June 4, 2005
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TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch went 3-for-5 with a career-high seven RBI and junior starting pitcher Erik Averill struck out eight in his fourth complete game of the year to lead the Sun Devils to a commanding 11-3 victory over No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina during the second day of the NCAA Baseball Tempe Regional at Packard Stadium.
The Sun Devils won their season-high-tying sixth game in a row to improve to 36-22 overall and advance to the regional championship final tomorrow at 3 p.m. They will face the winner of the Coastal Carolina-UNLV game that will be played at 11 a.m. Coastal Carolina, the regular season Big South Conference champions, fall to 49-15 on the season.
Averill (Orange, Calif.) scattered eight hits and allowed three runs to earn his ninth win of the season. After giving up two runs on three hits in the opening frame, the junior southpaw settled down to allow only one run and five hits over the final eight innings.
Coastal Carolina sophomore starter Andy DeLaGarza suffered the loss giving up eight hits and eight runs (six earned) in five innings. He struck out two and walked six to fall to 5-4 on the season. Relievers Byron Binda and Kevin Marrie combined to give up seven hits and three runs over the final four innings.
Gosewisch (Scottsdale, Ariz.) had a run-scoring single in the first, a two-run double in the third, a run-scoring groundout in the fifth and then provided the big blow with a three-run double in the sixth. His seven RBI are tied for 11th most in ASU single-game history. Freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra (Phoenix, Ariz.) and sophomore left fielder Colin Curtis (Issaquah, Wash.) also added three hits apiece as ASU out-hit CCU 15-8.
The Devils got on the board first with a single tally in their opening at-bat. Buck and Curtis tabbed back-to-back singles and moved into scoring position on a fly ball by freshman designated hitter Willy Fox (Scottsdale, Ariz.). Senior catcher Gosewisch stroked a two-out single to right field to score Buck, but Curtis was thrown out at the plate trying to score to end the inning.
Coastal took the lead in its own half of the first, putting two on the board. Costanzo doubled to the left field gap to put two runners in scoring position. An infield single by second baseman Michael DeJesus, combined with an error by first baseman Jeff Larish, scored a pair of runs to stake the Chanticleers to the 2-1 lead.
ASU tied the game in the second on a sacrifice fly to left field by Larish and then took the lead with a two-run third inning. A pair of leadoff walks to Curtis and Fox proved costly as Gosewisch hit a double down the left field line to score both runners. Gosewisch was down 0-2 in the count before fouling off five pitches and then drilled the 10th pitch of his at-bat into the left field corner to give ASU the 4-2 lead.
The Sun Devils extended the lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning. Curtis tabbed a one-out single to right field, moved to second on a walk and took third on a throwing error. Gosewisch plated Curtis with a groundout to first base.
CCU got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth to cut the led to 5-3. DeJesus drew a two-out walk and moved to third on a double down the left field line by right fielder Jon Foisy. DeJesus came into score on a wild pitch by Averill.
Gosewisch struck again with a two-out and the bases loaded in the top of the sixth. After pinch-hitter Rocky Laguna (Yuma, Ariz.) struck out on a questionable called third strike, Gosewisch drilled a ball to the wall in center field for a bases clearing double to extend ASU's lead to 9-3.
Game Notes: Travis Buck singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to seven games... he has at least one hit in 21 of his last 22 games and now needs only three more hits to become the 21st player in school history to record 100 hits in a season... Colin Curtis recorded his 24th multi-hit game by going 3-for-4 with a career-high four runs scored... he extended his hitting streak to 12 games... J.J. Sferra recorded his 16th multi-hit game of the year and is hitting .556 (5-for-9) in the regional.