April 3, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State freshman right fielder Rocky Laguna went 3-for-4 with four RBI and hit his first career home run to lead the No. 24 Sun Devils to a 14-1 non-conference victory over Wright State on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Winkles Field at Packard Stadium.
The Sun Devils swept the Raiders by a combined score of 38-5 to extend their season-high win streak to five games. Winners of 15 of its last 19 games, ASU improved to 21-13 overall. Wright State dropped its fourth straight contest to fall to 10-13 and 0-4 all-time against the Sun Devils.
Laguna (Yuma, Ariz.) had a pair of singles and a three-run home run to leads ASU's 15-hit attack. The redshirt freshman added a walk to reach base in four of his five plate appearances and finished the series against WSU hitting .700 (7-for-10) with six runs, seven RBI and a .786 on-base percentage (3 BB, 1 HBP).
Sophomore second baseman Seth Dhaenens (Chandler, Ariz.) continued his hot streak at the plate going 2-for-2 with two runs and a pair of walks. Senior first baseman Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) went 2-for-5 with three RBI, including a two-run double and his Pac-10 leading 13th home run of the season. Junior third baseman Travis Buck (2-for-5, 2 R) and freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra (2-for-4, RBI) also contributed multi-hit games.
Senior right-hander Jason Urquidez (Simi Valley, Calif.) earned the win in a predetermined four-inning start. Urquidez scattered three hits and struck out seven to improve to 5-2 on the season and 17-5 in his career. Sophomore Zechry Zinicola (San Bernadino, Calif.) threw three scoreless frames out of the bullpen and Kevin Dryanski (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Brett Bordes (Mesa, Ariz.) closed out the win without giving up a run.
Wright State ace Robert Barrett (3-3) was roughed up for nine hits and 10 runs (nine earned) in three innings to record the loss. Five relievers combined to allow six hits and four runs over the final five innings.
The Sun Devils jumped out to the early 1-0 lead in the opening frame and never looked back. Buck reached on a one-out single and moved to third base on a throwing error by Barrett. Senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) staked the Devils to the early lead with a run-scoring groundout.
ASU blew the game open with a six-run second and a three-run third to extend the lead to 10-0. Freshman shortstop Andrew Romine (Lake Forest, Calif.) provided the big blow in the second inning with a two-run triple down the left field line. Laguna's first career home run, a three-run shot to right field, accounted for all the scoring in the third inning.
After two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Sun Devils closed out the scoring with a pair of solo home runs in the seventh inning to bring the game to the final score of 14-1. Larish hit a tape-measure shot onto Rural Road over the right field fence and sophomore infielder Joe Persichina (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) connected on his second career home run.
The Raiders scored their only run of the afternoon on a single up the middle by shortstop Dan Biedenharn in the top of the fourth inning.
Arizona State (21-13, 2-1 Pac-10) returns to conference action next weekend (April 8-10) with a three-game series against the California Golden Bears (20-12, 3-3 Pac-10) at Evans Diamond in Berkeley, Calif. All three games will be carried live on the radio in the Phoenix area on KDUS 1060 AM with Tim Healey and Bob Eger calling all the action.
Game Notes: The Sun Devils scored in the first inning for the 13th time this season and improved to 10-3 when scoring in the opening frame... ASU has outscored its opponent 30-20 in the first inning... the Sun Devils played error free baseball for the second straight game for the first time this season... ASU made only two errors in the series and have now recorded seven games with no errors this season... ASU outscored Wright State 38-5 in the three-game series and hit .389 (44-for-113) and pitched for an impressive 1.33 ERA... the pitching staff has combined to allow only five earned runs over the last five games to lower the team ERA from 5.06 to 4.45 during that stretch... senior designated hitter Joey Hooft extended his hitting streak to five games and hit .455 (5-for-11) in the series... Rocky Laguna extended his hitting streak to a career-high six games and is hitting .500 (11-for-22) during the streak... junior Travis Buck recorded his team-leading 16th multi-hit game of the year and is hitting .351 (53-for-151) on the season... the team batting race continues to be tight as Laguna (.356) overtook the team lead from Buck (.351) and senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch (.346)... freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra extended his hitting streak to five games (.471, 8-for-17) and finished the series hitting .500 (5-for-10)... sophomore Seth Dhaenens hit .750 (6-for-8) in the series against Wright State and has recorded a hit in five of the last six games... Dhaenens has raised his batting average from .071 to .340 by going 15-for-34 (.441) over his last 13 games (9 starts)... ASU improved to 9-0 when Rocky Laguna hits leadoff... ASU is 12-4 at Packard Stadium this season... senior 1B/OF Jeff Larish gained sole possession of fifth place in the ASU career record books with his 41st career home run... his 204 RBI also moved him up to fifth place for career RBI, passing Antone Williamson (203, 1992-94).
Arizona State 14, Wright State 1 (Apr 03, 2005 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wright State........ 000 100 000 - 1 5 3 (10-13) Arizona State....... 163 002 20X - 14 15 0 (21-13) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Wright State - Barrett; Crawford(4); Steffen(5); Pemberton(6); Stevens(7); Smith(8). Arizona State - Urquidez; Zinicola(5); Dryanski(8); Bordes, B.(9). Win-Urquidez(5-2) Loss-Barrett(3-3) T-2:56 A-2077 HR ASU - Laguna (1); Larish (13); Persichina (1).
--Sun Devil Baseball--