SEATTLE, Wash. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Mike Wagner belted two home runs and senior starting pitcher Sean White allowed only one run in six innings to lead the Washington Huskies to a 5-1 victory over the No. 3 Arizona State Sun Devils Saturday afternoon in Pac-10 baseball action at Husky Ballpark.
ASU drops to 46-11 overall and 12-7 in Pac-10 play. The Devils had won 10 of their last 12 vs. the Huskies dating back to the 2000 season and suffered their first loss at Husky Ballpark since dropping the series opener of a three-game set back in 1999. Washington improved to 36-15 overall and 11-8 in Pac-10 play. The second of the three-game series will start Sunday at 1 p.m.
ASU freshman starting pitcher Erik Averill fell victim to both of Wagner's blast, but otherwise pitched well surrendering five hits and five runs in five innings. Averill suffered the first loss of his collegiate career, falling to 7-1. Averill struck out four and walked one. Relief pitchers Jered Liebeck (2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H), Javy Lopez (0.2 IP, 0 R) and Mark Sopko (0.1 IP, 1 K, 0 R) did a nice job holding the Huskies scoreless down the stretch.
White, a senior who returned to the UW after going 7-2 as a junior in 2002, limited the Devils to only five hits and one run in six solid innings. Improving to 7-4 on the year, White has now won nine of his last 10 Pac-10 starts and seven of his last eight this year. Junior lefty Trent Baysinger picked up his third save of the year, striking out five and allowing only one hit in three innings. Baysinger struck out the side in the ninth inning to seal the win for the Huskies.
The Devils and Huskies were tied in hits with six each, while ASU's Andre Ethier and Steve Garrabrants each had two in the loss. ASU left eight runners on base in the loss and had only one extra base hit with a double in the eighth inning from Ethier. The one run scored marked the second time in the last three games ASU has put only one run on the scoreboard and only the 14th time during ASU's NCAA record 490 consecutive games scoring streak. ASU entered the series ranked third in the nation averaging 10.29 runs per game.
Arizona State took the early lead with a two-out run in the second inning. Garrabrants singled and stole second base before scoring on a single up the middle by catcher Tuffy Gosewisch. The UW fought back in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game on a leadoff solo homer from Wagner over the left field fence.
The Huskies gained a two-run advantage in the fourth on Wagner's second homer of the game, when the junior cleared the left field fence for his 13th homer of the year. Washington added to its lead with a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth. Third baseman John Otness singled with one out and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch by Averill. Freshman center fielder Brett Lillibridge plated a run on a single through the right side of the infield to score Otness on a close play at the plate. The Huskies scored the second run of the inning on another close play at the plate, when Lillibridge scored from first on a double off the center field wall by Tila Reynolds.
The Huskies and Sun Devils continue the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Husky Ballpark. ASU is expected to start senior right-hander Ben Thurmond (6-0, 2.67 ERA) against UW's Jeff Peterson (5-4, 4.67 ERA).
Game Notes: Senior pitchers Bryce Kartler and Robbie McClellan were the lineup captains for Saturday's game... ASU football senior fullback Mike Karney, a native of nearby Kent, Wash., was in attendance at the game with his family... Jeremy West extended his career-long hitting streak to 13 games and Andre Ethier extended his season-long streak to 12 games... both extended their hitting streaks in the top of the first inning with two-out singles... ASU continued its NCAA record consecutive games scoring streak to extend the record to 490 games... for the third straight game the Huskies had a player record a multi-home run game (Lillibridge, Otness, Wagner)... Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-4 to go hitless for only the fourth time this year and had his 12-game hitting streak come to an end... Jeff Larish also had his career-high 17-game hitting streak halted going 0-for-4.
Washington 5, Arizona State 1 (May 17, 2003 at Seattle, Wash.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 010 000 000 - 1 6 0 (46-11, 12-7 PAC-10) Washington.......... 010 220 00X - 5 6 2 (36-15, 11-8 PAC-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Averill; Liebeck(6); Lopez, J.(8); Sopko(8). Washington - White; Baysinger(7). Win-White(7-4) Save-Baysinger(3) Loss-Averill(7-1) T-2:38 A-544 HR WASH - Wagner 2 (13).