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Arizona State rolls to mercy-rule victory over Drake

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

The No. 4 Arizona State Sun Devils took care of business once again, beating the Drake Bulldogs in five innings, 8-0, to improve to an unblemished 12-0 on the young season.

The game, in all respects, was more of the same for ASU head coach Craig Nicholson and his team.

Senior pitcher Dallas Escobedo continued her dominating start to the season. The righty opened up the game with six straight strikeouts, and finished the night with ten strikeouts and only one hit allowed in five innings of work.

“It feels great knowing that (Escobedo) has our back on the defensive side, and we’re just able to go up there and score runs for her,” junior left fielder Elizabeth Caporuscio said. “So, we kind of bounce off each other. She does good for us, and we score runs for her so it’s a great mix.”

When ASU did go up to bat, the Bulldogs struggled to keep Sun Devils from reaching base and getting across home plate.

After facing just three batters, Drake sophomore pitcher Mariah McKinnon was replaced by junior Rebeka Schmidt after allowing each Sun Devil to reach base.

Caporuscio got things going in the bottom of the first with a three-run double. Junior catcher Amber Freeman followed up the next inning with a two-run single.

“We talk about being patient at the plate and getting a good pitch,” Nicholson said. “We want to be aggressive when we get a pitch we want to hit.”

Schmidt recovered to keep ASU scoreless in the third inning. She finished the night with seven hits allowed, two earned runs, and three strikeouts for the Bulldogs.

ASU ended the night early after a solo homer from Freeman and an RBI single from sophomore Jennifer Soria in the bottom of the fifth inning. The mercy-rule win is the Sun Devils’s fifth mercy-rule win of the season.

“I don’t really worry about the first game of the weekend,” Nicholson said. “(The) weekend starts, and we’re ready to go.”

The Sun Devils will look to stay perfect as they start the Diamond Devil Invitational this weekend, first playing Seton Hall on Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. in Farrington Stadium.

You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com