(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
A walk-off single by Jake Peevyhouse gave No. 5 Arizona State (22-9, 10-3) a 5-4 win over in-state rival Arizona (22-10, 7-6) in game one of the Territorial Cup series. With the win, ASU improved to 11-5 in one-run games.
“I have said it a thousand times,” head coach Tracy Smith said, “You try to put yourself in position to win a baseball game. It seems like they have all been like that, save one or two games, and we have been fortunate to be on the positive side of them.”
Peevyhouse turned in his best performance of the season on Saturday night, adding a go-ahead two-run home run and a single to go along with his late-inning heroics.
The Sun Devils entered the game with a little extra fire in their bellies, playing in front of the largest crowd at an ASU baseball game since 1982, which was coincidentally also against the Wildcats. A total of 6,247 fans were there to witness ASU’s fifth walk-off win of the season.
“It was cool to hear the crowd get into it all in cadence there,” Smith said. “It helps your guys. I would give half of this win to the ASU baseball team and half of it to the crowd tonight.”
Friday starter Seth Martinez made his second consecutive start on a day other than Friday (again due to scheduling abnormalities), and was serviceable on Saturday. The sophomore had some command problems, walking three batters while only striking out two, but kept ASU in the ball game by allowing only three runs in five innings.
The Wildcats started off the scoring with three runs in the fourth inning off of Martinez. Designated hitter Michael Hoard ripped his first double of the season into right-center field, bringing home two runs. Cody Ramer continued the production from the bottom of the order by hitting an RBI single.
Peevyhouse answered and gave the Sun Devils their first lead of the game with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth as part of a three-run inning. It was Peevyhouse’s first home run since April 30, 2013, his sophomore year.
“I’m glad he didn’t rob it because it was close,” Peevyhouse said. “It was nice, especially against them.”
The inning also included a sacrifice fly from Johnny Sewald that was aided by a double from Andrew Snow, one of two hits on the game from the freshman.
The resilient Wildcats tied the game in the seventh off ASU reliever Eder Erives when Scott Kingery–who leads the NCAA in batting average–had his only hit and RBI of the day, a double into the gap.
Kingery entered the game with a .477 batting average and finished at a .467 clip. Kevin Newman, who joined Kingery on the midseason Golden Spikes Award watch list, was 0-4 on the night. Smith said that he felt fortunate that the Sun Devils were able to hold the duo in check.
Despite surrendering the run, Erives was phenomenal in relief, holding Arizona to only one run in 2 and 2/3 innings, preventing it from taking the lead in the process.
“I think Eder was really key to what we did tonight,” Smith said. “He did a really, really good job, taking over in the middle of the ball game and keeping a very good offensive team in check. Honestly, if he doesn’t do that, we probably aren’t sitting here with a smile on our face tonight.”
Andrew Shaps and Ryan Burr held the Wildcats scoreless for the remainder. Shaps recorded a strikeout against the only batter he faced, and has now struck out all nine batters that he has retired this season. Burr got his team-leading sixth victory, surpassing Kellogg on the leaderboard.
After being unable to mount a rally in the eighth inning, a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases in the ninth, leading to a familiar situation for the Sun Devils but an unfamiliar one to Peevyhouse.
“I was looking for something that I could hit in the air,” Peevyhouse said. “He made two good pitches on the corner and the ump gave it to him. I knew he had to throw something over the dish and I knew all of the pressure was on him.”
“We’re never worried when we’re down,” he added. “We know that if we just play our game, we always have a chance. Coming back as much as we have this year, it’s really easy to get nervous or think that you’re not in the game, but we always know that we are in the game no matter what the score is.”
Game Notes:
– Arizona still holds the edge against ASU in the all-time series with a record of 242-210-1, but the Sun Devils are 12-9 against the Wildcats dating back to 2011.
– Dalton Dinatale received two at-bats on Saturday, his first since returning from injury. Smith said that he will work Dinatale in at designated hitter and mix and match between him and Ybarra depending on who’s swinging a hot bat.
– Game two of the series will be at 5:00 and will feature a pitching matchup of Xavier Borde for the Wildcats and Ryan Kellogg for ASU.
