March 11, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - For the second straight afternoon the Sun Devil bullpen was unable to hold leads, as Arizona State dropped their second straight game to Long Beach State 16-9 in front of 2,878 fans at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. ASU led 4-0 after three and 6-4 after five, but a five run sixth by the Dirtbags proved to be the difference. The loss drops ASU to 13-7 on the year, with six of the seven losses coming to teams ranked in the Top 25.
Tim Smith displayed his power early for the Devils, blasting a three-run homer to right in the bottom of the first. That made it 3-0 ASU. Ike Davis would make it 4-0 with his first round tripper of the year in the third inning. Long Beach State would start to chip away in the fourth, scoring twice off starter Joey Parigi. They tied the score in the fifth off Matt Trink, but the Devils would grab the lead back in the bottom of the fifth when Rocky Laguna made it 5-4 with an RBI single that scored Petey Paramore. A throwing error by the Beach catcher on a Laguna stolen base allowed Matt Hall to score to make it 7-4.
The lead did not last long, as Trink gave up five in the top of the sixth to put Beach up 9-6. Ike Davis drove in a run in the sixth to pull the Devils to within 9-7, but Long Beach State added another run in the seventh to push it back to a three-run lead. The Sun Devils added runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings, but five Dirtbag runs in the top of the ninth ended any hopes ASU had of a ninth inning rally.
Starter Joey Parigi lasted 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, getting a no decision. Matt Trink took the loss, dropping him to 0-1 on the season. Trink allowed seven runs, four earned, in 1.2 innings of work. ASU used seven pitchers who combined to give up 23 hits to the Dirtbags.
Ike Davis, Tim Smith and Rocky Laguna all turned in multi-hit games, with Smith adding four RBI and Davis two. Arizona State pounded out 12 hits as a team, but they stranded 11 runners on base.
The Sun Devils continue their nine-game homestand on Tuesday evening, hosting Kansas State at 7 p.m. in the first game of a two-game midweek series with the Wildcats.