike Leake and Kiel Roling playing first base. Leake, ASU's ace pitcher, has provided the team a jolt since getting a chance to play in the field regularly, and Roling is on a hot streak after slumping for much of the season's first half.

"It's good to get a different perspective on what players on the bench see and have the challenge of keeping myself in the game, even if I wasn't playing," Davis said. "That was something I've never really dealt with before. We won a lot of games, and it was good.

"I don't like coming out of games, because I feel I can do the job when I'm in there. But the team got it done without me."

Davis was cleared to return earlier this week when a doctor told him that he would not worsen the injury by playing.

"He supported me playing if I could handle the pain," Davis said.

Washington at Arizona State

When: 7 p.m. today, 6 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Packard Stadium

TV/Radio: None/KDUS (1060 AM)

Records: Washington 31-17 overall, 10-8 Pac-10; ASU 41-9, 12-6

Rankings: Washington No. 30 Collegiate Baseball; ASU No. 4 USA Today/ESPN (coaches); No. 3 Baseball America; No.3 Collegiate Baseball; No. 4 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association

Scouting the Huskies: Washington, which has won seven of its past eight games, has the deepest pitching in the Pac-10. Its 3.57 team ERA and .242 opponents batting average lead the league. Jorden Merry, who is 8-0, leads the Pac-10 in ERA (2.31), and Nick Haughian is third (2.98) and leads in strikeouts (99). Sophomore outfielder Kyle Conley (.342, 16 home runs, 52 RBIs) is swinging the Huskies' - and the conference's - biggest bat at the moment. His four home runs and nine RBIs last week netted him a second straight selection as Pac-10 player of the week selection.

Pac-10 standings

League Overall

Arizona State 12-6 41-9

Stanford 11-7 30-18-2

Washington 10-8 31-17

California 11-10 32-17-2

Oregon State 11-10 25-20

Arizona 8-10 34-15

UCLA 8-10 26-23

USC 7-11 24-26

Washington State 6-12 28-22