June 9, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - By Matt Storey
The 2008 Sun Devil Baseball season came to an end on Monday at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark, as Fresno State beat ASU 12-9 to win the Tempe Super Regional and advance to the College World Series. Arizona State finishes the season 49-13.
For the second straight night, the Sun Devils squandered several scoring opportunities in falling to the Bulldogs. They left 15 runners on base, which ties their season high, and they left the bases loaded three times, including in the bottom of the ninth.
ASU had back-to-back RBI singles in the bottom of the first by Ike Davis and Petey Paramore to take an early lead, but it would not last long, as Fresno State's Tommy Mendonca hit a three-run homer off ASU starting pitcher Matt Newman in the top of the second.
The Bulldogs added another run in the top of the third, but the Sun Devils would answer in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run by Brett Wallace, his 22nd of the season and 45th in his career, tying him with Barry Bonds for fourth in school history.
Matt Newman then hit solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings to put ASU in front 5-4. It is the first career multi-homer game for Newman.
However, the Sun Devils also left the bases loaded in both the fourth and fifth, and the missed opportunities would prove costly.
Fresno State tied the game with a run in the sixth after two ASU fielding errors extended the inning, and the Bulldogs then broke the game open in the seventh with six runs off Mike Leake, who came on in relief after starting Game 1 of the series. Gavin Hedstrom was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Eric Wetzel then hit a three-run double down the right field line. Steve Susdorf then capped off the inning with a two-run homer to right center that put the Sun Devils in a six-run hole.
ASU threatened in the bottom of the seventh, putting runners on second and third with no outs, but Kiel Roling and Raoul Torrez struck out and Greg Bordes grounded out to end the inning with no runs.
The Bulldogs pushed another run across in the top of the ninth, but the Devils made a valiant rally in the bottom of the ninth. They scored four runs on an RBI single by Ryan Sontag, a two-run single by Kipnis and an RBI single by Davis, and they had the bases loaded with two outs and Newman representing the winning run at the plate, but Newman lined out to left to end the game.
Leake took the loss and fell to 11-3 on the season. Sontag, Kipnis, Davis, Newman and Bordes all had two hits each in the victory to lead the ASU offense.