Redshirt freshman two-way player Kai Murphy, making his first start as a pitcher, was completely dialed in for Arizona State Baseball on Sunday afternoon. At-bat after at-bat, the left-hander made sure Cal stood no chance.
With little resistance from the Golden Bears, ASU comfortably got runs across the plate while Cal’s bats were on lockdown, leading to the Sun Devils taking the three-game series with a 7-2 win.
For someone who had only pitched 1.2 innings prior to Sunday, Murphy never looked rattled. He only allowed one hit on the day: a triple to right-center field by sophomore right fielder Dylan Beavers in the third inning. After that, Murphy was nearly perfect with an impressive stat-line: 71 pitches across seven innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
As Cal’s hitters were continuously mowed down, ASU’s offense first got going in the second inning.
Redshirt freshman catcher Nate Baez effortlessly slapped a ball to left-center field for a solo shot, his first home run of the season. Redshirt freshman center fielder Joe Lampe later crossed home plate after Cal’s third baseman made an errant throw to first base off of redshirt junior left fielder Hunter Jump’s grounder.
The Sun Devils tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning off of redshirt freshman second baseman Sean McLain’s liner down the first base line, which scored Lampe and Baez.
By the time Cal finally put a run on the board in the eighth inning, the game already seemed out of reach, as redshirt junior shortstop Drew Swift hit a two-run bomb to left field in the top half of the frame to make it 6-0 ASU.
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Will Levine pitched the last two innings for ASU, and survived a couple hiccups – he turned two double plays, but both resulted in runs scored for the Golden Bears.
In the end, the Sun Devils had 11 hits compared to Cal’s five. They also hit well with two outs, batting .357 and scoring four of their seven runs in those situations.
In the third inning, ASU’s freshman two-way player Ethan Long was inches away from what would have been his 10th homer in nine games and third in his last two games. Instead, the ball bounced off the top of the wall and back onto the field for a standup double.
While the Sun Devils (27-15, 12-9 Pac-12) made the win look easy on Sunday, they now face a tough stretch of the regular season.
ASU has a mid-week game on Tuesday against Nevada, which is riding an eight-game win streak, and next weekend, the Sun Devils will play Oregon State – the third best team in the Pac-12 Conference.
