Feb. 24, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State starting pitcher Brett Bordes had 10 strikeouts in six scoreless innings to lead the No. 7 Sun Devils to a 4-0 victory over rival No. 16 Arizona in front of 2,748 Tuesday night at Packard Stadium. The game is the first of five rivalry games between the Wildcats and Sun Devils, with the first two not counting towards the Pac-10 standings.
With its 10th straight victory at Packard Stadium, ASU improved to 9-2 overall and is a perfect 5-0 record against ranked opponents this year. Arizona lost its fourth game in the last five contests to fall to 5-4-1 overall. ASU has now won four straight against their rivals and 13 of the last 16. ASU head coach Pat Murphy improved to 31-15 against the Wildcats since inheriting the program in 1995.
Bordes (Mesa) scattered three hits and three walks in a career-high six innings. The sophomore lefty registered a career-high 10 strikeouts to pick up his second career victory. Freshman right-hander Pat Bresnehan (Sherborn, Mass.) struck out five in three scoreless innings to pick up his first save. In his last two outings, the hard-throwing freshman has struck out 12 in 8.0 IP.
Arizona starter Kevin Guyette took the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year. The normal weekend starter for the Wildcats, Guyette gave up four hits and four runs in two innings of work. Four UA relievers combined to hold the Devils scoreless over the final six innings.
ASU's nine-hit attack was paced by another multi-hit game from junior shortstop Dustin Pedroia (Woodland, Calif.). Pedroia went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and is now hitting .543 (25-for-46) with 10 doubles and nine multi-hit contests. Junior left fielder Jeff Larish (Tempe) notched his second multi-hit game of the year going 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The Sun Devils kept to their trend of jumping out to the early lead, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. After Guyette walked the bases loaded, freshman first baseman Joe Persichina (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) delivered a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the first. ASU added two more in the second, with Travis Buck plating a run on a groundout and Jeff Larish driving home a run on a two-out single.
Arizona State returns to action this weekend with a three-game series against the University of Connecticut. The Devils and Huskies will play Friday (7 p.m.), Saturday (1 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) at Packard Stadium.
Game Notes: ASU's pitching staff has allowed only one earned run in the last three games (27.0 IP), including a pair of shutouts... during that streak they have allowed only eight hits and struck out 31 batters... ASU has now shut out its opponent three times this year (Utah, Memphis, Arizona)... the pitching staff now owns a 2.94 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 98.0 innings this year... with two runs on the two-out single by Joe Persichina, ASU has now scored in the first inning in seven of its 11 games... Pedroia's two doubles gave him his fourth multi-double game of the year... with his 56th and 57th career doubles, Pedroia moved into a tie for sixth in the ASU record books with Jeff Phelps (1998-2001)... Bordes' 10 strikeouts are a career high (previous was three against Notre Dame last year) and most by a Sun Devil since Beau Vaughan had 10 last year against UCLA (4/1703)... Bresnehan has 12 strikeouts in his last eight innings of work... Pedroia's three-hit night extends his hitting streak to five games and now has at least one hit in 10 of ASU's 11 games... he also has eight multi-hit games, including five three-hit contests... freshman center fielder Colin Curtis extended his hitting streak to a team-high six games. Arizona State 4, Arizona 0 (Feb 24, 2004 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona............. 000 000 000 - 0 3 2 (5-4-1) Arizona State....... 220 000 00X - 4 9 1 (9-2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona - Guyette; Melancon(3); Mills(7); Burns(7); Kolberg(8). Arizona State - Bordes; Bresnehan(7). Win-Bordes(1-0) Save-Bresnehan(1) Loss-Guyette(1-2) T-2:49 A-2748 --Sun Devil Baseball--