June 5, 2004
FULLERTON, Calif. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- For the third time in the last four years, Arizona State had its season come to a disappointing end in the NCAA Tournament at Goodwin Field. The Sun Devils were shutout for the third time this season in a 5-0 loss to Cal State Fullerton in an elimination game Saturday night in the Fullerton Regional.
Cal State Fullerton starting pitcher Mike Martinez surrendered 10 singles and did not allow a run in his first career complete game effort. The senior right-hander improved to 8-2 on the season after striking out a career-high tying seven and walking only two.
Arizona State ended the season 41-18 overall, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last eight years. Cal State Fullerton improved to 38-21 and will have to beat Pepperdine twice in the Regional Final on Sunday to advance to the Super Regional. The Titans endured a tough 7-6 loss to Pepperdine earlier in the day on a two-out, two-run walk-off home run.
The Sun Devils were their own worst enemy, striking out five times looking, grounding into three double plays and left eight men on base. ASU managed only 10 singles against CSF and of the 34 hits in the three regional games, only one went for extra bass. The Sun Devils were also 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position Saturday night against the Titans.
After having its NCAA record consecutive games scoring streak snapped earlier this season against Oklahoma (2/15), the Devils have been shutout twice in the last six games.
Arizona State starting pitcher Erik Averill was phenomenal through six innings until giving up three runs in the seventh. The sophomore lefty scattered 12 hits in 6.2 innings and was saddled with his second loss of the regional to fall to 4-4 on the season. Freshman reliever Quentin Andes (Albuquerque, N.M.) finished off the game with 2.1 perfect innings.
The Sun Devils threatened in each of its first two at-bats, putting a runner in scoring position with one out, but came up empty each time. Jeff Larish grounded into an inning-ending double play in the first and Martinez struck out Seth Dhaenens for the third out to end the second inning.
Fullerton got on the board in the fourth inning with a one-out double down the left field line by designated hitter Felipe Garcia. P.J. Pilittere led off with a single to center field and was moved second on a sacrifice bunt by left fielder Danny Dorn. Garcia then ripped a 0-1 offering from Averill down the left field to stake the Titans to the 1-0 lead.
With Martinez in cruise control, CSF added a run in the top of the sixth on a solo home run to left field by Dorn to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Titans added three more runs in the seventh to grab a commanding 5-0 lead. Kurt Suzuki hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field to start the scoring. Pilittere and Dorn hit back-to-back run-scoring doubles to extend the lead to 5-0.
ASU threatened again in the seventh and eighth innings, but couldn't put any runs up on the board. Tuffy Gosewisch and Curtis tabbed back-to-back singles in the seventh, but came up empty after Joe Persichina grounded into a double play and Dhaenens struck out looking to end any scoring opportunities. Josh Asanovich and Larish each hit two-out singles in the eighth, but Martinez got Gosewisch to strike out swinging to preserve the shutout.
Curtis led ASU at the plate going 3-for-4 and finished his freshman season hitting .300 (57-for-190). Junior second baseman Josh Asanovich went 2-for-4 as ASU's only other player with more than one hit. Junior All-American shortstop Dustin Pedroia most likely ended his ASU career going 0-for-3 and ended the season hitting .393 (96-for-244) and ended his career tied for seventh in the ASU record books with a .384 career batting average (298-for-777).
Game Notes: Travis Buck hit leadoff for the first time for his career... Buck went 0-for-4, but still ended the regional hitting .467 (7-for-15). CS Fullerton 5, Arizona State 0 (Jun 05, 2004 at Fullerton, Calif.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CS Fullerton........ 000 101 300 - 5 12 0 (38-21) Arizona State....... 000 000 000 - 0 10 1 (41-18) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: CS Fullerton - Martinez. Arizona State - Averill; Andes(7). Win-Martinez(8-2) Loss-Averill(4-4) T-2:36 A-1392 HR CSF - Dorn (3). --Sun Devil Baseball--