Feb. 15, 2005
TUCSON, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona junior first baseman Jordan Brown hit a two-out, two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the No. 9 Wildcats a dramatic 7-6 victory over No. 12 Arizona State Tuesday night in non-conference action at Kindall Field at Sancet Park.
The Sun Devils pulled ahead with a two-out, bases loaded walk to sophomore Joe Persichina (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) in the top of the 14th before the Wildcats staged the two-out rally. Senior right fielder Jeff Van Houten laced a single up the middle and Brown followed drilling a 2-1 fastball from ASU senior reliever Ty Marotz (Crystal Lake, Ill.) over the right field fence for the game to give UA the victory.
The Sun Devils dropped to 6-5 with their second straight loss and endured their first walk-off home run by an opponent since a 9-5 loss to Tennessee on a grand slam by Chris Burke in the bottom of the 10th inning. Arizona improved its perfect record to 7-0 and ended a streak of seven consecutive non-conference losses to the Sun Devils. ASU has still won 16 of the last 21 meetings against the Wildcats dating back to the 2000 season. The rivals will meet one more time in non-conference action next week (Feb. 23) in Tucson before ASU hosts the Pac-10 series May 14-16 at Packard Stadium.
Marotz took the loss for the Sun Devils to fall to 0-1 on the year. The heart-breaking loss spoiled a pair of solid pitching performances from junior right-hander Tony Barnette (Federal Way, Wash.) and sophomore right-hander Pat Bresnehan (Sherborn, Mass.). Making his first career start, Barnette scattered five hits and two runs in 5.1 innings. Bresnehan tied a career high with seven strikeouts in the longest outing of his career (5.1 IP).
Arizona freshman reliever Mike Koons earned the win giving up one run and two hits in three innings of work. Freshman starting pitcher Eric Berger gave up five hits and four run in 3.2 innings. Reliever Mark Melancon added 4.1 shutout innings to send the game into extra innings.
Sophomore left fielder Colin Curtis (Issaquah, Wash.) led ASU at the plate going 4-for-6 with one run and one RBI. Senior third baseman Joey Hooft (Reno, Nev.) recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the year going 2-for-5 with two RBI. Senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to a career-high nine games.
Preseason All-American left fielder Trevor Crowe (3-for-5), Van Houten (3-for-7) and catcher Nick Hundley (3-for-6) each recorded three-hit games as the Wildcats out-hit the Sun Devils 12-11.
Both teams exchanged runs in the first frame before the Sun Devils took a 3-1 lead with a two-run second. Hooft drilled a two-run double down the left field line to score freshmen Andrew Romine (Lake Forest, Calif.) and J.J. Sferra (Phoenix, Ariz.).
The Sun Devils added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings to extend the lead to 5-1. Curtis knocked in a run with a single to center field and senior first baseman Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) drove in the fifth run with a groundout to second base.
The Wildcats tied the game with a three-run seventh inning. After a two-out single by left fielder Trevor Crowe, senior right fielder Jeff Van Houten knotted the game at 5-5 with a two-run home to straight-away center field.
ASU threatened in the top of the 11th putting runners on first and third with only one out, but Melancon struck out Hooft and shortstop Jason Donald robbed Travis Buck of an infield single to preserve the tie.
The Sun Devils continue its streak of nine consecutive games against top 10 opponents this weekend with a three-game series against top-ranked Tulane in New Orleans.
Game Notes: Junior RHP Tony Barnette made his first career start and has pitched in seven of ASU's 11 games this season... the loss recorded by Ty Marotz marked his first decision (win-loss-save) as a Sun Devil in 20 career appearances... freshman J.J. Sferra recorded his fourth bunt base hit of the season... freshman infielder Greg Bordes made his ASU debut, becoming the 13th newcomer to see action for the Sun Devils this season... Greg pinch-ran and played two innings at second base with his brother (Brett Bordes) on the mound... the 14-inning games was ASU's longest since a 13-inning contest against UCLA in 2003... ASU's last extra-inning game was a 5-3 win over Washington State (4/26/03) with a walk-off home run by Jeremy West in the bottom of the 10th innings... Colin Curtis recorded a career-high four hits and six at-bats... junior RHP Pat Bresnehan registered career highs with seven K's, 5.1 IP and 96 pitches... UA preseason All-American Trevor Crowe was caught stealing in the bottom of the 14th inning, ending a streak of 30 consecutive steals... he was thrown of the game on the same play after arguing the call with the umpire... freshman DJ Butler recorded his first hit as a Sun Devil.
Arizona 7, Arizona State 6 (Feb 15, 2005 at Tucson, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 120 110 000 000 01 - 6 11 3 (6-5) Arizona............. 100 001 300 000 02 - 7 12 2 (7-0) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Barnette; Bordes, B.(6); Bresnehan(8); Marotz(14). Arizona - Berger; Jarrett(4); Melancon(7); Koons(12). Win-Koons(1-0) Loss-Marotz(0-1) T-5:13 A-1310 HR ARIZ - Van Houten (1); Brown (3).
--Sun Devil Baseball--