Feb. 16, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State junior shortstop Dustin Pedroia had three doubles and freshman relief pitcher Pat Bresnehan had seven strikeouts in five innings to lead the No. 7 Sun Devils to a 10-7 non-conference victory over the Gonzaga Bulldogs Monday night at Packard Stadium.
The Devils improve to 6-1 with the victory, putting a 6-0 loss to Oklahoma on Sunday behind them. Coming off an impressive 2-1 performance at the Coca-Cola Classic in Surprise, Gonzaga evened its record at 2-2 on the season.
Bresnehan (Sherborn, Mass.) was impressive in his fourth stint of the early season. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out seven and allowed only four hits in five shutout innings to improve to 2-0 on the season. Classmate Zechry Zinicola (San Bernadino, Calif.) scattered two hits and struck out four over the final two innings to pick up his first collegiate save. Sophomore starter Erik Averill (Orange, Calif.) was chased in the third inning after giving up five hits and seven runs (five earned).
Gonzaga reliever Josh Monroe took the loss, giving up the decisive winning run in the fourth when Pedroia double, stole third and scored on a throwing error by Bulldog catcher Kiel Thibault. Starter Patrick Donovan lasted only one inning, giving up seven runs on six hits.
Pedroia (Woodland, Calif.), continued his torrid start to the season, gaining his fifth multi-hit game of the year. With his three doubles, the junior All-American now has eight on the year and 55 in his career. He set the ASU and Pac-10 single-season record last year with 34. Through ASU's first seven games, Pedroia is hitting .484 (15-for-31) with six RBI and two stolen bases. Junior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch and freshman first baseman Joe Persichina also recorded multi-hit games in the victory.
Gonzaga was led by the 5-for-5 game from Thiebault, who through the Zags first four games is hitting .625 (10-for-16). Second baseman Mike Rundle (2-for-5) and shortstop Aaron McGuinness (2-for-4, RBI) also recorded multi-hit games.
A day after having their NCAA record consecutive games scoring streak put to a halt at 506 games, the Devils wasted little time starting a new one. ASU scored seven runs while sending 11 batters to the plate in the first frame. Pedroia was 2-for-2 in the inning with a single, double and two RBI. Gosewisch added a two-run double.
Gonzaga battled back with a four-run second frame to close the gap to 7-4. Two ASU fielding errors and a run-scoring triple to center field by Thibault helped fuel the Bulldog rally.
The Devils squandered the early seven-run lead when Gonzaga tied the game with a three-run third. Consecutive doubles from third baseman Brad Welker and McGuinness plated three runs to tie the game at 7-7 and force Averill from the game.
ASU took the lead for good when Pedroia doubled to lead off the fourth, stole third base and then scored on a throwing error. The Devils also added runs in the fifth on a run-scoring single from Persichina and in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from junior preseason All-American Jeff Larish.
ASU continues its season this weekend with three games in the Coca-Cola Classic at Reckling Park hosted by defending national champion Rice. The Devils will play on Lamar (Friday, 2:30 p.m.), Memphis (Saturday, 6 p.m.) and the No. 1 Owls (Sunday, 2:30 p.m.) in the six-team tournament.
Game Notes: For the fifth straight game Pedroia and Buck reached base safely to lead off the first inning... Pedroia hit his sixth, seventh and eight doubles of the year and now has 55 of his career... the 55 career doubles move him into a tie for eight in the ASU record books with Gary Allenson (1973-76)... he now has three multi-double games this season. Arizona State 10, Gonzaga 7 (Feb 16, 2004 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Gonzaga............. 043 000 000 - 7 11 3 (2-2) Arizona State....... 700 110 01X - 10 12 4 (6-1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Gonzaga - DONOVAN; MONROE(2); ALBRECHT(4); McEWEN(7); GONZALEZ(7). Arizona State - Averill; Bresnehan(3); Zinicola(8). Win-Bresnehan(2-0) Save-Zinicola(1) Loss-MONROE(0-1) T-3:00 A-2172 --Sun Devil Baseball--