ASU baseball traveled to Los Angeles this weekend where they took home one win in three games vs No. 16 UCLA moving their Pac-12 record to 4-2.
Game one of the three-game series on Friday was a close affair, but the Sun Devils ended up falling 5-4 in extra innings.
ASU fell behind 4-0 after two innings, as the Bruins were able to jump on starter Sam Romero early.
UCLA capitalized on a number of ASU mistakes, with the Sun Devils committing four errors in the first two frames that allowed the Bruins to jump out to their early lead.
Brady Corrigan came on in relief of Romero with one out in the second and preceded to dominate the Bruins lineup.
The freshman had the best outing of his young career, tossing 5.2 innings of no run ball. Corrigan only allowed one hit and walked no one while striking out five, keeping ASU in the game while their bats were cold.
Corrigan was rewarded for his efforts in the seventh, as the Sun Devils’ bats finally woke up. Spencer Torkelson led off the inning with his 11th home run of the season, which tied Barry Bonds’ ASU freshman record only 22 games into the season.
Carter Aldrete followed this up with a base hit, and soon made it to third after a wild pitch and a Trevor Hauver groundout.
With two outs, pinch hitter Hunter Bishop drove Aldrete in with a base hit to center field, cutting the ASU deficit to 4-2.
More from Devils in Detail
- Sun Devils Primer: Game 2 vs Oklahoma State
- Sun Devil Insight: Quarterback Room
- Arizona State Spotlight: Kenny Dillingham
- Arizona State 2023 Season Opener: Off To A Good Start
- Arizona State vs USC Prediction and Promo (Expect Offensive Fireworks)
After Bishop stole second and advanced to third on a bad throw, Alika Williams drove him in after a long at bat to make the score 4-3.
The Sun Devils would go on to tie things at four in the eighth, as Torkelson drove home Gage Canning with a sacrifice fly.
This score would not last long, however, as the Bruins rallied in the bottom of the 10th. Chaz Montoya, who took over for Corrigan in the 8th, gave up a one out walk to RJ Teijeiro and a double to pinch hitter Jarron Silva.
Fitz Stadler came in after this, but only lasted two pitches before pinch hitter Kyle Cuellar hit one into center field, winning game one for UCLA.
Game two on Saturday was a lot rougher, as the Sun Devils were blown out by a score of 12-1. Boyd Vander Kooi had the worst outing of his young career, giving up eight hits and seven earned runs in only 2.1 innings.
Things didn’t get much better for ASU’s bullpen, as the four relievers who followed Vander Kooi each gave up at least one earned run.
The only run that the Sun Devils managed to score was on a monster home run by Hunter Bishop in the sixth inning.
ASU’s bats were held in check by UCLA starter Zach Pettway and a trio of relievers, who managed to limit the Sun Devils to one run despite giving up seven hits and four walks.
ASU was able to come away with a win on the weekend, however, as they won game three on Sunday by a score of 4-0.
Eli Lingos was the star of this contest, one-upping his impressive performance last weekend by shutting out the Bruins over eight innings.
Lingos had the UCLA hitters fooled all day, as he matched his career high with eight strikeouts while only giving up five hits and three walks.
The offense bounced back after their rough outing on Saturday, giving Lingos the run support he needed to pick up his fourth win of the season.
The Sun Devils opened the scoring in the fifth inning when Gage Workman drove in Taylor Lane with a double off of UCLA starter Jack Ralston to make the score 1-0.
Alika Williams extended the lead to 3-0 in the sixth after he drove in two runs with a base hit off of reliever Nathan Hadley.
The Sun Devils also tacked on an insurance run in the ninth when Drew Swift hit a sacrifice fly, driving in Gage Workman from third after he led off the inning with a long triple to right field.
Chaz Montoya came on in relief of Lingos in the ninth and worked around a one out double to shut the door and salvage the series for the Sun Devils.
Next: ASU Baseball: Devils allow seven runs in final two frames in 10-3 loss to UNLV
ASU is now an even 12-12 on the season, and they will travel to Pullman, Washington on Thursday for a three game series against the 5-14 Washington State Cougars.