ASU Baseball: Devils Head South for Game at Arizona

After a tumultuous week on and off the field, ASU baseball resumes its Territorial Cup series with Arizona Tuesday in Tucson seeking first win over Arizona.

It was a chaotic week for the Sun Devils with five players leaving or dismissed from the program, including starting center fielder Andrew Shaps.

On the field, it did not get a whole lot better as Arizona State dropped the first two games of the series versus No. 13 Stanford losing 7-5 Friday and 13-8 Saturday.

Looking to complete their third straight Pac-12 series sweep, the Sun Devils defeated the hottest team in the country with a 9-6 victory Sunday halting Stanford’s 11-game winning streak.

Arizona State got off to a quick start scoring five runs in the first inning on 2-run singles from left fielder Tyler Williams and catcher Zach Cerbo with an RBI double from second baseman Carter Aldrete coming in between the two singles.

More from Devils in Detail

Leading 5-1 in the second inning, Arizona State starter Spencer Van Scoyoc struggled in the second inning and was pulled as Stanford scored four runs to tie the game.

Van Scoyoc finished throwing 1.1 innings allowing 4 runs (2 earned) on 0 hits and 4 walks.

Reliever Connor Higgins came in and finished the game as ASU scored three runs in the third inning and one run in the fourth inning to hold for a 9-6 win.

Higgins finished pitching 7.2 innings allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits with a walk and 4 strikeouts.

Arizona State will look to carry the momentum into Tuesday’s rivalry game at Arizona.

The 19th-ranked Wildcats had an exciting series versus Washington this past weekend taking two of three games with both wins come via walk-offs.

Friday night’s 5-4 victory ended with lead-off hitter Cal Stevenson hitting a three-run home run to right field with one out.

Then two days later, the Wildcats brought out the heroics again scoring five runs in the ninth inning for a 12-11 win over Washington with a one-out throwing error bringing home two runs.

So both teams enter this weekend with some momentum for the second game of five meetings this season between the two Territorial Cup rivals.

Arizona won the first meeting in Tucson 11-2 on April 4 with the Wildcats scoring six runs in the the fifth inning.

Arizona State scored first in the first frame with an error driving in the first Sun Devils’ run.

The Wildcats followed by scoring three runs in the home-half of the first and a run in the second and third innings.

Arizona’s large fifth inning put the game out of reach as four Wildcat pitchers combined for 2 runs (1 earned) on 7 hits and 8 strikeouts.

On the other side, ASU used five pitchers with Jake Godfrey getting the start and the loss going 4 innings allowing 6 runs (5 earned) on 5 hits along with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.

Next: ASU Athletics: Top Storylines for 2017

Tuesday’s night game will the final meeting in Tucson this season as Arizona State will host Arizona for a three-game series beginning May 18. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. PST and can be seen on Pac-12 Network.

Home/ASU Baseball