April 28, 2007
BERKELEY, Calif. - After seeing their 12-game win streak snapped at the hands of the Golden Bears yesterday afternoon, the Sun Devils flexed their muscles on Saturday, getting back in the win column with a 15-2 victory over California. The win puts ASU at 34-11, 11-3 in the Pac-10.
Arizona State wasted no time jumping on the Bears, scoring three times in the first inning off Cal starter Alex Rollin. After Tim Smith led the game off with double to the left center gap, Eric Sogard brought him home with a base hit to almost the same spot. Brett Wallace made it 3-0 with one swing of the bat, crushing his 13th round tripper of the year to right center field.
Matt Hall made it 4-0 in the second, homering to left center for his third homer of the year. Ike Davis made it 5-0 with an RBI double in the top of the third. The Devils added three more in the fifth, thanks to a Petey Paramore two run single and an RBI triple by Ryan Sontag.
ASU added three more in the eighth, thanks to four hits and a walk. Ike Davis, Kiel Roling and Andrew Romine all scored runners to put the Devils up 11-2. Arizona State added some extra insurance in the ninth, as they scored four times to make it 15-2 heading to the last of the ninth. Eric Sogard came around to score on an Ike Davis fly ball to center that was dropped by the centerfielder. That error proved costly, as Kiel Roling smoked a ball to left center for his 11th homer of the year, a three-run shot.
That was more than enough for starter Mike Leake, who was outstanding for eight innings, picking up his 10th win of the season. The ten wins for Leake is tied for second most in ASU freshman history with Kaipo Spenser and Doug Newstrom. Leake allowed two runs on five hits with four strike outs.
Nine different Devils recorded hits, including three each by Ryan Sontag, Eric Sogard and Kiel Roling. Ike Davis, Petey Paramore, Andrew Romine and Matt Hall all had two hits apiece as well. Roling knocked in four runs, while Davis had three RBI of his own. Eight Sun Devils recorded an RBI in the win.
The rubber match of this three-game series is tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. from Evans Diamond.