March 21, 2009
TEMPE, Ariz. - For the second consecutive night, a strong starting pitching performance led the No. 4 Arizona State University baseball team to victory over Arizona, as Josh Spence earned the win in a 7-3 victory on Saturday. A second straight sellout crowd of 4,371 fans at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark saw the Sun Devils improve to 16-3 overall, 2-0 in the Pac-10, on the season.
Spence went 7.1 innings, allowing five hits and three runs while striking out 10 to move to 4-0 on the season. Jason Franzblau and Mitchell Lambson combined to pitch a perfect 1.2 innings out of the bullpen to finish off the win, with Lambson recording his first career save in the win.
Raoul Torrez went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs to lead the Sun Devil offense, and Kole Calhoun also had two RBI in the victory.
The Sun Devils got on the board first when Carlos Ramirez scored on a wild pitch in the second inning.
The fourth inning proved to be the pivotal one, as Arizona put its first two runners on base, but Spence got out of the jam with two strikeouts and a groundout. ASU then scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run double by Torrez and RBI singles by Calhoun and Zack MacPhee.
Arizona right fielder Steve Selsky hit a solo home run in the sixth, one of only two hits that Spence allowed through the first seven innings. The Devils answered with a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Matt Newman.
The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the eighth, but Franzblau retired the only batter he faced and Lambson ended the inning by getting Arizona third baseman Brad Glenn to fly out. Calhoun then added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth, and Lambson sent the Wildcats down in order in the ninth.
The Sun Devils will complete their three-game series with Arizona on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.