March 24, 2000
BERKELEY, Calif. - Arizona State pinch hitter John Gusich hit a two-strike, two-out infield single off of California pitcher David Cash in the top of the ninth inning to keep the Sun Devils alive and help lead ASU to a 6-4 victory over Cal. Following Gusich's chopper up the middle, Phil Downing hit an RBI double to right field to tie the score, 4-4. Cash (3-3, 2.0 innings, four hits, three runs, one walk, one strikeout) then walked Jeff Duncan before giving up a two-run double to Mitch Jones for the final 6-4 margin.
The Bears fall to 11-15 overall and 3-4 in the Pac-10, while No. 6 ranked Arizona State improves to 25-6, 1-0 in conference.
Arizona State reliever Eric Doble (2-1, 1.7 innings, two hits, no runs, one walk, one strikeout) ended up getting the win, retiring the Bears in the ninth. Doble was in line to get the loss after he gave up back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to Clint Hoover and Rob Meyer to give Cal a 4-3 lead going into the top of the ninth.
The Bears had the first lead of the game in the bottom of the first inning when senior second baseman Tommy Callen hit a two-run homer to left field off of Sun Devil starter Jon Switzer (6.3 innings, two hits, two runs, five walks, six strikeouts). Cal did not get another hit off of Switzer until Sam Petke's ground rule double to center field in the seventh inning.
Meanwhile, sophomore right-hander Trevor Hutchinson (7.0 innings, five hits, three runs, three walks, five strikeouts) did a solid job, but suffered some bad luck in the fourth inning. Hutchinson gave up an RBI double to Jones in the fourth, yet appeared to be out of the fourth inning with one run when he struck out Jeff Phelps. However, Phelps was able to reach first on a strikeout-wild pitch, extending the inning. Brooks Conrad responded with an RBI single to tie the score, 2-2. ASU then took a 3-2 lead in the seventh on an RBI double by Trent Platt off of Hutchinson.
Cal will next host Arizona State in the second game of the three-game conference series, Saturday, Mar. 25 at 1 p.m. at Evans Diamond.
Home Runs: Cal: Callen, two-run homer in the first. Arizona State: None.