April 15, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State junior left-handed pitcher Erik Averill scattered five hits in eight strong innings to lead the Sun Devils to a commanding 9-2 victory over No. 14 Stanford Friday evening in Pac-10 action at Winkles Field at Packard Stadium.
The Sun Devils improved to 23-15 overall and 4-3 in Pac-10 play with their 17th win in the last 23 games. With its second straight loss to the Sun Devils (dating back to last season), Stanford falls to 20-12 overall and 4-3 in league play.
Averill (Orange, Calif.) won his fifth straight decision to improve to 7-2 on the season. The southpaw struck out five and walked one while improving to 19-8 in his career. Sophomore closer Zechry Zinicola (San Bernadino, Calif.) struck out two in the ninth inning to seal the win.
Stanford preseason All-American pitcher Mark Romanczuk was roughed up for 12 hits and nine runs in seven innings to take the loss. He walked one and struck out four to fall to 5-4 on the year. Romanczuk's nine runs given up were more than the two combined runs given up in his two previous starts against ASU (16.0 IP). Freshman right-hander Erik Davis tossed a perfect eighth inning.
Senior first baseman Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) went 2-for-3 with three RBI and hit his Pac-10 leading 14th home run of the year to lead the Sun Devils at the plate. ASU out-hit Stanford 12-5 and were led by five players with multi-hit games. Right fielder Travis Buck (2-for-3, 2 R), catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (2-for-4, 2 2B), third baseman Joey Hooft (2-for-4) and second baseman Seth Dhaenens (2-for-4) all recorded two hits in the ASU victory.
No Stanford player recorded more than one hit in the game. Sophomore center fielder Jim Rapoport hit his second home run of the season.
Arizona State and Stanford continue the three-game series Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at Packard Stadium. The game will feature ASU senior RHP Jason Urquidez against Stanford right-hander Jeff Gilmore (5-1, 4.03 ERA).
Game Notes: ... Averill wins his fifth straight decision to improve to 7-2 on the year and 19-8 in his career. ... ASU is 11-3 when scoring in the first inning and 6-7 when opponent scores in first inning (both happened tonight). ... Tuffy Gosewisch knocks in team-leading 43rd run... now has at least one RBI in 23 of 38 games this season. ... Seth Dhaenens extends hitting streak to career-high seven games (.565, 13-for-23). ... Dhaenens is now hitting .458 (22-for-48) over his last 16 games to raise his batting average from .071 to .371 (300 points). ... Travis Buck ties Colin Curtis for the team lead with his 10th stolen base of the year. ... Buck also notches team-leading 19th multi-hit game of the season (63rd of his career). ... Jeff Larish extends hitting streak to four games (.600, 6-for-10)... now has 208 career RBI and 172 career walks. ... Larish hit his Pac-10 leading 14th home run of the year and the 42nd of his career... he records his 76th career multi-hit game. ... Larish hits third career home run against Stanford (also hit one in 2002 and 2004 -- both at Sunken Diamond). ... Joey Hooft records 10th multi-hit game of the year. ... J.J. Sferra has recorded a hit in eight of his last nine games and is 12-for-28 (.429) over that stretch of games. ... Romanczuk's nine runs given up tonight are more than his previous two given up in two career starts against ASU (16.0 IP). ... Romanczuk is the ninth preseason All-American pitcher the Sun Devils have faced this season.
Arizona State 9, Stanford 2 (Apr 15, 2005 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Stanford............ 100 010 000 - 2 5 0 (20-12, 4-3 Pac-10) Arizona State....... 304 200 00X - 9 12 0 (23-15, 4-3 Pac-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Stanford - Romanczuk; Davis(8). Arizona State - Averill; Zinicola(9). Win-Averill(7-2) Loss-Romanczuk(5-4) T-2:38 A-2842 HR STAN - Rapoport (2). HR ASU - Larish (14).