UA pitcher Aiden May eager for another chance against Sun Devils

A subpar outing the last time he faced ASU isn’t deterring Arizona pitcher Aiden May.

When No. 8-seeded UA takes the field Tuesday to open the Pac-12 Tournament against the No. 5-seeded Sun Devils in Scottsdale, May will be on the mound. He pitched against Arizona State back in March in Tempe and struggled, allowing six runs on nine hits across four innings.

But that’s in the past. May is confident about this outing.

“I think we caught them at a bad time,” May said. “I didn’t execute some of the pitches that I maybe wanted to… I have taken all of that into consideration and I feel really good going into this outing. I have refined a lot of the stuff and I changed a lot of my approach and I feel like I match up really well against them.”

UA coach Chip Hale and shortstop Nik McClaughry both mentioned May having the best “stuff” on the team. Hale particularly noted May’s ability to work his way out of jams.

Hale has consistently expressed how much he cares about his pitchers not walking too many hitters.

As a pitching staff, UA did a very good job of limiting the free passes, allowing the second-fewest walks in the Pac-12 (behind only UCLA) this season. That has been a struggle at times for May this year, as he’s walked at least three hitters in four of his past seven starts.

“We’re going to call the pitches that we feel are his best pitches against these hitters,” Hale said. “We’re very excited that we were able to hold him off for this start and then hopefully things go well. If they don’t, we’ll have a plan for that also.”

“I’m not really keen on guys walking people … The one guy who has walked some guys is Aiden, but we leave him in there because he has the ability to pitch out of it with his stuff.”

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May is 4-2 with a 7.12 ERA, to go with 62 strikeouts and 26 walks in 60⅔ innings.

The Wildcats have seen the defense improve significantly this season, a confidence boost for whoever has been on the mound all season. UA committed 44 errors as a team this year, the third-fewest in the conference.

“Everybody has done their part and having those catchers behind (the plate) and calling a good game, blocking and everything,” May said. “It takes a lot of the pressure off me as a pitcher and I know that even if I don’t make the best pitch and somebody hits it hard that there is a good chance behind me is really going to step up and make a great play.”

After a hot start to the year, Arizona State has calmed down a bit. They won a series over UCLA this past weekend to close the regular season but had lost nine of 10 games prior to that. That did connect with a stretch where ASU played some of the top teams in the Pac-12, which Hale and the team understand.

“I think that’s what we were talking about when we were playing those teams,” Hale said. “When you’re playing the good teams, you’re not going to put up the numbers you were putting up earlier in the year. They’re still a very good team.”

ASU is expected to start RHP Josh Hansell, who UA has yet to face this season. He made 16 appearances (three starts) this year, posting a 6.52 ERA across 29 innings pitched. He also never threw more than three innings in any appearance this season.

It will be an all-hands-on-deck approach for the Wildcats, as they likely have to win the Pac-12 Tournament or at least make it out of pool play to make it to the NCAA Tournament.

Inside pitch

• Both Tuesday’s game against ASU and Wednesday’s against Oregon State will start at 10 a.m. at Scottsdale Stadium.
• Chase Davis was honored as a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, which is awarded annually to the top college baseball in the country. Davis is the seventh Arizona player and first outfielder to earn a spot on the Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list since 2007. Davis has a .371 batting average to go with 19 homers and 62 RBIs.