March 18, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Relief pitcher Beau Vaughan struck out seven in four scoreless innings and senior third baseman Dennis Wyrick was 3-for-3 to lead the No. 1 Arizona State Sun Devils to a 9-2 win over the No. 29 Wichita State Shockers Tuesday night in front of 3,099 fans at Packard Stadium.
The Sun Devils won their third straight game to improve to 31-2 overall and have won 22 of their last 23 games. Wichita State fell to 13-6 on the season and have now lost five of their last seven games.
Vaughan (Glendale) was stellar in relief of senior starter Robbie McClellan, scattering three hits in his four innings to improve to 5-1 on the year. McClellan gave up three hits and struck out four in three innings to record the no-decision. Junior closer Ryan Schroyer, who was experimenting with a new split-fingered fastball, gave up his first earned run of the year in the ninth.
WSU starter Steve Uhlmansiek was saddled with the loss to fall to 3-1 on the year. Uhlmansiek surrendered six hits in three and a third innings, giving up five runs and walking four. Four Shocker relievers combined to give up six hits and four runs in the final four and two-thirds innings.
After leaving three runners in scoring position in the first two innings, the Devils scored first with three runs in the third to break the tie game. Junior first baseman Mike Guerrero doubled down the left field line to plate two runs and junior center fielder Andre Ethier followed with a bloop single to drive home the third run of the inning.
ASU added two more runs in the fourth on a double by designated hitter Jeremy West. Wichita State broke ASU's shutout bid with a single tally in the eighth, but the Devils answered with three in the bottom half of the inning. Freshman Travis Buck recorded a two-run double and Wyrick scored on a perfectly executed double steal.
Wyrick continued his recent tear at the plate with three more hits to raise his season batting average to .419 (26-for-62). During his current seven-game hitting streak the senior is batting .545 (12-for-22) with 10 runs scored and three doubles. Sophomore catcher Tuffy Gosewisch notched his eighth multi-hit game of the year by going 2-for-4 as the Devils out-hit Wichita State 12-8.
The Shockers were led by the 3-for-5 performance from leadoff hitter Phil Napolitan. Designated hitter Mark Johnson recorded the only RBI of the game for WSU with a single up the middle in the eighth inning.
The Sun Devils and Shockers complete the two-game series Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Packard Stadium. Freshman left-hander Chris Beatty (0-0, 1.69 ERA) will make his first career start against WSU's junior lefty David Sanders (2-0, 5.30 ERA). Arizona State 9, Wichita State 2 (Mar 18, 2003 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wichita State....... 000 000 011 - 2 8 1 (13-6) Arizona State....... 003 201 03X - 9 12 1 (31-2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Wichita State - Uhlmansiek; Kerbs(4); Henderson(8); Booth(8); Foster(8). Arizona State - McClellan; Vaughan(4); Arguello(8); Sopko(8); Schroyer(9). Win-Vaughan(5-1) Loss-Uhlmansiek(3-1) T-3:24 A-3099 Henderson faced 2 batters in the 8th. --Sun Devil Baseball--