March 12, 2005
BATON ROUGE, La. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State junior third baseman Travis Buck and freshman designated hitter Willy Fox each recorded four hits as the Sun Devils recorded season highs with 23 hits and 19 runs in a 19-1 victory over Western Illinois Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
The Sun Devils improved to 12-11 overall and have won six of their last eight games. Western Illinois suffered their eighth straight loss to fall to 4-11 on the season.
Buck (Richland, Wash.) went 4-for-6 with four runs scored, two triples and four RBI to extend his season-high hitting streak to eight games. Fox (Scottsdale, Ariz.) recorded a career-high four hits by going 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored. Senior first baseman Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) went 3-for-6 with a pair of home runs and five RBI. Seven Sun Devils in all recorded multi-hit games, including a 3-for-4 performance from leadoff hitter Rocky Laguna (Yuma, Ariz.) and the first two career hits from freshman reserve catcher Austin Stockfisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.).
The Sun Devils also recorded a season-high 12 extra base hits with sophomore Colin Curtis (Issaquah, Wash.) and Fox each tabbing two doubles apiece. Sophomore designated hitter Zechry Zinicola (San Bernadino, Calif.) went 2-for-3 and hit his first home run of the season. Redshirt freshman Rocky Laguna (Yuma, Ariz.) also went 3-for-4 with three runs, a double and a triple while hitting leadoff. ASU scored in all but one inning and recorded three innings with four runs.
Junior starting pitcher Erik Averill (Orange, Calif.) scattered seven hits and allowed only one run in five innings to earn the win. He struck out four and walked one to improve to 4-2 on the season. Hard-throwing freshman right-hander Seth Garrison (Coppell, Texas) surrendered one hit and struck out five over four scoreless innings to record his first save of the season.
Western Illinois shortstop Ryan Schmidgall went 4-for-4 with two doubles to record half of the Leatherneck's hits. Designated hitter Dan Davy also went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Starting pitcher Tim Navin gave up eight hits and five runs in three innings to take the loss and fall to 0-3 on the season.
The Sun Devils (12-11) return to action with a pair of games Sunday at Alex Box Stadium. ASU takes on Western Illinois at 12 p.m. and No. 5 LSU at 4 p.m.
Game Notes: ASU used its 19th different starting batting lineup and its 15th different positional lineup... freshman DJ Butler made his second career start and his first in left field... shortstop Andrew Romine extended his hitting streak to three games... Butler and second baseman Seth Dhaenens each recorded their first stolen base of the season and 12 Sun Devils have at least one stolen base this season... third baseman Travis Buck extended his hitting streak to eight games with a triple in the second inning... Buck recorded a career-high two triples and became the first Sun Devil since Mel Stocker in 2000 to hit two triples in a game... freshman catcher Austin Stockfisch recorded his first career hit with a single through the left side of the infield to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning... ASU's three triples are the most in a game since also recording three against Washington on Mar. 28, 2002 at Hohokam Stadium... the 44 total bases, 23 hits, 19 runs, 15 RBI, six doubles and three home runs are all season highs... ASU's nine triples surpasses the season total of seven from all last season (59 games)... senior Jeff Larish notched his fourth career multi-home run game and now has 35 career home runs to climb to within one of ASU's career top 10... Larish played four positions in the game (1B/LF/CF/SS)... freshman DH Willy Fox went 4-for-5 and is hitting .355 (11-for-31) with three home runs and 11 RBI... with the 23 hits, ASU's team batting average rose 11 points from .278 to .289... with four scoreless innings from freshman Seth Garrison, the ASU bullpen continues a string of not allowing an run over the last 19.2 innings... over the last eight games ASU's ERA has dropped from 5.57 to its current mark of 4.46.
Arizona State 19, Western Illinois 1 (Mar 12, 2005 at Baton Rouge, La.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Illinois.... 000 010 000 - 1 8 5 (4-11) Arizona State....... 140 424 31X - 19 23 1 (12-11) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Western Illinois - Navin; Adams(4); Pendell(4); Mandele(7). Arizona State - Averill; Garrison(6). Win-Averill(4-2) Save-Garrison(1) Loss-Navin(0-3) T-2:50 A-375 HR ASU - Larish 2 (7); Zinicola (1).
--Sun Devil Baseball--