Sun Devils in command of baseball regional

The Arizona State baseball team pounced on a shaky freshman starting pitcher and had Mike Leake to protect the lead. On Saturday night, that combination put the Sun Devils in firm control of the Tempe Regional, as a 15-3 victory against Oklahoma at Packard Stadium put ASU within a victory of advancing to the super regional round.

SLIDESHOW: See photos from the game

ASU baseball keeps Wolves at bay in tourney

“We haven’t done anything in this regional except get into a position to do something good,” coach Pat Murphy said. “We still have to play baseball. There’s a long way to go, a lot of innings to play and pitches to make.”

The top-seeded Sun Devils (47-11) play next at 6 p.m. today, against the winner of the 1 p.m. elimination contest between Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. With Josh Satow slated to start against whoever the Commodores or Sooners can scrounge up as their fourth starter, Murphy’s squad will be heavily favored.

ASU collected 15 hits and walked 10 times, the 10th time this season that it reached double-digit bases on balls. Three players — left fielder Ryan Sontag, first baseman Ike Davis and catcher Petey Paramore — had three hits each, but the biggest fan adulation was saved for an unlikely hero.

Requested by the media after hitting a home run, two-sport athlete Michael Jones entered the interview room and jokingly asked, “Am I in the right place?”

This season has been a struggle for Jones, a football wide receiver who entered Saturday batting just .184 (9-for-49). With Matt Newman pitching, Jones started Friday against Stony Brook in the outfield and went hitless in three at-bats.

“He’s still learning this game,” Murphy said. “Mike has about 85 at-bats in his life. It’s hard to do this game as a hobby. It’s too tough, so Mike is not going to have great numbers. But I like him. He’s a starting receiver who sits on the bench a lot for us, but he’s still a great teammate.”

After entering on defense in the fourth inning, Jones came up with two men on in the sixth. Left-hander C.J. Blue fired a fastball, and Jones laced it to right field for the second homer of his career, thrilling a crowd of 3,744 that included football coach Dennis Erickson and quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

“That’s the first home run to the opposite field that I’ve hit in my life,” said Jones, who sent a pitch over the fence against Portland on March 2.

Leake allowed eight hits and two runs while walking two and striking out six in eight innings. He threw 121 pitches.

“We’ve got a lot of good arms in our league, and we’ve seen others from around the country,” Sooners coach Sunny Galloway said. “Leake is as good as we have seen in terms of knowledge of the game, staying down in the (strike) zone, defending his position and having fun while he’s doing it.

“That’s a good college baseball player right there.”

Leake, who improved to 10-2, chose to aw-shucks his performance.

“I didn’t feel great,” the sophomore said. “My control was a little off, by a couple of inches in some instances. I wasn’t at my best.”

Oklahoma right-hander Ryan Duke posted a 7-4 record with a 3.60 ERA during the regular season, but on Saturday, he looked like a freshman making his first postseason appearance.

After a perfect first inning, Duke ran into trouble against ASU’s potent heart of the order in the second. He allowed singles by first baseman Davis and catcher Paramore to start the frame, and both runners scored on miscues by Duke.

A pickoff throw to first base went awry, enabling Davis to score. After a Kiel Roling single, a wild pitch plated Paramore from third. Raoul Torrez added an RBI single to make it 3-0, and the third-seeded Sooners (35-25-1) needed a reliever to prevent further damage.

Tyson Seng got Oklahoma out of the second inning but surrendered four runs on three hits in the third, and the Sun Devils cruised from there.

VANDERBILT 9, STONY BROOK 4: Andrew Giobbi was 4-for-4 with three RBIs to lead a 16-hit attack and Vanderbilt eliminated Stony Brook (34-26).

Steven Liddle went 3-for-5 with a double, triple and two RBIs and Pedro Alvarez had three hits for the Commodores (41-21).

Gary Novakowski took the loss for Stony Brook, allowing four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings with four walks and two strikeouts.

The Seawolves (34-26), making their second-ever NCAA tournament appearance, turned a triple play in the top of the second inning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.