April 12, 2008
PULLMAN, Wash. - Defensive miscues proved to costly for Arizona State to overcome, as they fell to Washington State 10-4 on Saturday afternoon in Pullman. The Sun Devils had three errors that led to eight Cougar runs. The loss drops ASU to 29-4, 5-3 in Pac-10 play.
Washington State put up four-run innings in both the third and the seventh, both times aided by costly Arizona State errors.
Mike Leake took the loss, dropping him to 6-1 on the year. He allowed eight hits and eight runs, three earned, in 6.1 innings of work. He struck out four and walked two.
Ike Davis put the Devils on the board first, sending a solo shot to left in the second inning. It was the 12th round-tripper of the year for Davis. The Cougars responded in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four unearned runs off Mike Leake to take a 4-1 lead. A Marcel Champagnie error at shortstop allowed the inning to continue and lead to four unearned runs.
Arizona State erased the lead in the fourth, scoring three to tie the game. Brett Wallace's double to center scored Ryan Sontag to make it 4-2, then a Jason Kipnis ground out scored Mike Jones from third to make it 4-3. Petey Paramore evened things up with his sacrifice fly that scored Brett Wallace with the tying run.
Mike Leake ran out of gas in the seventh, allowing four Cougar runs to give WSU an 8-4 lead. After back-to-back singles put runners on first and second, Jim Murphy hit a single to centerfield to score one. Mike Jones bobbled the ball in center then threw the ball into the Washington State dugout allowing another run to score. Leake was relieved by Reyes Dorado, but the Cougars scored twice more to make it 8-4.
Washington State would add two more in the eighth off of Tommy Rafferty to extend their lead to 10-4.
Arizona State managed seven hits, led by Ryan Sontag, who was 2-3. The Devils and Cougars will play the rubber game tomorrow afternoon at Noon from Bailey-Brayton Field.