Feb. 28, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. - Thanks to the left arm of freshman Ike Davis, not to mention his bat, the Sun Devil baseball team took out the Red Raiders of Texas Tech 13-5 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. Davis picked up his second win of the season, and hit his first career home run, a grand slam to dead center field to lead the Devils to their 11th win of the season.
The Raiders drew first blood off Davis in the first inning with a two-run homerun by designated hitter Tyler Reeves. However, Davis shut them down from there, allowing the Sun Devils to get their offense on the field.
The Sun Devils did not wait long to answer back. In the bottom half of the inning, sophomore left fielder Ryan Sontag led off the game for the Sun Devils with a solo shot to right field. It was his first homerun as a Sun Devil and ASU's first lead-off homerun since June 5, 2005 (Jeff Larish against East Carolina - NCAA Regional in Tempe). Two walks and a single later, the Devils scored again when catcher Preston Paramore reached base on a catcher's interference. A throwing error and a sacrifice fly would bring around two more runs before the end of the inning, giving the Sun Devils a 5-2 lead after one complete inning.
The Sun Devils recorded two more in the bottom of the third as Paramore led off the inning with a single. After Joe Persichina moved him to third on a double down the line, shortstop Frank Mesa earned an RBI with a single to right. A groundout provided one more run for the Sun Devils, who held a 7-2 lead after three.
Texas Tech brought two more around in the top of the fifth to narrow the gap to three by way of a single, double, and an error. But the Sun Devils put it away for good one inning later, striking for five runs in the bottom of the sixth. Three consecutive singles to start the inning brought around the first run and set up Davis with the bases loaded. On a 1-1 count, Davis crushed the ball straight away to center field, recording his first collegiate home run and giving the Devils a 12-4 lead. It was the first grand slam of his life, Davis said after the game. Ike added more fuel to the fire in the bottom of the seventh, drawing a bases loaded walk. He leads the Sun Devils with 21 RBI on the year.
The Raiders would strike for one more run in the top of the ninth to make it 13-5, but it was not enough to overcome the Devils, who rode both the bat and the arm of Davis for their eleventh win of the season.
Davis finished the game hitting 2-of-4 with a career-high five RBIs. He also earned the win to improve to 2-2, lasting 4.1 innings and giving up six hits. His pitch count was limited, as he is expected to throw again at some point this weekend against Auburn.
Joe Persichina was 3-5, and Ryan Sontag was 2-4 with two RBI. J.J. Sferra also had two hits for the Sun Devils, who move to 11-5 on the season. Mike Jones, who is a wide receiver on the ASU football team, made his debut with the baseball team, catching the final out in center field. Miles Morgan took the loss for the Red Raiders, who drop to 9-4. Morgan is now 2-1 on the year.
Arizona State will host the Auburn Tigers in a three-game series this weekend. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7 PM.