Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
On June 9th, just hours before their Super Regional-deciding game against Fresno State at Packard Stadium, heavily-favored Arizona State’s two best players, Brett Wallace and Ike Davis, staged a fight on the infield that was filmed by ESPN cameras. ASU then went out and lost to the Cinderella Bulldogs 12-9, ending the season for a Sun Devil squad many thought was the best since their last National Championship team in 1981. Oh, and it turns out that former Devils Jeff Larish and Travis Buck had staged a similar brawl a few years earlier before a big game.
The stunt may have motivated the wrong team. Fresno State, one of the last teams to be named to the NCAA regional, shocked the college baseball world when after disposing of ASU, went on to win the College World Series in Omaha in one of the great Cinderella stories of 2008.
Links from around the web on the Sun Devils’ questionable motivational tactics…
- Arizona State’s Bogus Baseball Fight Strikes Out [Sports By Brooks]
- No. 4 seed Fresno St. gets back to College World Series [ESPN.com]
- Fresno reaction to ASU “fight” [Fanster]
- ASU Super Regional pregame fight was staged [The College Baseball Blog]
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