ASU baseball avoided the sweep Sunday afternoon against St. Mary’s behind another stellar start from freshman Boyd Vander Kooi.
Arizona State defeated Saint Mary’s in a 2-1 pitching battle to avoid the sweep at home on Sunday.
ASU came into Sunday’s matchup looking to stop a three-game losing streak. They lost their first two games from this weekend series against Saint Mary’s 6-1 and 6-5.
The Devils had a lot more success on the mound Sunday thanks to freshman starter Boyd Vander Kooi. He went 7.2 innings giving up just one earned run on four hits to improve to 2-0. He also struck out nine Gaels’ hitters.
The only run he gave up was off of an Austin Chauvin single in the top of the sixth inning.
Vander Kooi in two starts has thrown a combined 14.2 innings with the one earned run and 14 strikeouts. Head coach Tracy Smith discussed the young pitcher after the game.
“Most young pitchers see fastball throw fastball, they don’t control the running game, field their position, he does all those things pretty well,” Smith said.
The bats, though, were less successful for the Devils though. Ken Waldichuk started for the Gaels and held the Devils to just two runs in 7.2 innings of his own. Waldichuk struck out 10 batters as well.
Waldichuk’s biggest mistake came in the fourth inning, when ASU catcher Lyle Lin got a hold of a fastball and smacked it over the left field fence. This was Lin’s second homer of the season. The Devils also scored in the sixth inning when Gage Canning drove home Gage Workman with a single.
Chaz Montoya came in to get the four-out save, his first save of the season.
“The age-old formula for wins is your pitcher is aggressive throws strikes and you don’t walk anybody, you play good defense and you get a timely hit,” Smith said.
Getting a quality win is a huge confidence boost for ASU after falling three straight games.
Next: ASU Baseball: Five-run second not enough for Sun Devils vs. St. Mary’s
“It’s a process to learn how to win… when you actually nail down a hard-fought win like this it absolutely gives you confidence, you go into the game expecting to win,” Smith said. “Its huge for a young team that’s learning how to win.”
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.