(Photo: Karli Matthias/WCSN)
In their return to Pac-12 play this weekend, the Arizona State baseball team continued their up-and-down performance that has been ongoing throughout the entirety of April, as they dropped two of three this weekend on the road against the Washington Huskies.
The series got off to an inauspicious start for No. 15 ASU on Friday night, with junior Alec Marsh being tagged for nine hits and nine earned runs in just two innings of work, forcing head coach Tracy Smith to use his bullpen early and often to begin the series.
Freshman Will Levine turned in his second-straight strong performance, allowing two hits and no runs in 3.2 innings of relief following Marsh, with Chaz Montoya, Luke LaFlam and Blake Burzell combining to record the final seven outs.
The Sun Devil offense made a game of it, highlighted by Spencer Torkelson’s two hits and two RBI, including his fourteenth home run of the season.
Trevor Hauver, Alika Williams and Lyle Lin also had multiple-hit nights, but it was not enough to overcome the early deficit as Arizona State dropped the series opener 10-6.
Saturday was much more tightly contested, albeit still with plenty of offense to go around, as Arizona State took a lead into the bottom of the tenth and twelfth innings, only to see Washington score two runs in both instances. The game ended with the final 10-9 on a Nick Kahle walk-off sacrifice fly.
The offensive star of Saturday for Arizona State was Lyle Lin, as he went 3-3 with four RBI, including a pinch-hit two-run home run in a three-run eighth inning that tied the game at six.
Boyd Vander Kooi was able to pitch into the seventh inning despite allowing nine hits and five earned runs, six in total.
The offense continued to do its part for the Sun Devils in the series finale on Sunday, as Hunter Bishop went 3-5 with a home run and three RBI, one of three Devils on the day to leave the yard along with Hauver and Carter Aldrete.
Freshman Erik Tolman allowed four hits and three runs through three innings as the starter, while also turning in an 0-3 day at the plate.
Burzell and Sam Romero bridged the middle innings for Smith, but the story of Sunday was the return of RJ Dabovich to the mound for ASU, seeing game action for the first time since leaving his start against USC on April 7th after 2.1 innings with right shoulder discomfort.
The sophomore struck out three of the four batters he faced, retiring them all to nail down the third and final game of the series for Arizona State by the score of 11-6.
After the 1-2 showing on the weekend, the Sun Devils saw their conference record to 13-8, 32-10 overall. The team will enjoy a full week off before returning home for arguably their biggest home series of the season, with No. 1 UCLA coming to Phoenix Municipal Stadium from May 3-5.
