(Photo: Rebecca Striffler/WCSN)
A four-run sixth inning was the difference for Arizona State Baseball in Saturday night’s 8-6 victory over Rhode Island at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Three straight hits from freshmen infielders Ethan Long, Jack Moss and Hunter Haas tied the game at five all, with Haas receiving the runs batted in on a double down the left field line.
“I’ve been feeling good the past few games and had barrled it up in my first at-bat,” Haas said. “I had to be ready to jump on a fastball and I did that in that at-bat.”
Haas went to third on a flyout by redshirt freshman outfielder Kai Murphy, and redshirt senior Sam Ferri walked, setting up runners at the corners. Rhode Island freshman left-handed pitcher Trystan Levesque’s pickoff throw to first base was wild, sending Haas home to score the go-ahead run to make it 6-5 Sun Devils. Just a few pitches later, redshirt freshman outfielder Joe Lampe doubled down the left field line to score Ferri and give ASU some breathing room at 7-5.
“It’s the maturation piece and they’re understanding to grind out at bats the entire game and to not let the score dictate your concentration level,” ASU head coach Tracy Smith said. “When there’s a belief that you’re always in it, that’s what you look for.”
The first inning was about the same guy doing the same stuff, but just on a different day. Long hit his seventh home run in nine games, which gave the Sun Devils a quick 2-0 lead.
“What he is doing is pretty incredible,” Smith said. “The fact that he keeps going opposite field is impressive. He’s seeing the baseball really well right now and it seemed to click for him a few weeks ago and we’ll need him down the stretch.”
Swift also echoed what his head coach had to say about Long.
“It’s been incredible,” Swift said of Long’s tear. “His power is there and if he maintains it, he’ll be on the same path as Tork [Former ASU infielder Spencer Torkelson].”
The ASU lead was short lived as the Rams quickly got two men on base off of redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Justin Fall. URI redshirt senior infielder Alex Santos drove a double into the right center field gap and scored sophomore outfielder Billy Butler and freshman infielder Tommy Cartnick to tie the game at two.
With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Ferri was hit by a pitch but was called back by the home plate umpire. Rhode Island redshirt senior starting right-handed pitcher Mike Webb was awarded a strike instead. Just three pitches later, Ferri was circling the bases for his third home run of the season to put ASU back ahead 3-2.
The Rams tied it in the fourth inning and took the lead in the fifth off of ASU redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher Cam Dennie due to a sacrifice-fly from Cartnick, which gave Rhode Island a 4-3 lead. Dennie then left the game with an apparent injury that was unspecified, according to Smith.
With a runner on third base, ASU freshman right-hander Jared Glenn entered and was able to get Santos to fly out, but traded a run for it as junior infielder Xavier Vargas scored to give Rhode Island a two-run lead.
As was the case Friday night, the Rams did not go down easy. With his team down two runs in the ninth, Vargas singled and stole second base to lead off the inning, and came home on a two-out single by Santos to bring the tying run to the plate for redshirt junior infielder Joe Fortin. However, ASU redshirt sophomore right-hander Will Levine was able to generate a ground out to finish off the Sun Devils’ 24th victory of the season.
“These are huge wins for us,” Smith said. “We didn’t take them lightly, they [Rhode Island] have some really good wins on their schedule but I’ve been really impressed with their tenacity and the no quit from them.”
