ASU Baseball: Bats lead Sun Devils to 9-4 win over UNC Wilmington

In their second win in a row, ASU baseball‘s offense was on top of its game Friday night against UNC Wilmington’s talented pitching staff.

Five different Sun Devils racked up two hits or more in ASU’s 9-4 win over the UNC Wilmington Seahawks on Friday night from Phoenix Municipal Stadium in Phoenix.

Among the many strong offensive performances on the night, Carter Aldrete and Hunter Bishop both had three runs batted in apiece to lead the Sun Devils to victory.

In addition, ASU’s number one and two hitters Gage Canning and Lyle Lin both singled and doubled on the night to extend their hitting streaks to 14 games.

“I like the fact that our best hitters are coming to the plate as many times as possible,” head coach Tracy Smith said in regards to why Lyle Lin and Gage Canning have become ASU’s number one and two hitters in the lineup.

Both Canning and Lin are currently hitting over .400 on the young season.

The ASU offense jumped on UNC Wilmington starter Alex Royalty early by scoring four runs in the first inning. Royalty was only able to throw for three innings as the Seahawks Friday starter gave up four earned runs.

After Royalty, the four man relief crew of Breydan Gorham, Justin Walke, Gage Herring, Chris Joyner and Luke Gessell combined to allow four runs in five total innings of work.

UNC Wilmington’s defense was unable to help out their pitching staff on the night as the Seahawks had five errors resulting in three unearned runs.

On the mound to start for ASU was Sam Romero who was strong in the first four innings of his outing before allowing two solo home runs in the fifth inning.

“(Romero) was not real efficient,” Coach Smith said. “He is throwing way too many pitches early, that is going to catch up (with him).”

Romero was only able to record one out in the fifth and was replaced by Alec Marsh after allowing four runs to score in just 4.1 innings of work.

In relief, Marsh was sensational as the right hander did not allow a run to score in 3.1 innings of relief.

“I thought (Marsh) was the key in the game for us in my mind,” Smith said. “He was able to attack the zone and hold (UNC Wilmington’s offense) in check I thought was the key to the game.”

Replacing Marsh in the eighth inning was sophomore left hander Chaz Montoya who finished off the game for the Sun Devils with a four out outing without allowing any runs to score.

UNC Wilmington was able to collect 10 hits on the evening, but were only able to score four runs as the Seahawks went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 3-for-17 with runners on base.

The Sun Devils have now won six out of their last eight games after starting the season 2-4.

Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils defeat Pepperdine in offensive battle

ASU now looks to win their third game in a row on Saturday in game two of their three game series against UNC Wilmington.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.