April 14, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. - In a classic Pac-10 baseball battle between two storied rivals, the Arizona State Sun Devils were able to edge the USC Trojans 10-9, thanks to Seth Dhaenens bases loaded single in the tenth. Dhaenens third hit of the game was a big one, as the Devils improved to 26-11, 5-3 in the Pac-10.
Brett Bordes picked up the win, upping his record to 6-1, while Paul Koss, who earned the save last night, took the loss to drop to 0-4.
The Trojans took an early 1-0 lead in the second, but the Sun Devils moved ahead in the third after an Eric Sogard RBI double and a Preston Paramore RBI single. ASU would increase their lead to 3-1 after a Willy Fox's run scoring single.
The Trojans would storm back in the fifth, plating four runs against starter Jeff Urlaub, Brady Martinez and Zechry Zinicola. The USC lead was short lived however, as shortstop Frank Mesa took Ryan Cook offering onto Rural Road for a three-run shot, the second round tripper of Mesa's career, and his first since 2003. That put ASU up 6-5 after five.
USC would retake the lead in the sixth scoring three times to pull ahead 8-6. They would add another in the eighth, but ASU would once again battle back. Ike Davis brought the Sun Devils to within one with an RBI double in the eighth, and thanks to some clutch pitching by Bordes, the Devils had a chance to tie in the ninth.
With Seth Dhaenens on third, Frank Mesa sent a single through the right side, and Dhaenens would tie the game when the ball went through the legs of the USC right fielder. Nine innings would not be enough, so the two teams headed to extra frames.
After Bordes shut down the Trojans in the tenth, ASU got a rally start in their half. Eric Sogard singled, then moved to second on a Davis ground out. After an intentional walk to Paramore, both runners would advance on a passed ball. Ryan Sontag then walked, loading the bases for Dhaenens. Dhaenens lifted an 0-1 offering from Koss into no man's land in left field, scoring Sogard with the game winning run.
Six Sun Devils had multi-hit games, led by Dhaenens' three. The Devils and the Trojans will face off in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.