March 24, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. - The #17 Arizona State Sun Devils defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions, 8-5, on Friday night at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark in Tempe. Freshman Ike Davis went 3-for-4 and collected three RBI thanks to a pair of doubles. The Sun Devils improved to 19-7 on the year while the Nittany Lions dropped to 4-14.
Senior Brett Bordes (3-1) earned the win on the mound for the Sun Devils pitching 3.1 scoreless innings and surrendering only one hit. Zechry Zinicola earned his fourth save of the season, pitching the Devils out of a jam in the ninth. Daryl Arreola was solid out of the bullpen as well, taking over for Davis in the second and throwing 3.1 scoreless innings.
Penn State started the game with a run in the first, but the Devils answered back immediately in the bottom half of the inning as Willy Fox tripled to right center field, scoring J.J. Sferra. Davis put the Devils ahead by one with a single through the left side of the infield, which scored Fox.
The Nittany Lions took back the lead, 5-2, with four runs in the top of the second. However, the Sun Devils scored six unanswered runs to win the game. In the bottom of the fourth, the Devils put up two runs as Rocky Laguna singled to the right side, scoring Seth Dhaenens, and came home two plays later on a double steal with Curtis. Davis added two more, doubling in both the fifth and sixth innings to score Fox on two occasions. RB-Ike now has 37 runs batted in on the year. Preston Paramore and Colin Curtis provided the rest of the offensive firepower that the Devils would need when they each had RBI singles.
The Sun Devils return to action on Saturday night for game two of the three game set against Penn State. First pitch is set for 6 PM, with AZ-TV providing the television coverage.