April 22, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State junior right fielder Travis Buck and freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra each had three hits as the No. 20 Sun Devils earned a come-from-behind 12-5 victory over UCLA Friday evening in Pac-10 play at Winkles Field at Packard Stadium.
With its 10th straight victory at Packard Stadium and 20th in the last 26 games, ASU improved to 26-15 overall and remain in a tie for second play with a 7-3 mark in league play. The victory also gave head coach Pat Murphy his 800th career victory. UCLA lost 22 of its last 23 games to fall to 8-26 overall and 0-7 in Pac-10 play.
Trailing 5-2 after five innings, ASU used a six-run sixth inning to take the lead for good en route to the 12-5 victory. Run-scoring singles from freshman shortstop Andrew Romine (Lake Forest, Calif.) and pinch-hitter Willy Fox (Scottsdale, Ariz.) pulled the Devils to within one run and then a pair of bases loaded walks to senior first baseman Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) and sophomore left fielder Colin Curtis (Issaquah, Wash.) put ASU in front. Sophomore second baseman Seth Dhaenens (Chandler, Ariz.) capped the big inning with a two-run single to right field to extend the lead to 8-5.
Senior right-hander Ty Marotz (Crystal Lake, Ill.) earned his second win in as many weekends with a perfect inning of work out of the bullpen. Junior right-hander Tony Barnette (Federal Way, Wash.) allowed just one hit in three scoreless innings to earn his first career save. Junior starting pitcher Erik Averill (Orange, Calif.) suffered some tough-luck giving up five runs (four unearned) in five innings to earn the no-decision and keep his streak of five straight winning decision intact.
All but one starting position player recorded a hit as the Sun Devils out-hit the Bruins 17-7. Buck (Richland, Wash.) continued his hot hitting by going 3-for-5 with a double and one RBI. The reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week recorded his fifth straight multi-hit game and his team-leading 22nd of the season. Dhaenens went 2-for-4 with two RBI to extend his hitting steak to 10 games. The bottom four hitters in the lineup (Dhaenens, Joey Hooft, Sferra, Romine) combined to go 9-for-17 with five RBI. Senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) also belted his sixth home run of the year.
The Bruins were led by two hits from shortstop Tommy Lansdon and a two RBI from designated hitter Mike Metzger. Right fielder Chris Jensen hit his second home run of the year. Starting pitcher Hector Ambriz scattered 11 hits and struck out six in 5.1 innings to record the no-decision. Reliever Brian Schroeder, the son of former NFL quarterback Jay Schroeder, took the loss giving up four runs and three hits in 1.2 innings out of the bullpen.
The Sun Devils got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. After a two-out single by Buck, Gosewisch drilled a two-run home run over the wall in left-center field to stake the Devils to the early lead.
UCLA answered with five runs in the top of the fourth to take a 5-2 lead. Jensen led off with a solo home run over the right field fence. After a one-out safety squeeze bunt by first baseman Adam Markel tied the game at 2-2, Metzker plated the go-ahead runs with a two-out, two-run single to left field. Metzger stole second base and then scored the fifth run of the frame on a single by leadoff hitter Will Penniall.
The two teams return to action Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Packard Stadium. Senior right-hander Jason Urquidez (5-3, 4.76 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Sun Devils against UCLA senior right-hander Bryan Beck (0-6, 5.44 ERA). The game will be televised live in the Phoenix area on AZ-TV and on the radio at KDUS 1060 AM.
Game Notes: Head coach Pat Murphy recorded his 800th career victory in 20 years of coaching college baseball... he is 800-383-4 for a .676 winning percentage... the Sun Devils won their 10th straight game at Packard Stadium, including sweeps over Oklahoma, Wright State and Stanford... sophomore second baseman Seth Dhaenens extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his ninth multi-hit game of the year... Dhaenens is hitting .514 (18-for-35) during his current career-long hitting streak... Travis Buck extended his hitting streak to five games (all multi-hit affairs) and is batting .500 (11-for-22) during that streak... Tuffy Gosewisch hits sixth home run of the season (entered the season with only four career home runs)... Gosewisch extended his hitting streak to four games (.357, 5-for-14)... Colin Curtis extended his hitting streak to three games (.400, 4-for-10) and Joey Hooft extended his hitting streak to four games (.333, 7-for-21)... J.J. Sferra notched his 11th multi-hit game of the year to set a career-high with three hits... Sferra is hitting .370 (10-for-27) in Pac-10 play.... Andrew Romine notched his sixth multi-hit game of the year and was making first start since 4/3 vs. Wright State... before Willy Fox's pinch-hit RBI single, ASU was only 11-for-69 (1.59) with seven RBI in pinch-hitting situations... the error by Seth Dhaenens in the eighth ended a string of 86 consecutive flawless chances by the sophomore second baseman.
Arizona State 12, UCLA 5 (Apr 22, 2005 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UCLA................ 000 500 000 - 5 7 2 (8-26, 0-7 Pac-10) Arizona State....... 002 006 13X - 12 17 2 (26-15, 7-3 Pac-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: UCLA - Ambriz; Schroeder(6); Lafferty(8). Arizona State - Averill; Marotz(6); Barnette(7). Win-Marotz(2-1) Save-Barnette(1) Loss-Schroeder(1-4) T-3:29 A-2543 HR UCLA - Jensen (2). HR ASU - Gosewisch (6).
--Sun Devil Baseball--