(Photo: Blaine McCormick/WCSN)
Oklahoma State (2-2) crushed the Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1) by a score of 18-4 on Tuesday afternoon behind an offensive onslaught and Jonathan Heasley’s pitching gem in his first career start.
Heasley looked masterful keeping the Sun Devils offense quiet as his counterpart Zach Dixon appeared anything but steady.
ASU’s poor defensive results continued in the fourth game of the season as shortstop Jeremy McCuin had two errors (both of which led to runs) while the Sun Devil pitchers combined to throw four wild pitches.
The Cowboys took advantage of the many mistakes that the Sun Devils made, putting up 18 runs on 22 hits.
The ASU batters couldn’t put anything together against the Cowboys, managing nine hits and four runs, all late in the game, including home runs by Tyler Williams and Carter Aldrete.
Player of the Game: Jonathan Heasley. The freshman threw five shutout innings, giving up just two hits and one walk while striking out two Sun Devils.
Unsung Hero: Jon Littell went 4-for-6 including a leadoff triple in the fourth inning that kept the pressure on Dixon on the mound. Littell scored two runs and had two RBI.
You knew it was over when: ASU relief pitcher Grant Schneider gave up the sixth run of the game to the Cowboys’ Garrett Benge, a sacrifice fly that gave OSU a 6-0 lead in the sixth inning.
Biggest Concern: ASU shortstop Jeremy McCuin had two errors during Tuesday’s game, bringing his total to three on the season. The Sun Devils infield now has seven defensive errors in four games in 2017.
Stat of the Day: (4) wild pitches were thrown by the ASU pitchers today. Dixon threw three while left-handed reliever Garvin Alston Jr. threw one as well.
What’s Next?: Arizona State will head now to Fort Worth, Texas where the team will face baseball powerhouse and the current No. 1 ranked TCU Horned Frogs for a three game series. The first game will be Friday night at 6:30 pm MST.
Rob Werner is a baseball beat reporter for the Walter Cronkite Sports Network. You can follow him on Twitter @robwerner28
