April 25, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Dustin Pedroia, Frank Mesa and Steve Garrabrants each recorded three hits and Beau Vaughan struck out eight in six innings as the No. 5 Arizona State Sun Devils continued its recent offensive surge with 21 hits to blank the Washington State Cougars 21-0 Friday night in Pac-10 Baseball action at Packard Stadium.
The Devils reached the 40-win plateau for the third time in the Pat Murphy era (1995-P) improving to 40-9 overall and moved to within one game of first-place Stanford with an 8-5 Pac-10 record. ASU is tied for second with arch-rival Arizona who rallied for a 4-3 win over the Cardinal Friday night at Sunken Diamond. Washington State had its mini two-game winning streak come to an end falling to 13-27 on the year and 4-9 in Pac-10 play.
Coming into the contest ranked fourth in the nation averaging 10.0 runs per game, ASU increased its season average to 10.18 runs per game while scoring in double-digits for the 25th time this year and surpassing the 20-run mark for the second time. Coming off a 17-1 victory over UCLA (4/19), the Sun Devil offense has scored 38 runs and recorded 42 hits in the last two games and the pitching staff has given up only one run in 18.0 innings. The 37 run margin of victory in consecutive games is the biggest for ASU during the 25-year Pac-10 era (1979-present). For the season the Devils are leading the Pac-10 in both hitting and pitching, increasing the team batting average to .350 and lowering the team ERA to 3.37.
Senior right-handed starter Beau Vaughan combined with relievers Robbie McClellan (1.0 IP) and Javy Lopez (2.0 IP) for ASU's seventh shutout of the year. Vaughan (Glendale, Ariz.), who transferred to ASU from New Orleans, improved to 7-3 on the year while striking out eight and allowing only three hits in six scoreless innings. Notching only his fifth start of the year, Vaughan improved 3-1 as a starter with a 3.96 ERA.
Washington State starter Aaron MacKenzie battled a high pitch count (121 total pitches) and was saddled with the loss falling to 3-4 on the year. MacKenzie gave up six hits and six runs while walking four in five innings. Relievers James Freeman and Jamin Svendsen didn't fare much better giving up 15 hits and 15 runs over the final three innings.
The Devils took the first lead of the game on a two-out single by Pedroia in the bottom of the second. ASU added to its lead with a sacrifice fly by catcher Tuffy Gosewisch to score Steve Garrabrants (leadoff triple) tin the fourth. A Jeremy West solo home run and a run-scoring triple from third baseman Frank Mesa plated two more runs in the fifth to stake the Devils to a 4-0 lead.
ASU then exploded for its biggest inning of the year scoring 12 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sending 15 batters to the plate, the Devils tabbed seven hits in the fame with Jeff Larish's three-run homer capping the scoring. Andre Ethier, Garrabrants and pinch-hitter Mike Guerrero each recorded run-scoring singles and Gosewisch drove in two with his fifth double of the year. Larish drilled his team-leading 15th home run of the game with a two-out shot onto Rural Road deep over the right field fence. Freshman Ryan Bosch also added his fourth home run of the year to lead off the four-run eighth inning.
Washington State recorded only six hits in the loss, with leadoff hitter Justin Hart going 2-for-4 and shortstop Derek Bruce going 3-for-4 falling just a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
The Cougars and Sun Devils continue the three-game Pac-10 series Saturday at 7 p.m. at Packard Stadium. Senior right-hander Jered Liebeck (7-0, 2.55 ERA) will take his Pac-10 leading 2.55 ERA to the hill against Washington State's Bryce Chamberlin (3-4, 6.83 ERA). The first 800 fans in attendance tomorrow night will receive a limited edition set of Sun Devil Baseball trading cards. Arizona State 21, Washington State 0 (Apr 25, 2003 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington State.... 000 000 000 - 0 6 2 (13-27, 4-9 PAC-10) Arizona State....... 010 12(12) 14X - 21 21 0 (40-9, 8-5 PAC-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Washington State - MacKenzie; Freeman(6); Svendsen(6). Arizona State - Vaughan; McClellan(7); Lopez, J.(8). Win-Vaughan(7-3) Loss-MacKenzie(3-4) T-3:14 A-2336 HR ASU - Bosch (4); Larish (15); West (10). --Sun Devil Baseball--