May 18, 2003
SEATTLE, Wash. -- Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-5, including a leadoff home run, and senior reliever Robbie McClellan pitched five brilliant innings to lead the No. 3 Arizona State Sun Devils to an 11-3 victory over the Washington Huskies Sunday afternoon in front of a season-high crowd of 1,371 at Husky Ballpark.
The Sun Devils improved to 47-11 overall and maintained at least a share of second place in the Pac-10 with a 13-7 mark in league play. ASU rebounded nicely from Saturday's series opening 5-1 defeat and is now 9-2 in 2003 after a loss. Washington fell to 36-16 overall and 11-9 in conference play with the loss. The two schools will meet in the rubber game Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Husky Ballpark. With Stanford's 9-8 win over UCLA in 10 innings, ASU was mathematically eliminated from winning the 2003 Pac-10 Championship.
The Devils reached double-digits in runs scored for the 30th time this year. Pedroia, a sophomore from Woodland, Calif., notched his 36th multi-hit game of the year finishing 3-for-5 with a career-high four runs scored. He hit his fourth home run of the year and increased his Pac-10 lead in hits to 105. Andre Ethier went 2-for-3 with three RBI to extend his career-high hitting streak to 13 games and designated hitter Jeremy West went 2-for-4 with an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
McClellan, a senior from Liberal, Kan., shut down the Husky offense out of the bullpen giving up only three hits and one run in five innings to improve to 7-0 on the year. Senior starting pitcher Ben Thurmond was ineffective for the second straight start giving up four hits and two runs in two innings. Freshman left-hander Brett Bordes closed out the game with two scoreless innings to seal with victory.
Husky starter Jeff Peterson took the loss to fall to 5-5 on the year. Peterson gave up six hits and seven runs in three and a third innings. He fell victim to a crucial Husky error as only three of his seven runs given up were earned. Three Husky relievers combined to give up four runs and six hits in five and two-third innings.
The Sun Devils grabbed the early lead when Pedroia drilled the second pitch of the game over the left field fence for his fourth homer of the year. Husky center fielder Ben Lillibridge matched Pedroia with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the first inning. UW recorded four hits in its first at-bat off Thurmond, but could only score the one run after a double play and leaving two on base.
ASU regained the lead with a five-run third inning. Capitalizing on a defensive miscue by senior shortstop Tila Reynolds that would have led to an inning-ending double play. Instead, the Devils scored the go-ahead run on the play and added three two-out runs. After a sacrifice fly by left fielder Mike Guerrero, Frank Mesa, Steve Garrabrants and Travis Buck each recorded run-scoring singles to build a 6-1 lead.
The Huskies fought back with two runs in the bottom of the third behind a two-run home run from left fielder Mike Wagner.
The Devils added a run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Ethier and then plated three more runs in the top of the seventh. Pedroia and Ethier each drove home runs with singles and Guerrero drove in his second run of the game on a fielder's choice to shortstop to extend ASU's lead to 11-3.
ASU is expected to start senior right-hander Beau Vaughan (8-4, 4.44 ERA) on the mound against the UW's junior right-hander Clay Johnson (5-3, 5.17 ERA).
Arizona State 11, Washington 3 (May 18, 2003 at Seattle, Wash.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 105 101 300 - 11 12 1 (47-11, 13-7 PAC-10) Washington.......... 102 000 000 - 3 7 2 (36-16, 11-9 PAC-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Thurmond; McClellan(3); Bordes(8). Washington - Petersen; Dowling(4); Hawkins(7); Conover(7). Win-McClellan(7-0) Loss-Petersen(5-5) T-3:11 A-1371 HR ASU - Pedroia (4). HR WASH - Lillibridge (10); Wagner (14).