PHOENIX – The Sun Devil offense scored a season-high six runs in the first inning while starting right-hander Eder Erives provided a steady outing for Arizona State as they defeated Washington State 10-7 on Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Arizona State (15-18) scored nine runs through the first four innings to stake themselves to a 9-0 lead. Infielder Jeremy McCuin went 3-for-4 with a home run while outfielder Andrew Shaps tallied three hits and scored two runs. Catcher Zach Cerbo, first baseman Lyle Lin, and outfielder Hunter Bishop all added two hits on the evening to pace the Sun Devil offense.
Getting the starting nod on the mound was Erives and the senior looked comfortable in the outing, teaming up with fellow senior Cerbo to form the Devils battery. Erives provided crucial innings to spell the Sun Devil pitching staff, finishing the night with 3.2 scoreless innings while striking out two.
After the Cougars mounted a late comeback, the Devils put the ball in the hands of righty Ryan Hingst to close things out. The sophomore pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless relief while striking out four to earn his first victory of the season.
It did not take long for the Sun Devils to get to Washington State (15-16) starting right-hander Ryan Walker. Following two singles to start the inning by outfielder Gage Canning and Shaps, Lin drew a walk to load the bases. Cerbo opened the scoring for both teams, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to right. With two down in the inning, the ASU offense would mount a rally, beginning with a RBI-double drilled by infielder Andrew Snow that would score Lin.
The big blow of the inning came a batter later, with infielder Carter Aldrete smashing the first pitch he saw to the opposite field over the right center field wall to extend the Sun Devil lead to 5-0. McCuin drove in Bishop, who reached on a triple, with a perfectly executed bunt down the third base line to make it 6-0 Sun Devils.
After a quiet second inning, the ASU offense would not let Walker settle into the game. Cerbo led the third inning off with a double, moving to third thanks to great execution from Snow, giving himself up and getting the ball to the right side. Aldrete would take advantage of the runner moving to third with one out, hitting a sacrifice fly plenty deep enough to score Cerbo and move the lead to 7-0. That would be it for Cougars starter Ryan Walker, as he was relieved by left-hander Trenton Dupre after allowing seven runs over 2.1 innings pitched. Another run would be tacked on the to the Sun Devil total, this one thanks to a McCuin RBI-double, scoring Bishop for an 8-0 lead.
Erives retired the first two batters of the fourth inning, giving way to James Ryan with two outs and a runner on second. Ryan stranded the runner at second with a big strikeout to keep Erives line clean.
ASU added another run in the bottom half of the fourth as Cerbo drove in Shaps with his second sacrifice fly of the game. In the fifth inning, McCuin connected on the first pitch he saw from Cougars reliever Dupre and smoked it over the left field fence to push the lead to 10-0.
The Cougars got a run back in the sixth inning, but Ryan induced a fly out to limit the damage to just one run. Now trailing 10-1, the Cougars scored six runs on five hits off of two different Sun Devil relievers in the seventh inning to get back within striking distance at 10-7. Right-handed reliever Ryan Hingst shut the door on any more potential runs, coming in and striking out Cougars lead-off batter Andres Alvarez with a pair of runners in scoring position.
With the lead down to three runs, Hingst provided much needed stability on the mound. Hingst would finish the game for the Sun Devils, cruising through the final 2.2 innings. Hingst allowed just one hit while striking out four, earning his first victory of the season.
NOTES: The six run first inning was the most runs scored by the Sun Devils in any inning so far this season…The Sun Devils finished the night 8-for-15 (.533) with two outs…Jeremy McCuin drove in a career-high three runs and tied a career-high with three hits…The 7-9 batters in the ASU lineup combined to go 6-for-9 with a home run, six runs batted in and two runs scored…Gage Canning has now tied a season-high with a seven-game hitting streak…Lyle Lin has reached base in all but on contest this season (33-of-34) and extended his ASU season-best reached base streak to 19 games…With two more hits tonight, Lin now has a team-high 14 multi-hit games and has at least one hit in 28 of ASU's 34 games this season…Andrew Shaps recorded three hits tonight, pushing his reached base streak to nine consecutive games…Carter Aldrete drove in three runs for the Sun Devils, giving him four multi-RBI games which is good for second on the team (Lin, 7)…Zach Cerbo notched his sixth multi-hit game of the season…Andrew Shaps stole his sixth base of the season tonight, matching his total from all of last season.
Arizona State (15-18) scored nine runs through the first four innings to stake themselves to a 9-0 lead. Infielder Jeremy McCuin went 3-for-4 with a home run while outfielder Andrew Shaps tallied three hits and scored two runs. Catcher Zach Cerbo, first baseman Lyle Lin, and outfielder Hunter Bishop all added two hits on the evening to pace the Sun Devil offense.
Getting the starting nod on the mound was Erives and the senior looked comfortable in the outing, teaming up with fellow senior Cerbo to form the Devils battery. Erives provided crucial innings to spell the Sun Devil pitching staff, finishing the night with 3.2 scoreless innings while striking out two.
After the Cougars mounted a late comeback, the Devils put the ball in the hands of righty Ryan Hingst to close things out. The sophomore pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless relief while striking out four to earn his first victory of the season.
It did not take long for the Sun Devils to get to Washington State (15-16) starting right-hander Ryan Walker. Following two singles to start the inning by outfielder Gage Canning and Shaps, Lin drew a walk to load the bases. Cerbo opened the scoring for both teams, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to right. With two down in the inning, the ASU offense would mount a rally, beginning with a RBI-double drilled by infielder Andrew Snow that would score Lin.
The big blow of the inning came a batter later, with infielder Carter Aldrete smashing the first pitch he saw to the opposite field over the right center field wall to extend the Sun Devil lead to 5-0. McCuin drove in Bishop, who reached on a triple, with a perfectly executed bunt down the third base line to make it 6-0 Sun Devils.
After a quiet second inning, the ASU offense would not let Walker settle into the game. Cerbo led the third inning off with a double, moving to third thanks to great execution from Snow, giving himself up and getting the ball to the right side. Aldrete would take advantage of the runner moving to third with one out, hitting a sacrifice fly plenty deep enough to score Cerbo and move the lead to 7-0. That would be it for Cougars starter Ryan Walker, as he was relieved by left-hander Trenton Dupre after allowing seven runs over 2.1 innings pitched. Another run would be tacked on the to the Sun Devil total, this one thanks to a McCuin RBI-double, scoring Bishop for an 8-0 lead.
Erives retired the first two batters of the fourth inning, giving way to James Ryan with two outs and a runner on second. Ryan stranded the runner at second with a big strikeout to keep Erives line clean.
ASU added another run in the bottom half of the fourth as Cerbo drove in Shaps with his second sacrifice fly of the game. In the fifth inning, McCuin connected on the first pitch he saw from Cougars reliever Dupre and smoked it over the left field fence to push the lead to 10-0.
The Cougars got a run back in the sixth inning, but Ryan induced a fly out to limit the damage to just one run. Now trailing 10-1, the Cougars scored six runs on five hits off of two different Sun Devil relievers in the seventh inning to get back within striking distance at 10-7. Right-handed reliever Ryan Hingst shut the door on any more potential runs, coming in and striking out Cougars lead-off batter Andres Alvarez with a pair of runners in scoring position.
With the lead down to three runs, Hingst provided much needed stability on the mound. Hingst would finish the game for the Sun Devils, cruising through the final 2.2 innings. Hingst allowed just one hit while striking out four, earning his first victory of the season.
NOTES: The six run first inning was the most runs scored by the Sun Devils in any inning so far this season…The Sun Devils finished the night 8-for-15 (.533) with two outs…Jeremy McCuin drove in a career-high three runs and tied a career-high with three hits…The 7-9 batters in the ASU lineup combined to go 6-for-9 with a home run, six runs batted in and two runs scored…Gage Canning has now tied a season-high with a seven-game hitting streak…Lyle Lin has reached base in all but on contest this season (33-of-34) and extended his ASU season-best reached base streak to 19 games…With two more hits tonight, Lin now has a team-high 14 multi-hit games and has at least one hit in 28 of ASU's 34 games this season…Andrew Shaps recorded three hits tonight, pushing his reached base streak to nine consecutive games…Carter Aldrete drove in three runs for the Sun Devils, giving him four multi-RBI games which is good for second on the team (Lin, 7)…Zach Cerbo notched his sixth multi-hit game of the season…Andrew Shaps stole his sixth base of the season tonight, matching his total from all of last season.