(Phone, AZ) Sun Devil baseball senior southpaw Connor Markl was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for his efforts in one-hitting rival Arizona this weekend, as announced by the league office today.
Markl matched his career best with 6.0 innings in Saturday’s series-deciding victory, striking out eight and allowing just a single hit – a soft line drive just past the outstretched glove of the ASU third baseman early in the contest.
His eight strikeouts were a season high as he shaved over two points from his season ERA in the process. It was just the fourth time in Markl’s career – which spans 50 games and 29 starts dating back to his career at Grand Canyon – that he had reached the 6.0-inning mark. It was just the third time in his career he had allowed no earned runs in 5.0+ innings and first since a 6.0-inning effort against Texas State on March 5, 2023 while at GCU. He also went 5.0 innings with no earned runs allowed against Arizona as a Lope in his first appearance of the 2022 season as a sophomore.
Markl set the tone for a massive road series win in Tucson, as it was the first time Arizona had been one-hit in a game since the 2015 season and the first time ASU had shutout the Wildcats since 2014.
Arizona had entered the contest averaging 7.3 runs per game this season. Markl is the first Sun Devil named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week since Adam Tulloch in March 2022. The Sun Devils have a busy week ahead, schedule for six games in seven days with a pair of home midweek contests against Utah Valley before heading northwest for a three-game Pac-12 series against Washington State in Pullman this weekend followed by a Monday pitstop in Las Vegas to take on UNLV.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremy Hawkes
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