ASU baseball struggled to find their rhythm and were unable to win the rubber match against University of Southern California.
The Sun Devils had a strong start to the game, earning one run in the first inning and ending the second inning with getting Trojans catcher Kaleb Murphy out at second on an attempt to steal
ASU pitcher Spencer Van Scoyoc began to struggle and was taken out of the game after 2 ⅓ innings pitched, being replaced by pitcher Reagan Todd.
The fourth inning was a rough one for the Devils. Todd gave up four runs allowing for the Trojans to take the lead for the rest of the game. The sophomore did makeup for this with being the first pitcher of the game to throw a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth.
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Infielder Jeremy McCuin was taken out of the game after being hit in the helmet with a pitch. Andrew Snow was put into the game to pinch run for the sophomore.
Pitcher Ryan Hingst made a debut in the game, taking over for Todd in the bottom of the seventh.
ASU pitching and catching needs to be a main focus for the team. Wild pitches were seen more than hoped for during the game.
The problem with the Sun Devils in this last game of the series was their offense. They were struck out nine times and hit the ball eight times with 34 appearances at the plate. They are swinging at the strikes because four out of the nine strikeouts were while the batter was looking, the team is just not making contact with the ball.
Next: Top Storylines for ASU Athletics in 2017
The next ASU baseball game will be March 28 against University of Nevada Las Vegas at 6:30 p.m. MST at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.