March 29, 2013
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TEMPE, Ariz. - Right fielder Kasey Coffman collected five RBI on a pair of home runs to power the 24th-ranked Arizona State University baseball team to a series win over No. 4 UCLA, 7-4, on Friday night in front of 3,561 fans at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
Coffman hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the second inning and added a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth frame to set a career high in RBI as he paced the Sun Devils (15-7-1, 4-4) to their fifth win over a top-10 team this season.
Starting freshman left-hander Ryan Kellogg (6-0) allowed four runs on eight hits and struck out five in an eight-inning outing to improve to 6-0 this season. He did not walk a batter for the second consecutive game and has now gone 19 straight innings without issuing a walk.
Kellogg has given up just five earned runs in the past 32 innings dating back to the sixth inning of his start against then-No. 2 Arkansas on March 2, and is the first freshman in more than 13 years to begin his career 6-0.
Freshman right-hander Ryan Burr (5) took over in the ninth and struck out the final batter of the game to pick up his fifth save of the season.
The Bruins (17-6, 5-3) used a pair of singles and a sacrifice bunt to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, but the Sun Devils countered with four runs in the bottom of the frame to jump out a 4-1 advantage.
Coffman capped off the inning with a three-run homer over the right field fence after a leadoff double by left fielder Nate Causey and a two-out walk by center fielder Johnny Sewald.
UCLA catcher Shane Zeile hit a leadoff home run to start the fifth inning to cut the Devils' lead to two, 4-2, and added two runs on a pair of doubles in the sixth to tie the game at four.
Shortstop Drew Stankiewicz scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth after he singled and moved to third on a base hit by Causey before freshman first baseman Dalton DiNatale plated him with a sacrifice fly to right field. Coffman then hit his second home run of the night two batters later to extend ASU's lead to three, 7-4.
UCLA starting right-hander Nick Vander Tuig allowed four runs on five hits and struck out five in five innings. Right-hander Cody Poteet (1-2) took his second loss of the season after conceding a trio of runs on three hits in the sixth inning.
Up Next:
ASU closes out its three-game series with the Bruins on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Packard Stadium. The game will be broadcast on The Fan AM 1060 or through the All-Access player on thesundevils.com, and will also be streamed live through Pac-12.com/live/thesundevils. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter at @ASU_Baseball for live scoring and updates from the weekend, and check thesundevils.com for stats, notes and more.
Game Notes:
Coffman is the first Sun Devil to hit two home runs in a game since Tim Esmay collected his 13th win over a top-10 team and is 40-29 against ranked teams ...ASU improved to 114-66 all-time against the Bruins, including 7-4 under coach Esmay...six members of the 1965 National Championship team were in attendance (John Pavlik, Tony Alesci, Luis Lagunas, Jim Merrick, Lt. Col. Rich Oliver and John Ruedy)... former Sun Devil pitching star and current Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake was also in attendance...the Sun Devils have allowed just two home runs all season.
Saturday's Pitching Matchup
ASU: LHP Adam McCreery (1-3, 7.43)
UCLA: LHP Grant Watson(5-0, 1.13)
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