Tempe: Monmouth Giving ASU All it Can Handle

By Jason Owens - June 01, 2007

In a game that had blowout written all over it on paper, Monmouth is giving the nation's no. 5 overall seed a game on its home field. Through five innings ASU's Brian Flores and the Hawks' Brad Brach are locked in a pitchers' duel with a 1-1 tie.

And it isn't a fluke. Brach had an excellent season with a 2.72 ERA, but the scorching bats of ASU (which hits .349 as a team -- better than all but one of Monmouth's hitters) figured to show him something he hadn't seen in Northeast Conference play. So far, Brach's remained calm and collected, even through a three-hit second inning that could have been much worse than the one-run effort ASU got.

Flores, meanwhile, is locked in, rolling through the Monmouth lineup. A pair of errors led to the Monmouth run as he's given up just two hits so far.