ASU baseball was victorious in their first conference game of the season Friday night, overcoming a late deficit to defeat Oregon by a score of 7-4.
The Sun Devils got off to a strong start against Oregon starter Matt Mercer, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning behind an RBI double by Spencer Torkelson and an RBI single by Carter Aldrete.
This lead would not last long, however, as the Ducks strung together four consecutive hits off of ASU starter Sam Romero with two outs in the third to put them up 3-2.
Oregon would then go on to put up another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by left fielder Evan Williams.
Things slowed down considerably after this, as both teams failed to put a runner in scoring position for innings 5-7. Romero settled in very nicely after the rough third inning, finishing with seven strikeouts and zero walks in 6.1 innings pitched.
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Mercer was equally impressive after his rough start, keeping the Sun Devils hitless for four of his six innings pitched while striking out eight hitters.
“I hit a little bump in the 3rd inning, just didn’t make quality pitches and put hitters away when I had to,” Romero said. “But I bounced back and did my best to keep the team in it.”
The ASU bats caught fire in the eighth inning, where they put five runs up on the board against two of Oregon’s best relief pitchers.
Parker Kelly came back out after a scoreless seventh and got two outs via the strikeout, but also sandwiched a Gage Workman hit by pitch and a Hunter Jump single between them.
The Ducks decided to bring in Kenyon Yovan to get the final out of the eighth, but soon came to regret this decision.
Yovan gave up three walks and two hits before recording the last out of the inning, including a bases loaded walk to Drew Swift to tie the game at four and a bases loaded triple to Gage Canning to put the Sun Devils up for good.
“The first pitch was a fastball away, and the next pitch was also a fastball, but it just caught more of the plate,” Canning said on the sequence of pitches that led to his game-winning triple.
Head coach Tracy Smith was very impressed with his team’s offensive outburst in the eighth inning citing the efforts of the hitters in front of Canning as keys to the comeback victory.
“It was a team effort, because they grinded out some pretty good at bats before that,” Smith said. “Then Gage came up and did what he’s done a lot, coming up and getting that big hit.”
ASU’s relievers helped keep them in the game after Romero’s departure. Dellan Raish came in with one out in the seventh inning and got five straight outs without allowing a hit, securing his first collegiate win.
Chaz Montoya came in after the big eighth inning and shut the door on the Ducks in the top of the ninth, earning his fifth save of the season.
“For me, honestly, it’s just been attacking the hitters in the strike zone at all times,” said Raish on his success early in the season. “Just being super aggressive in the strike zone, not throwing balls, no walks, no free bases, that’s a recipe for success.”
Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils fall to rival Arizona
ASU improved their record to 9-9 on the season with the win, while Oregon fell to 12-5. The second game of the three-game series begins tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. PT at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.