Arizona State avoids late-game letdown, earns 2nd shutout of season

There were no late-inning letdowns Tuesday night for Arizona State.

Kien Vu went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs, Brandon Compton went 2-for-4 with a home run, and Sun Devils pitchers limited UNLV to just five hits in a 7-0 shutout victory at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

ASU (9-4) has now won back-to-back games after blowing a pair of late leads against Minnesota on Friday and Saturday. In fact, the Sun Devils have led in the seventh inning or later in all four of their losses this season.

It was the second shutout of the season for Arizona State, which held UCLA scoreless on four hits in a 2-0 victory in Los Angeles on Feb. 26. ASU's victory also snapped a five-game winning streak for UNLV (8-5).

Freshman Max Arlich made his collegiate debut for the Sun Devils and worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, bookending a walk with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.

It was a short debut by design for the left-hander from Woodbury, Minnesota, who allowed two hits, struck out two and walked two in two scoreless innings.

Right-hander Jonah Giblin (2-1), a redshirt senior from Seattle, took over in the third and tossed three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four and walking one to earn the win.

Sophomore Cole Carlon, a local left-hander from Tempe, started the sixth and went two complete innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four and walking one.

Lucas Kelly, a junior right-hander from San Francisco, pitched his way out of a jam in the eighth, stranding runners at second and third with inning-ending strikeout. Kelly allowed just one hit, struck out two and walked one before giving way to Derek Schaefer to close the game.

Vu got the Sun Devils' offense started in the first inning with a leadoff double down the first-base line, just beating the throw to second. The junior from San Diego advanced to third on a failed pick-off attempt and then scored the game's first run on a sacrifice fly from senior Jacob Tobias that nearly cleared the wall in center field.

Freshman Beckett Zavorek hit into a double play to end the second inning, took a hard fall trying to beat the throw to first and left the game with a leg injury.

Vu led off the bottom of the third inning with his first home run of the year — a 400-foot solo shot over the scoreboard in center field — to give ASU a 2-0 lead.

The Sun Devils added two runs in the fifth on solo home runs from Vu and Compton against UNLV reliever Will Marquart, a grad student who had allowed just two home runs in his 58-game collegiate career. It was the third home run of the season for Compton, a redshirt sophomore from Buckeye, Arizona.

Nu'u Contrades worked a leadoff walk in the sixth, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout by Brody Briggs, and then raced home on a wild pitch to Kyle Walker to extend the Sun Devils' advantage to 5-0.

Freshman Landon Hairston and Briggs delivered back-to-back singles and Walker drew a walk to load the bases with one out in the eighth. A sacrifice fly from Vu brought home Hairston, and senior Matt King followed with an RBI single to score Briggs and give ASU a 7-0 lead.

With a win in Tuesday's island game, the Sun Devils will get ready to host Gonzaga (2-7) for a three-game series Friday-Sunday.