ASU Baseball: Sun Devils drop series opener at No. 5 Oregon State

ASU baseball was held in check by No. 5 Oregon State in the series opener with Spencer Torkelson’s 21st home run of the season the lone bright spot.

In 2017, Arizona State scored a grand total of one run on 10 hits in their three games against Oregon State.

On Friday, they doubled their run total from last year, but both runs came in a ninth inning when the Devils were down 6-0 to the fifth-ranked Beavers.

Before the ninth, the Sun Devils managed just two hits and three baserunners off of OSU starter Luke Heimlich, who improved to 10-1.

Heimlich kept Sun Devil batters off balanced all game striking out 11 and forcing six groundouts. ASU finally broke into the scoring column with one out in the ninth when Spencer Torkelson hit his 21st home run of the season.

Alec Marsh got the start for the Devils and did a solid job of keeping them in the game.

OSU leads the Pac-12 in batting average and slugging percentage and have scored the third most runs this season.

Marsh held them to two runs in seven innings of work striking out eight hitters. But once Marsh exited in the eighth, OSU extended their lead.

It started with one out as Torkelson dropped a popup in foul ground, and that at-bat turned into a walk by Jake Godfrey.

Later in the inning, the bases were loaded and Spencer Van Scoyoc was on the hill. Jack Anderson hit one back to Van Scoyoc, but a throwing error led to two runs.

Michael Gretler drove in two more runs with a double, giving the Beavers a 6-0 lead. All four runs in the inning were unearned.

With the loss, ASU falls to 17-24. The Devils have struggled on the road all season, and now they have lost five straight road games.

Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils open up tough series vs. No. 5 Oregon State

They have two more games in Corvallis before returning home to face Washington next week. Saturday’s first pitch is at 3:05 p.m. PT.