In its first road series of the season, Arizona State (12-12, 4-2 Pac-12) sent out fresh faces to the bump on Friday and Saturday. Both Sam Romero and Boyd Vander Kooi were making their first career starts in the maroon and gold outside of Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
And it showed.
Romero gave up 3 earned runs, Vander Kooi allowed 7. Their inexperience was eaten up by UCLA (15-5, 5-1) as the Bruins rocketed out to early leads in both games.
Sunday was different, however, and that’s probably because senior Eli Lingos has been in that position before.