June 21, 2005
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OMAHA, Neb. - Arizona State senior first baseman Jeff Larish tied a school and College World Series record with three home runs, and freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra drove in the game-winning run with a bloop single in the 11th inning as the Sun Devils rallied for an 8-7 victory Tuesday at Rosenblatt Stadium and eliminated hometown favorite Nebraska.
Larish's record-tying third homer tied it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and Sferra's single in the 11th punctuated the 4-hour, 7-minute game, sending the Sun Devils (41-24) against No. 7 Florida on Wednesday. Arizona State needs to beat the Gators twice to reach the best two-out-of-three championship round.
Larish's two-out, ninth-inning drive over the center-field wall off Husker closer Brett Jensen made him only the third player in CWS history to hit three homers in a single game, matching the record set by Florida State's J.D. Drew in 1995 and tied by Stanford's Edmund Muth in 2000. It is the first such performance recorded by a winning team in an elimination game. His three homers give him 23 on the season, tying him for third in the single-season ASU record books, and he now has 51 in his career. He became the ninth Sun Devil to hit three in a single game, most recently by Jeremy West in 2003 vs. Washington State.
Larish's third blast also negated Andy Gerch's three-run blast for Nebraska (57-15) in the top of the ninth which gave the Huskers a 7-5 lead. Larish, who bats left-handed, led off the game with an opposite-field shot and homered to right in the third.
But it was a blooper in the 11th that won the game for the Sun Devils.
Senior second baseman Joey Hooft led off the 11th with a single and moved to second on Seth Dhaenens' sacrifice bunt. Sferra, a 150-pound freshman who was the bat boy when ASU last appeared in Omaha in 1998, then popped a Tony Watson slider into short right center to score Hooft with the game-winning run.
Sophomore right-hander Zechry Zinicola, who was held out of the starting lineup as designated hitter because of a bloody nose, came on in the 10th and earned the win. Entering the game in the 10th inning, Zinicola allowed only one hit and struck out four in two innings to improve to 4-4 on the season.
Jensen (3-5) took the loss after the Sun Devils rallied to force extra innings.
Dhaenens reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the ninth and scored on Joe Persichina's sacrifice fly. Center fielder Daniel Bruce made a great catch on the play and was able to double off Sferra for the second out, clearing the bases.
Then, Larish teed off again to tie the game on the first offering from Jensen.
Down 5-3 in the top of the ninth against ASU reliever Pat Bresnehan, Jesse Boyer singled and Joe Simokaitis walked for the fourth time. Alex Gordon made it 5-4 with a hard grounder that shortstop Persichnia couldn't handle.
Gerch then drove an 0-2 pitch into the left-field bleachers, barely clearing the wall for his fourth home run and Nebraska's first three-run homer since March 23.
The Sun Devils scored twice in the bottom of the seventh after Nebraska misplayed a foul pop by Colin Curtis that could have ended the inning. First baseman Curtis Ledbetter, who had two errors in Sunday's loss to Florida, backed away to let second baseman Ryan Wehrle make the catch, but the ball dropped between them near the coach's box.
Curtis sent the next pitch up the middle to break a 3-3 tie, and another run scored when center fielder Daniel Bruce made a bad throw back to the infield.
The Huskers used three singles, a hit batter, a Jason Urquidez bases-loaded balk and a suicide squeeze to manufacture a 3-2 lead in the fourth.
Urquidez hit Bruce to load the bases, then he balked while making a pickoff move to first, allowing Brandon Buckman to trot home from third.
The play was reminiscent of the Sun Devils' super-regional loss to Cal State Fullerton, in which Zinicola's bases-loaded balk in the bottom of the ninth inning forced in the winning run.
After Urquidez's balk, Andy Gerch charged home from third for the tying run as Ryan Wehrle dropped a bunt down the first-base line. Jeff Christy broke the tie with a hit up the middle.
Urquidez, working on three days' rest after going two innings Friday as the starter in a 5-3 first-round loss to Nebraska, left Tuesday's game after walking Joe Simokaitis starting the fifth.
ASU tied it in a bottom half that started painfully for ASU's Andrew Romine. Romine left with a cut under his right eye after a Kroenke pitch deflected off his hands into his face. Persichina ran for Romine and scored on Colin Curtis' two-out single.
Curtis went 3-for-5 with two RBI and Sferra added his 18th multi-hit game of the year going 2-for-5.