March 5, 2005
GREENVILLE, N.C. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch went 2-for-4 with four RBI leading the Sun Devils to a 10-3 victory over East Carolina on a chilly Saturday evening during the second day of the Keith LeClair Classic at Clark LeClair Stadium.
The Sun Devils scored five runs in the opening frame and added a two-run home run from Gosewisch in the third and a three-run home run from senior first baseman Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) in the fourth to account for all the scoring.
With its fourth victory in the last five games, ASU improved to 10-10 on the season and 2-0 in tournament play. Saturday's game vs. ECU broke a string of nine straight games against teams ranked in the top 10 nationally. East Carolina had its five-game win streak snapped to fall to 6-4 on the season and 0-4 all-time against ASU.
Junior starting pitcher Erik Averill (Orange, Calif.) worked 6.1 strong innings giving up three runs (two earned) and six hits to improve to 3-2 on the season. He struck out three and walked a season-high four. Junior Tony Barnette (Federal Way, Wash.) closed out the victory with 2.2 scoreless frames.
ECU sophomore starter Mike Flye was torched for five runs and walked three while not making it out of the first inning. Flye, who had back-to-back wins over Clemson and NC State, fell to 3-1 on the season. Reliever Scott Andrews was nearly perfect in 4.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) led the Sun Devils at the plate notching his eighth multi-hit game of the year and his seventh multi-RBI game. Junior right fielder Travis Buck (Richland, Wash.) went 1-for-4 with a pair of runs scored to extend his hitting streak to five games and Larish went 1-for-3 with three RBI and hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season.
ECU out-hit the Sun Devils 7-5, but lined into a pair of double plays and left eight runners on base. Shortstop Billy Richardson was 2-for-4 with two RBI to lead the Pirates.
The Sun Devils jumped out to the early lead with five runs in the top of the first inning. Freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra (Phoenix, Ariz.) led off with a walk and moved to third on a single by Buck. After two quick outs, Gosewisch struck with his first big hit of the night driving in two on a two-out single up the middle. A wild pitch and a fielding error led to the last three runs of the inning to give the Devils the early lead.
ECU answered right back with a leadoff home run from Richardson in the bottom of the first, but didn't manage another run off Averill until the seventh inning.
ASU tacked onto its lead with at two-run home run from Gosewisch in the top of the third and a three-run blast by Larish in the fourth.
The Pirates tried to mount a rally in the seventh with a pair of runs to chase Averill from the game, but Barnette came in to put out the fire and keep ASU's lead at seven runs, 10-3.
The Sun Devils complete tournament action Sunday morning at 10 a.m. (8 a.m. MT) against Ohio State (2-2). Sophomore right-handed pitcher Pat Bresnehan (0-1, 4.05 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Sun Devils.
Game Notes: Freshman DJ Butler earned his first career start... ASU has now started six true freshman and two redshirt freshman position players this season... 11th year head coach Pat Murphy used his 17th different starting batting lineup and 13th different positional lineup in 20 games this season... Jeff Larish hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season and the 33rd of his career... Erik Averill had more walks tonight (4) then he did in his previous five starts combined (3)... the five-run first inning was a season-high for the opening frame... ASU's bullpen has not given up a run and only one hit in eight innings in the tournament... the game-time temperature was 44 degrees and dropped below 40 degrees late in the game... the overnight low in Greenville is expected to be near freezing... ASU scored eight of its 10 runs with two outs and 12 of the 14 runs in the two tournament games so far... Larish's fourth-inning three-run home run went to right field through a wind that was blowing straight in at over 15 mph... ASU improved to 4-1 this season when wearing their white shoes.
Arizona State 10, East Carolina 3 (Mar 05, 2005 at Greenville, N.C.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 502 300 000 - 10 5 1 (10-10) East Carolina....... 100 000 200 - 3 7 2 (6-4) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Averill; Barnette(7). East Carolina - Flye; Brooks(1); Andrews(5); Anderson(9). Win-Averill(3-2) Loss-Flye(3-1) T-3:04 A-5023 HR ASU - Larish (5); Gosewisch (2). HR ECU - Richardson (2).
--Sun Devil Baseball--