May 24, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- The No. 4 Arizona State Sun Devils scored 11 runs in the first inning and never looked back to hand rival No. 15 Arizona a 16-0 defeat Saturday night in Pac-10 baseball action at Packard Stadium. With the win in front of a season-high crowd of 4,184, ASU clinched the series victory, continuing a streak that has never seen head coach Pat Murphy lose a season series to the Wildcats since he came to Tempe in 1995.
The Devils improved to 49-12 overall and maintained a hold on second place in the conference at 15-8. Arizona dropped to 35-20 overall while losing its season high third game in a row and fell into fourth place in the Pac-10 at 13-10 behind Washington (5-1 winner over USC). ASU will go for the sweep Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Packard Stadium. ASU has now won 11 of the last 14 games in the series dating back to the 2000 season.
While the offense was turning in one of its best performance of the Pac-10 season, freshman starting pitcher Erik Averill was busy taking care of the Wildcats in his first rivalry start. Averill was masterful throwing seven scoreless innings, scattering only seven hits and striking out six to improve to 8-1 on the year. Sophomore right-hander Mark Sopko polished off ASU's ninth shutout of the year with two innings of hitless and scoreless relief.
The Devils put the game away in their first at-bat sending 14 batters to the plate to score 11 runs on eight hits. The flood gates opened when Arizona left fielder dropped a routine fly ball in left field. Scoring in double-digits in the first inning for the second time this season, the Devils took advantage of two UA fielding miscues en route to the big inning. Jeremy West plated ASU's first run with a single to left field and Tuffy Gosewisch provided the first of many blows with a two-run double off the center field fence. Dennis Wyrick, Pedroia and Nick Walsh all added run-scoring singles and center fielder Andre Ethier capped the rally with a two-run triple down the right field line.
Several Sun Devils had banner performances at the plate, led by four hits from Wyrick and a three-hit, four-RBI game from Ethier. Ethier, a junior from Phoenix, finished just a single away from the cycle, going 3-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored to extend his career-high hitting streak to 16 games. He tripled in the first, hit a two-run homer in the third and double in the fifth. Wyrick, who drove in the winning run in Friday's 5-2 ASU win, continued his recent offensive surge going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Pedroia (2-for-6, 3 R), Walsh (2-for-4, RBI, 2 R), West (2-for-3, 2 RBI), Jeff Larish (2-for-4, 2 RBI), and Gosewisch (2-for-3, 2 RB) all notched multi-hit games in the win. West extended his hitting streak to a career high 17 games and Gosewisch extended his career-long streak to eight games.
The Wildcats could only manage seven hits in the game, with leadoff hitter Brad Boyer going 2-for-4. Senior starting pitcher Sean Rierson was rocked for 10 runs and seven hits while recording only one out to fall to 9-2 on the year. Reliever Kevin Guyette surrendered seven hits and five runs in three and a two-thirds innings, and Chris Goodman allowed one run in four innings.
The Sun Devils and Wildcats will wrap up the regular season Sunday at 1 p.m. at Packard Stadium. ASU will start senior right-hander Beau Vaughan (8-5, 4.78 ERA) against Arizona lefty Joe Little (4-3, 5.08 ERA).
Game Notes: Jeremy West (17 games), Andre Ethier (16 games) and Tuffy Gosewisch (8 games) all extended their career-high hitting streaks... Gosewisch is 12-for-29 (.414) during his streak... ASU's 11-run first inning is the second most runs scored in a single frame this year and the most in the first inning... Dustin Pedroia recorded his 38th multi-hit game of the year while starting in his 119th consecutive game as a Sun Devil (never missed a start)... ASU extended its NCAA record consecutive games scoring streak to 494 games... the season-high crowd of 4,184 is season best and pushed ASU over 100,000 mark for the season (102,081)... ASU scored in first inning for 29th time this season... the 16 runs marked the 31st time scoring 10 or more runs, 46th time with double-digits in hits... freshman Ryan Bosch hit his fifth homer of the season with an opposite field shot and Jeff Larish hit his 16th of the year to tie teammate Jeremy West for the team lead... Dennis Wyrick tied a career high with four hits and doubles with two.
Arizona State 16, Arizona 0 (May 24, 2003 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona............. 0 00 000 000 - 0 7 2 (35-20, 13-10 PAC-10) Arizona State....... (11)04 000 10X - 16 18 2 (49-12, 15-8 PAC-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona - Rierson; Guyette(1); Goodman(5). Arizona State - Averill; Sopko(8). Win-Averill(8-1) Loss-Rierson(9-2) T-2:34 A-4184 HR ASU - Bosch (5); Ethier (7); Larish (16).
--Sun Devil Baseball--