ASU tops Clemson, on to College World Series

All year long, Josh Spence has been the Robin to Mike Leake’s Batman.

With ESPN2 cameras as his witness, Spence showed he can be the star, too.

The Arizona State lefty struck out 10 in a complete-game four-hitter to lift the Sun Devils past Clemson, 8-2, on Sunday at Packard Stadium.

The victory returns the Sun Devils to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series. It is their third appearance since 2005.

Slideshow: ASU vs. Clemson baseball

Although injuries had limited him to just seven innings pitched since April 26, Spence went the distance, allowing just a solo home run through eight innings before Clemson tacked on one more in the ninth.

Spence improves to 9-1 on the season.

“Josh was great,” outfielder Jason Kipnis said.

A tendon strain in his pitching hand put the season in jeopardy for Spence in late April, but he vowed to return.

He made it back for the final game of the regular season but injured his back in the regional against Kent State after pitching just three innings. Spence also took a line drive to the face early in the year.

But those were all distant memories for Spence following the game.

“I feel good now,” he said with a smile.

Spence was perfect through 3 2/3 innings, until Jeff Schaus hit a solo homer over the right-field fence to put the Tigers ahead 1-0.

Arizona State responded in the top of the fifth with five runs, highlighted by a two-run double from Kole Calhoun.

Clemson cleanup hitter Ben Paulsen thought the Tigers were beginning to get to Spence until he began to adjust.

“He kept me off-balance, and that’s what good pitchers usually do,” Paulsen said. “It’s not the guys that throw so hard, it’s the guys that can hit their spots.”

The Sun Devils tacked on three runs in the top of the ninth, including a pair when Drew Maggi and Jason Kipnis beat throws to the plate on back-to-back plays.

The Sun Devils entered the season with much less fanfare compared with last year’s squad because of mass departures.

But a roster with very little experience jelled quickly, and the road to Omaha was smooth.

“This isn’t your normal powerhouse team like last year,” Kipnis said. “It’s a bunch of freshmen that don’t know you’re supposed to lose more games than we are... We do things weird around here. We grow playoff beards with a bunch of freshmen that don’t even have facial hair. We just do things different, but we found our niche. We have so many different ways to win games, and this team knows it.”

Calhoun, a junior-college transfer in his first year with the Sun Devils, has been pestering Leake for the past week, asking what it’s like to play in the College World Series.

In a few days, he’ll find out.

“That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to come to ASU so bad — to have a chance to compete for a national championship,” Calhoun said. “Now it’s right there. We’re going to Omaha.”

Arizona State will open against North Carolina, the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament, on either Saturday or Sunday.

NCAA super regionals
Sunday’s results
Virginia 5, Mississippi 1, Virginia advances
TCU 3, Texas 2, Series tied 1-1
Southern Mississippi 7, Florida 6, Southern Miss. advances
North Carolina 9, East Carolina 3, North Carolina advances