Led by a third straight dominant start by Eli Lingos, ASU baseball avoided a sweep Saturday afternoon by beating Washington State by a score of 7-0.
Lingos was stellar all throughout Saturday’s contest, going the distance while giving up no runs and striking out seven.
He had control of the strike zone all day, only issuing one walk and throwing 88 of his 122 pitches for strikes.
Lingos was rarely in trouble, as he only had one inning in which he allowed more than four hitters to come to the plate.
The senior lowered his ERA on the season to 2.02, and has now thrown 19.2 consecutive innings across three starts without allowing a single run.
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Lingos was aided by a great defensive effort, as the Sun Devil defense excelled all afternoon. Gage Workman made a spectacular diving catch at third base in the second inning which kept two runs from coming across the board for the Cougars.
Lingos himself also made a excellent defensive play in the third inning, fielding a slow chopper to the third base side and making a great off-balance throw to first to end the inning.
The offense didn’t need to do much in this one, but they scored just enough to give Lingos a comfortable cushion to play with.
The Sun Devil bats got things going by manufacturing a run in the second, going up 1-0 after Gage Workman’s sacrifice fly drove in Alika Williams, who walked with one out in the inning and was moved to third by Myles Denson’s first hit of the season.
ASU extended their lead with two outs in the third, as Taylor Lane drove in Drew Swift and Gage Canning with a base hit into left field to make the score 3-0.
Two batters later, Denson made the score 4-0 with a single through the left side to bring home Lane from third. The score would remain 4-0 until the top of the ninth, when the Sun Devils broke things open.
After ASU loaded the bases with a double by Canning and two walks by Spencer Torkelson and Hunter Jump, Williams was hit by a pitch bringing in Canning from third and extending the lead to 5-0.
Pinch hitter Carter Aldrete followed this up with a base hit up the middle, driving in two and making the score 7-0 for good.
With the win, ASU improved their overall record to 13-14 and their conference record to 5-4.
Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils fall in 11th against Washington State
They will now return home to play two games against Cal State Fullerton beginning Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. PT.