No. 13 Stanford baseball will open a crucial home series against the top-ranked team in the nation tonight as Mark Marquess’ squad takes on conference rival Arizona State. The No. 1 Sun Devils enter their weekend matchup with the Cardinal riding an eight game winning streak, including a recent sweep of USC in Tempe, Ariz.

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Jeff Keacher.

Stanford will look to rebound from a disappointing, late-inning loss to Hawai’i this weekend when they face off against the top-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils at Sunken Diamond

Indeed, the Devils have been nearly unbeatable all season, falling just once in their first 28 games, including a perfect (and conference leading) Pac-10 mark of 3-0. Led offensively by two-time First Team All Pac-10 junior first baseman Ike Davis, the Devils have outscored their opponents by nearly a 3:1 margin (287 runs scored to 100), boast a .342 team batting average and, still more impressively, a collective on base percentage of .460.

Davis himself is currently batting .414 with a team-leading 10 home runs and an astounding .829 slugging percentage. But ASU’s offense is far from one dimensional with junior third baseman Brett Wallace, last year’s conference Triple Crown winner — notching the highest batting average, most home runs and most RBI — and returning Player of the Year in the Pac-10. Wallace is close behind Davis in most of ASU’s offensive statistics on the season, batting .394 with nine homers and a .512 on base percentage.

Still, the Sun Devils have enjoyed a home field advantage all season — they will hit the road for the first time all year to battle the Cardinal (13-8, 2-1 Pac-10) at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Stanford enters the series after having its three game winning streak snapped on Tuesday by Hawai’i, which earned a 5-2 victory on the strength of three runs in the top of the ninth.

Junior second baseman Cord Phelps has stood out offensively for Stanford, starting every game for the Cardinal, notching a .415 BA and a 1.112 OPS. All told, four regular starters and seven players total currently boast averages better than .300 for Stanford.

In the pitching department, the Cardinal would appear to have a slight edge over the Devils, at least on the stat-sheet. The Cardinal’s three starters — junior lefty Jeremy Bleich, senior Erik Davis and sophomore Jeffrey Inman — have been solid all season and excellent of late. Inman and Bleich have notched ERAs of 1.44 and 1.38, respectively, while Davis has been dealing of late, with a 2-0 record, a complete game, and 18 strike outs in 16 innings in his last two starts.

ASU’s regular starters, Mike Leake and Josh Satow, in contrast, have amassed 3.26 and 3.86 ERAs, respectively. Still, the Sun Devils have notched an impressive 2.95 team ERA compared with Stanford’s mark of 4.23. But there is no question that Arizona State’s offense has been the true key to its dominance this season, averaging 10.25 runs scored per game compared to the Cardinal’s average of 6.52.

Stanford head coach Mark Marquess has an opportunity to move up in the NCAA record books with a series victory over the Sun Devils, as a pair of wins would give him 1300 for his career and rank him tenth all-time among Division I coaches.

Tonight’s game is scheduled for 6 p.m. while Saturday’s and Sunday’s matchups are slated to start at 1 p.m. ASU’s starters have yet to be announced, while Davis and Inman are likely to start Saturday and Sunday, respectively, for the Cardinal. Arizona State swept the Cardinal in Tempe last year, putting them on top 85-82 in the all-time series between the schools. Following their matchup with the Devils, Stanford will play non-conference games against Cal and UC-Davis before taking on two-time defending National Champion Oregon State in Corvallis next weekend.