In the first game of the weekend, the No. 21 Sun Devils defeated the No. 11 Oregon Ducks 6-5 in 11 innings. The once-large crowd at Packard Stadium dwindled as the innings wore on, but those who stayed were rewarded with fireworks.
On a warm and breezy night in Tempe, ASU’s bats were on fire early, especially with two down. With two outs in the bottom of the third, Kasey Coffman and Michael Benjamin each drove in a run.
In the fifth with two outs, Benjamin launched his third home run of the year to left field. Two batters later, Jake Peevyhouse drove in two runs on a standup triple to the right field corner.
The Ducks answered with a monstrous eighth inning. Brett Thomas led off with a double, Tyler Baumgartner singled, then Ryon Healy and Mitchell Tolman hit back-to-back RBI triples.
The score remained locked at five through the end of regulation and into the 11th inning, even though ASU had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the tenth.
In the bottom of the 11th, Max Rossiter led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Peevyhouse. Trever Allen was walked, and RJ Ybarra dug into the box.
Ybarra drove the third pitch he saw into left center field and the Sun Devils got a walk off win in 11 innings.
Williams did not allow an extra-base hit until Thomas ripped a double in the top of the eighth then gave up back-to-back RBI triples. His final line was seven and one-third innings pitched with ten hits and four earned runs, while striking out four and walking one.
As that big Oregon eighth began piling on, ASU had no one in the bullpen, as it appeared Williams would throw his third complete game of the season. Alex Blackford had to warm up quickly, then got pulled after just three batters. Blackford struck out one and walked two.
Matt Dunbar relieved Blackford to get the final out of the eighth. Dunbar pitched into the 10th before Ryan Burr took over with two outs. Burr closed the game for ASU.
On the mound for Oregon at the end was Christian Jones, who relieved closer Jummy Sherfy in the top of the 11th inning. Jones gave up two hits and a walk in his one-third inning of work.
The Sun Devils take on the Ducks Saturday night at 6:30 in Tempe.
