Feb. 5, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State freshmen Vinny Biancamano and Andrew Romine each recorded three hits and sophomore closer Zechry Zinicola recorded his first save of the season by holding off a late rally to lead the No. 9 Sun Devils to a 10-8 victory over Gonzaga Saturday afternoon at Packard Stadium in the Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament.
The Sun Devils improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in tournament play by scoring in double-digits for the second consecutive game. Gonzaga dropped to 1-1 after beating Oregon State 3-1 to open the tournament Friday. ASU is now 10-0 all-time against Gonzaga.
Senior starting pitcher Jason Urquidez (Simi Valley, Calif.) gave up six hits and five runs (four earned) in seven-plus innings. The preseason All-American struck out four and walked only one to pick up his first win of the year and the 13th of his career. Reliever Tony Barnette (Federal Way, Wash.) was roughed up for three runs in one inning of work before Zinicola (San Bernadino, Calif.) could slam the door for his first save of the year and ninth of his career.
Biancamano (Glendale, Ariz.) and Romine (Lake Forest, Calif.) were part of a 14-hit attack that saw five players record multi-hit games. Freshman teammate J.J. Sferra (Phoenix, Ariz.) added two hits a as the No. 7-8-9 hitters in the ASU lineup combined to go 8-for-11 with three doubles and five RBI. Sophomore left fielder Colin Curtis (Issaquah, Wash.) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Preseason All-American catcher Kiel Thibault led the Gonzaga offense going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Center fielder Jackson Brennan added two hits and a run-scoring double and right fielder Jeff Culpepper went 2-for-5 with three RBI.
Junior starting pitcher Jay Bryner was saddled with the loss giving up seven hits and six runs in four innings. The junior college transfer struck out two and walked two to fall to 0-1. Four Bulldog relievers combined to give up four runs and seven hits over the final four innings.
ASU jumped out to the early lead with a three-run second inning. Biancamano started the rally with a run-scoring double to the left field gap for his first collegiate hit. Romine followed with a double down the right field line to score Biancamano and Curtis capped the inning with a two-out RBI single.
The Zags pulled even with a run in the third and a pair of runs in the fourth inning. A pair of doubles by second baseman Scott Campbell and Brennan put the Bulldogs on the board. Thibault led off the fourth inning with a solo home run and a pair of ASU errors brought home the tying run.
After a run in the fourth to retake the lead, the Sun Devils answered right back in the fifth sending nine batters to the plate in the four-run inning. Gosewisch started the rally with a run-scoring single up the middle and consecutive singles from Biancamano and Romine each plated runs to extend the lead to 6-3. Curtis added a run-scoring groundout to bring home his second run of the game.
Gonzaga cut into the led with two runs in the top of the eighth inning. Bobby Carlson doubled off the right field wall to drive in a run and Culpepper singled off Barnette to Gonzaga's fifth run.
The Bulldogs made things interesting putting the tying run in scoring position in the top of the ninth inning. After four straight hits to lead off the inning, Zinicola appeared to get a double play ground ball, but Romine made his second error of the game put runners on first and second with no outs and the Devils ahead 10-8. The hard-throwing right-hander induced a soft line drive and a pair of ground balls to preserve the victory.
The Sun Devils return to action Sunday against Oregon State at 2 p.m. at Packard Stadium. Junior left-hander Brett Bordes (0-1, 0.00 ERA) will start on the mound for ASU. Gonzaga will play New Mexico State in the 10 a.m. game of the Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament.
Game Notes: Starting pitcher Jason Urquidez made his 19th career start and improved to 13-3 as a Sun Devil... he walked his first batter of the game with one out in the seventh inning, ending a span of 15.1 innings that the ASU pitching staff had not allowed a walk... Andrew Romine and Vinny Biancamano each had three hits to record their first career multi-hit games... Biancamano's second-inning double was his first-career hit as he was previously 0-for-8... preseason All-American right fielder Travis Buck went 1-for-4 with a double and scored a pair of runs... Buck has at least one hit in all five games this season... Colin Curtis (6 games) and Zechry Zinicola (5 games) extended hitting steaks that date back to the end of the 2004 season... Zinicola has recorded a hit in all four games started this season... Zinicola also pitched the ninth inning, notching his first save of the season and ninth of his career.
Arizona State 10, Gonzaga 8 (Feb 05, 2005 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Gonzaga............. 001 200 023 - 8 11 0 (1-1) Arizona State....... 030 141 10X - 10 14 4 (3-2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Gonzaga - BRYNER, J.; HARMON, B.(5); ALBRECHT, C.(5); BRYANT, J.(6); McEWEN, B.(7). Arizona State - Urquidez; Barnette(8); Zinicola(9). Win-Urquidez(1-0) Save-Zinicola(1) Loss-BRYNER, J.(0-1) T-3:24 A-2073 HR GU - THIBAULT, K. (1).
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