May 24, 2008
TUCSON, Ariz. -
By Matt Storey With the conference title wrapped up on the final day of the regular season, Arizona State fell 7-4 to Arizona in Tucson. The Devils rested three starters on Saturday, while several others exited the game early. Arizona State closes out the regular season at 45-11, 16-8 in Pac-10 play.
Regular starters Petey Paramore, Kiel Roling and Raoul Torrez did not play in the game, while Mike Leake, Ryan Sontag and Marcel Champagnie all came out early.
The game remained scoreless until the fourth on a two-run double by Arizona's Jon Gaston off Sun Devil starter Seth Blair. The Wildcats then added three more runs in the fifth and two in the sixth.
Ike Davis finally got ASU on the board with a grand slam in the ninth that curled just inside the foul pole down the left field line. It was Davis' fifth career grand slam, his second of the year, and his 16th home run on the season.
Blair allowed four runs on just three hits over 4.1 innings, and he took the loss to drop to 4-2 on the season.
Mike Jones had three hits while Jason Kipnis and Brett Wallace added two hits each to lead the ASU offense, but the Sun Devils stranded 11 runners and hit into two double plays.
The Devils will now wait and see if they will be selected as a regional host. The 16 host sites will be announced tomorrow evening. The 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN 2.