June 5, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. - Zack MacPhee had four hits and Seth Blair threw seven strong innings as the No. 1 Arizona State University baseball team defeated Hawai'i 12-1 in Tempe Regional play on Saturday. A second consecutive sellout crowd saw the Sun Devils improve to 49-8 on the season with the win.
MacPhee went 4-for-5 and hit one of ASU's four home runs on the night. Kole Calhoun, Deven Marrero and Raoul Torrez also hit home runs in the game, while MacPhee, Marrero and Johnny Ruettiger all had three RBI each. Riccio Torrez had three hits, and Ruettiger, Marrero and Austin Barnes added two hits apiece.
Blair got the win to improve to 12-0, as he allowed just three hits and one run while striking out eight with no walks over seven innings. Jake Barrett and Jimmy Patterson each pitched scoreless innings of relief to finish off the win.
The Sun Devils, as the designated visiting team, scored four runs in the top of the first. Calhoun drove in the first run with a groundout, and then two batters later, Ruettiger hit a two-run triple into the gap in right center. Marrero then followed him with an RBI single to give ASU a 4-0 lead.
MacPhee hit a two-run homer in the second and Raoul Torrez hit a solo homer in the third to extend the lead to 7-0. That score stood up until the seventh, when Calhoun hit a solo home run, his team-leading 15th of the season, and Ruettiger had an RBI double.
The Rainbows scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, but ASU came back with a MacPhee RBI single in the eighth and a two-run homer by Marrero in the ninth.
The Sun Devils will face the winner of the 1 p.m. elimination game between San Diego and Hawai'i on Sunday at 6 p.m. at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. San Diego eliminated UW-Milwaukee with a 22-1 victory in earlier action on Saturday.