March 8, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - Ike Davis did everything but drag the field in the eighth inning for the Sun Devils, leading top-ranked Arizona State to a second straight 13-4 win over UMass on Saturday night. Davis pitched the Devils out of a jam after the Minutemen had tied things up at 4-4 in the top half of the inning, then recorded two hits in the bottom half of the eighth, including a two-run blast onto Rural Road, keying ASU to a nine run inning and the win. It was Davis' second homer of the night, his first career multi-homer game. 2,779 saw Arizona State improve to 11-0 on the year.
Davis (2-0) picked up the win on the mound, but the pitcher of the night was Stephen Sauer, who fanned 11 and walked none in seven innings of work. He allowed one run and only three hits, but did not factor in to the decision.
UMass started out hot, scoring three times off ASU starter Seth Blair, knocking him out of the game after only two-thirds of an inning before Sauer came in and shut them down.
The ASU offense started chipping away in the fourth, when Davis hit his first homer of the year to center to cut the lead to 3-1. The Devils would pull even in the fifth, thanks to a Minuteman error. With Matt Newman on second after a walk and a stolen base, Mike Murphy squared for a sacrifice bunt. Murphy beat the throw to first for a single, but the throw got away from the first baseman, allowing Newman to score and Murphy to go to second. Jason Kipnis then singled up the middle, scoring Murphy with the tying run.
Arizona State would pull ahead in the sixth, thanks to a pinch hit RBI single by Jake Elmore that scored Kiel Roling to make it 4-3 ASU. Sauer cruised until the eighth, when he allowed back-to-back singles with two gone. Jason Jarvis came on in relief, but a single through the left side tied things at four. Ike Davis then came in to pitch from first base, while Jarvis moved to left field. Davis struck out Mike Gedman, stranding two runners and setting up the big inning for ASU.
Davis led the inning off with a single, then advanced to third after a base hit by Rocky Laguna. A balk allowed Davis to score to make it 5-4, but the Devils were just getting started. Marcel Champagnie singled to left center to score Laguna, then Murphy again bunted the ball and again allowed the Devils to capitalize on a UMass error. A throwing error by the pitcher allowed Champagnie to score and Newman to advance to third. Jason Kipnis then tripled off the wall in left, bringing home two more. After a walk to Petey Paramore, his third of the game, Brett Wallace sent a bullet of the wall in right to score two more. Ike Davis then closed out the inning's scoring by launching a ball to right for his second homer of the year and of the contest, his first ever two-homer game. All told, Arizona State scored nine runs in the eighth after scoring seven in the same frame last night.
Brett Wallace was 4-5 with two runs batted in while RB-Ike was 4-5 with three RBI. Jason Kipnis had two hits and three RBI as well.
Arizona State has now scored 27 runs in the eighth inning in their 11 games. The Devils and Minutemen will wrap up their three game series tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. from Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.