(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Arizona State baseball entered Sunday afternoon’s game against Utah looking for the sweep and found success, as they scored early and often.
Four runs crossed the plate in the first inning, as Taylor Lane singled in Spencer Torkelson and Gage Canning, then Hunter Jump tripled for the first time this season, scoring Aldrete and Lane. Jump recorded his second hit of the day in the third inning, singling home Lyle Lin and Lane to give the Sun Devils a 6-0 lead after three innings.
Gage Canning scored Torkelson in the fourth on a two-run home run, then Torkelson blasted his nation-leading 20th homer of the season an inning later, bringing in Jump and Alika Williams on a three-run shot.
Eli Lingos started the game for ASU and notched yet another quality start, his sixth of the season. The senior lefty pitched six innings, allowing five hits on two runs (both earned) while walking one and striking out five.
Fitz Stadler relieved him, but struggled, allowing five runs on three hits and two walks, while recording just one out.
ASU scored again in the seventh on a Torkelson single that brought in Williams, but Utah countered in the eighth, scoring on a wild pitch. In fashion reminiscent of their season finale against the Utes last year, ASU decided to continue the back-and-forth action, also scoring in the eighth on a Gage Workman singled in Luke Leisesnring to make the score 13-8.
The bullpen made things interesting in the ninth, as Jake Godfrey hit a batter, Ryan Hingst loaded the bases, then Sam Romero came into pitch with one out and induced a double play to end the game and earn the save.
Player of the Game: Four players had two or more hits AND two or more RBIs, so this is tough. Can I have co-players of the game? Jump had another impressive game Sunday. After going 3-4 with two RBIs on Saturday, he went 3-4 again, this time with a triple and four RBIs. But Torkelson also had three hits, he went 3-3 with four RBIs and two walks.
Unsung Hero: Lingos. He delivered his sixth quality start in his 10th start of the season, allowing only two runs, which proved critical since the bullpen (Fitz Stadler) allowed five runs. Had he not thrown a good game, this would have been a much closer game than it was (and should have been).
Stat of the Night: ASU scored 35 runs in this series, which is their highest total for a single series this season. They scored 31 when Oregon came to town back in March and 28 against Miami at the start of the season. They also scored 30 when Utah played in Tempe in 2014. But the last time the Sun Devils scored this many runs in a single series was 37 against Valpariso, April 19-21, 2013.
You Knew It Was Over When: Torkelson slammed his bat on the ground after hitting a three-run homer in the fifth inning.
Biggest Concern: This team has shown they’re capable of winning, they’ve swept two Pac-12 series. There have been games where they’ve bit able to hit, games where they’ve pitched and games where they have good defense. But they’re unable to do it all at the same time very rarely and the lack of overall consistency is still very troubling. Also the defense in this game wasn’t great. Workman and Drew Swift both had errors, Leisenring struggled behind the plate. Both the defense struggles and lack of consistency aren’t anything new, but concerns nonetheless.
What’s Up Next?: The Devils host New Mexico State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before heading to Corvallis next weekend to continue Pac-12 play.
