After falling in game one of the series to the Beavers, ASU baseball bounced back in a major way in game two of their three game series against Oregon State with a surprising 8-5 victory in Corvallis.
On Saturday afternoon from Corvallis, Oregon, ASU baseball pulled off the upset of the season with a 8-5 win over No. 5 Oregon State in game two of a three game series for the Sun Devils.
Stellar performances at the plate from Gage Canning, Lyle Lin, Hunter Jump and Drew Swift propelled the Sun Devils with at least two hits apiece in an eight run outing against a Beavers team that has only allowed a .233 batting average against opponents in 2018.
Lin’s double in the fifth, single in the seventh and fielder’s choice in the eighth drove in half of ASU’s eight runs on the afternoon, as the Sun Devils catcher has continued to produce at the plate in 2018.
After coming off of the bench in pinch hit situations for the majority of the season, Hunter Jump, now starting, has seized his opportunity as the freshman outfielder continued his hitting spree with three hits including a double down the left field line that scored Trevor Hauver to give ASU the 6-5 lead.
As a whole, the Sun Devils were 7-for-19 with runners in scoring position and 9-for-26 with runners on base.
On the mound at the start for the Sun Devils was Sam Romero who had a rough outing. The lefty allowed three earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched as his earned run average on the season went up to 6.19.
After being labelled as the Friday starter after a string of impressive outings, the junior transfer has struggled as of late by allowing four or more runs in six of his last 10 starts including a six-run outing in just 1.1 innings against Washington State.
Replacing Romero at first was another lefty in Chaz Montoya who allowed a run in his short outing out of the pen, but in replace of Montoya was Dellan Raish who was fantastic in relief for ASU as the lefty did not allow a run in 4.1 innings pitched.
Raish’s game-saving performance earned him the win as the Sun Devils third lefty of the game lowered his ERA on the season to an impressive 2.29 mark.
For Oregon State, the Beavers saw impressive performances at the plate from Steven Kwan and Cadyn Grenier who both had three hits apiece as Grenier also had two RBI’s.
Nick Madrigal, who is currently hitting .473 on the season for Oregon State, had a pair of hits including an RBI of his own in the fourth inning.
On the mound for Oregon State to start was Bryce Fehmel who allowed four earned runs in five innings pitched for the Beavers.
Picking up the loss for the home team was Brandon Eisert who allowed three earned runs in 1.1 innings as the outing raised the lefty’s earned run average to 4.35 on the season.
Next: ASU Baseball: Sun Devils drop series opener at No. 5 Oregon State
ASU now heads into game three in Corvallis looking to win the series and pull off the major series upset against the No. 5 team in the nation. First pitch for game three is at 1:05 p.m. PT.