March 19, 2011
TEMPE, Ariz. - Joey DeMichele drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning to put ASU up 4-3 over Oral Roberts and the Sun Devil bullpen would make it hold up, as Arizona State beat the Golden Eagles 4-3 on Saturday night. 3,347 fans were on hand at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark to see Arizona State improve to 15-3 on the season.
Trevor Williams kept ORU off the board in the eighth, striking out two before giving way to Mitchell Lambson in the ninth. Lambson worked a perfect ninth, including two strike outs, to pick up his second save of the season. It was the 10th save of Lambson's career, making him only the third player in Arizona State history to record 20 career wins and 10 career saves. Kevin Dukes (21 wins, 20 saves) and Mitch Dean (25 wins, 11 saves) are the only other Sun Devils to reach those totals.
The Golden Eagles jumped on ASU starter Kyle Ottoson early, tagging him for two runs in the top of the first to grab the early 2-0 lead. The Devils got one back in the bottom of the third on Zack MacPhee's first home run of the season that cut the lead to 2-1.
Arizona State would take the lead in the bottom of sixth thanks to some timely two-out hitting. With Matt Newman on second and Xorge Carrillo on first, Andy Workman singled to left center, scoring Newman to even things up. Carrillo would come home on Johnny Ruettiger's single to left to give the Devils a 3-2 lead after six.
The lead was short-lived, as Oral Roberts scored a run off reliever Joseph Lopez in the top of the seventh. A one-out walk and a wild pitch put the tying run in scoring position for ORU, then Spencer Barnett's single to left brought the run home and tied the score.
The Devils would again move out in front in the bottom of the seventh thanks to some free bases from ORU pitchers. Riccio Torrez led off the inning with a walk then moved to third on a one-out single by Deven Marrero. Newman then walked to load the bases prompting the Golden Eagles to make a pitching change. Lefty Lars Liguori relieved Sean Johnson to face the left handed hitting Joey DeMichele. But Liguori walked DeMichele, forcing in the go-ahead run to give ASU a 4-3 lead. Another pitching change for the Eagles would do the trick, as Dan Martony worked out of the jam by fanning the next two hitters. But Williams and Lambson slammed the door from there, securing the win for Arizona State.
Kyle Ottoson pitched well, allowing two runs, one earned, in six innings of work. He struck out eight and allowed only four hits but did not factor into the decision. Joseph Lopez picked up his first career victory in an inning of work. For the game, the Sun Devil pitching staff struck out 14 ORU batters. Matt Newman and Joey DeMichele each had two hits in the victory.
The Sun Devils and Golden Eagles will wrap-up their series on Sunday afternoon in Tempe. First pitch is set for 12:30 p.m. from Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.