ASU Baseball: Sun Devils defeat Washington in walk-off fashion

ASU baseball improved to 11-11 in Pac-12 play on a walk-off hit from Gage Canning and a strong pitching performance from Alec Marsh.

The top of the order shined as Gage Canning delivered the walk-off double to score Spencer Torkelson as Arizona State defeated Washington 4-3 on Friday night.

Torkelson and Canning went 6-for-9 combined. They each drove in a run and Torkelson scored all four Sun Devil runs.

In the bottom of the fifth the score was 2-1 Huskies. Then Torkelson drove a ball to dead center field for home run No. 22, a new Pac-12 record for freshmen.

Coming into Friday, Cal’s Andrew Vaughn was chasing Torkelson for the nation lead in home runs. Vaughn homered in the first inning of Cal’s game against USC on Friday, his 20th, one shy of Torkelson.

By homering in the fifth, ASU’s freshman was able to distance himself back to two home runs.

Friday was the third straight game in which Canning got three hits. He leads the conference in hits with 75 and his average raised to .393 on the season.

Alec Marsh started on the hill for the Devils and put up a quality start with 7.1 innings pitched and just three earned runs.

With Friday’s win, ASU improved to 11-11 in conference play, which gave them sole possession of fifth place in the Pac-12. They sit two games back of Washington with two more games left against the Huskies in the series.

ASU closes out their season with two series against tough but beatable competition, Arizona and California. Should the Devils perform well to close out the season, they could very well finish in the top four in the Pac-12.

Next: ASU Baseball: Devils face Washington, look to get above .500 in Pac-12 Play

Because, of a sub .500 non-conference record and a poor 3-9 stretch in Pac-12 play, the NCAA Tournament is basically out of reach for ASU. But, a strong finish can certainly set the tone for 2019, especially since the Devils are very young and will bring back a large majority of the roster.