PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball brought the tying run to the plate in each of the final four innings in a 6-3 loss to San Diego on Tuesday night in front of 3,095 fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The Sun Devils (13-7) trailed by three heading into the bottom of the ninth, but third baseman David Greer drew a one-out walk and first baseman RJ Ybarra drove a two-out double to the left-field wall to put both runners in scoring position. Catcher Brian Serven battled through a nine-pitch at-bat, but eventually went down swinging.
Starting right-hander Jordan Aboites (1-1) scattered four runs on seven hits and two walks, and struck out three in four innings in his second start of the season.
Left fielder Ryan Lillard tallied a career-best two hits and added a RBI, and Ybarra knocked in a pair of doubles to pace the Devils’ offense, which notched double-digit hits for the 10th game this season.
The Toreros (13-10) crossed the plate in each of the first three innings, and Arizona State scored once in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1 in favor of USD through the opening third of the game.
The Devils cut their deficit to one, 3-2, in the fourth inning behind a bases-loaded single from center fielder Andrew Shaps. Serven drew a leadoff walk and advanced two bases on back-to-back base hits from Lillard and second baseman Andrew Snow before Shaps’ RBI single.
Left-hander Reagan Todd replaced Aboites after a leadoff walk to start the fifth, and USD pushed a pair across via a hit batter, single and sacrifice fly to move ahead by three, but ASU countered in the bottom half of the frame. Shortstop Colby Woodmansee notched his Pac-12-leading 11th double and was plated two batters later on a RBI single from Serven.
Todd, who put together consecutive perfect innings in the sixth and seventh, conceded a leadoff home run in the eighth that stretched the Toreros’ advantage back to three, 6-3, before he retired three straight to close out his outing.
Right-hander James Ryan entered in the ninth and allowed a walk and a double, but stranded both runners in scoring position with a deep fly ball to center field.
Notes: Woodmansee has reached base safely in all 20 games this season and in 71 of the team’s past 78 games…Woodmansee has a hit in 62 of the team’s past 78 games…Serven caught a runner stealing third in the second inning and leads the Pac-12 with 17 runners caught stealing…
Up Next
The Devils open their Pac-12 home conference slate with a three-game series against Utah March 24-26. First pitch on Thursday, March 24, is set for 6:30 p.m., with Friday and Saturday scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively (all times AZ/PT). All three games will be streamed live via thesundevils.com and broadcast by the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 with Tim Healey and Max Rossiter on the call.
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