March 13, 2005
BATON ROUGE, La. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Led by a grand slam home run from third baseman Blake Gill, the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers hit four consecutive home runs as part of a 12-run fourth inning to overpower visiting Arizona State 20-3 on Sunday evening at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers improved to 14-4 overall and won their 11th straight regular season series. Arizona State dropped to 13-12 overall and 1-6-1 all-time against LSU. Eleven of ASU's 12 losses have come to teams that have appeared in the national rankings at some point this season.
Just a few hours after setting several offensive records in a 30-13 victory over Western Illinois, it was the Tigers that exploded for 20 hits, including six home runs and 11 extra base hits. The 12-run fourth inning marked the second most runs ASU has given up in an inning in school history. The 20 runs given up also rank tied for seventh in the record books.
Starting pitcher Greg Smith worked seven strong innings to pick up the win and improve to 4-1 on the season. The junior left-hander scattered six hits and allowed three runs while striking out two. Jaston Determann sealed the victory with two perfect innings out of the bullpen.
Arizona State sophomore starter Pat Bresnehan (Sherborn, Mass.) didn't make it out of the first inning while taking the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year. Bresnehan gave up four hits and four runs and walked three in one-third of an inning. Senior right-hander Jason Urquidez (Simi Valley, Calif.) was the victim of the four consecutive home runs while being roughed up for seven hits and nine runs in 2.2 innings.
After recording a school-record 35 hits earlier in the afternoon, the Sun Devil bats fell silent with only six hits. Senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a solo home run.
LSU had five players record multi-hit games. Outfielder Ryan Patterson went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI while blasting a pair of home runs. Right fielder Nick Stavinoha finished a single short of hitting for the cycle going 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Sun Devils return home after being on the road three of the last four weeks with a three-game, non-conference series against the University of Oklahoma (Mar. 18-20). The series starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Packard Stadium and continues Saturday (6:30 p.m.) and Sunday (12 p.m.).
LSU 20, Arizona State 3 (Mar 13, 2005 at Baton Rouge, La.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 200 0 01 000 - 3 6 3 (13-12) LSU................. 400 (12)12 01X - 20 20 1 (14-4) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Bresnehan; Urquidez(1); Barnette(4); Dryanski(7). LSU - Smith; Determann(8). Win-Smith(4-1) Loss-Bresnehan(1-2) T-2:54 A-7422 HR ASU - Gosewisch (4). HR LSU - Gill (2); Patterson 2 (6); Harris, C. (3); Stavinoha (4); Liuzza (2).
--Sun Devil Baseball--