PHOENIX – Trailing 4-1 and down to their very last strike of the game, the Sun Devil Baseball team put together a furious rally for a 5-4 walk-off victory over Washington State to complete the series sweep on Saturday afternoon at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Ryan Lillard went yard for a two-out, pinch hit three-run homer to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning and Hunter Bishop singled to bring home the winning run four batters later to give ASU its third walk-off win of the year.
Reagan Todd pitched 3.0 innings of exceptional relief to earn the victory for the Devils, escaping a jam upon entering the seventh inning and allowing just one hit with no walks and a strikeout in the win. Eli Lingos rallied after an inauspicious start, blanking the Cougars in four straight innings and striking out six after giving up four runs in the first two innings to keep ASU in contention.
The ninth-inning theatrics kicked off with an impressive at-bat from junior Andrew Snow. Down 0-2 in the count with two away, Snow worked a full-count walk to keep the game alive. Taylor Lane followed with another walk off reliever Colby Nealy to bring the tying run to the plate.
That run came in the form of Lillard.
The junior, who was batting under .100 in Pac-12 games this season, responded with the biggest hit of his career on shot right off the batter's eye in dead center to net the game at 4-4.
The Devils smelled blood in the water and Gage Canning promptly responded with a single to center and moved to second on a wild pitch. After Andrew Shaps accepted an intentional walk, Lyle Lin laced a ball through the right side that was corralled by the third baseman but not before all three runners reached safely to load the bases with two outs.
That brought Bishop to the dish and the freshman fouled off the first pitch he saw from reliever Damon Jones before knocking the next ball he saw into right center to bring Canning in from third and give the Devils their first conference sweep of the season.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the contest, seeing the ball well early to the tune of a 3-0 lead after one inning. WSU would add a second run in the second for a 4-0 lead before Lingos settled into a groove, allowing just one runner to move into scoring position in the remainder of the outing.
ASU broke through in the bottom of the sixth following a walk from Lyle Lin and an infield single from Zach Cerbo. Tyler Williams would plate Lin on a sacrifice fly to left to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Sun Devils went to reliever Spencer Van Scoyoc in the seventh after a solid outing from Lingos, but the freshman struggled with controls issues and walked the first two batters he faced. That prompted the call to the pen in favor of Todd, who quickly got an out at second on a fielder's choice but still had runners on the corners.
The Cougars attempted a squeeze bunt with one out but popped the effort in the air to Todd for the second out before the redshirt sophomore lefty put away the third batter on a flyout to center. Todd put together a perfect eighth and worked around a one-out single in the ninth to keep the Devils within striking distance.
NOTES: ASU improved to 16-2 in series' against the Cougars since 2000 and picked up their sixth sweep in that time…It was the third sweep of the season for the Devils and first Pac-12 sweep since taking three against Stanford last season… Gage Canning set a new season-high with an eight-game hitting streak following his two-hit effort on the day…Lyle Lin has reached base in all but one contest this season (33-of-34) and extended his ASU season-best reached base streak to 20 games… Andrew Shaps reached on an intentional walk in the ninth, extending his current reached base streak to 10 consecutive games…Since 2016, the Devils off eight walk-off wins (three this season) and are 17-3 in one-run games (5-2 this year), including 6-2 in Pac-12 play. ASU has driven in the game-winning run in the eighth innings or later 14 times (four times this season) and have notched 11 wins since 2016 when trailing after six innings (five times this season)…Lillard's home-run was the second time this season the Devils notched a game-tying home run in the ninth inning…
UP NEXT: The Sun Devils head on the road for a mid-week non-conference tilt at UNLV on Tuesday, April 18 at 6 p.m. MT in Las Vegas before hosting a three-game non-conference series against CSU Bakersfield beginning Friday, April 21. All three games of the series will be available via live stream at the Pac-12.com/live.
Ryan Lillard went yard for a two-out, pinch hit three-run homer to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning and Hunter Bishop singled to bring home the winning run four batters later to give ASU its third walk-off win of the year.
Reagan Todd pitched 3.0 innings of exceptional relief to earn the victory for the Devils, escaping a jam upon entering the seventh inning and allowing just one hit with no walks and a strikeout in the win. Eli Lingos rallied after an inauspicious start, blanking the Cougars in four straight innings and striking out six after giving up four runs in the first two innings to keep ASU in contention.
The ninth-inning theatrics kicked off with an impressive at-bat from junior Andrew Snow. Down 0-2 in the count with two away, Snow worked a full-count walk to keep the game alive. Taylor Lane followed with another walk off reliever Colby Nealy to bring the tying run to the plate.
That run came in the form of Lillard.
The junior, who was batting under .100 in Pac-12 games this season, responded with the biggest hit of his career on shot right off the batter's eye in dead center to net the game at 4-4.
The Devils smelled blood in the water and Gage Canning promptly responded with a single to center and moved to second on a wild pitch. After Andrew Shaps accepted an intentional walk, Lyle Lin laced a ball through the right side that was corralled by the third baseman but not before all three runners reached safely to load the bases with two outs.
That brought Bishop to the dish and the freshman fouled off the first pitch he saw from reliever Damon Jones before knocking the next ball he saw into right center to bring Canning in from third and give the Devils their first conference sweep of the season.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the contest, seeing the ball well early to the tune of a 3-0 lead after one inning. WSU would add a second run in the second for a 4-0 lead before Lingos settled into a groove, allowing just one runner to move into scoring position in the remainder of the outing.
ASU broke through in the bottom of the sixth following a walk from Lyle Lin and an infield single from Zach Cerbo. Tyler Williams would plate Lin on a sacrifice fly to left to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Sun Devils went to reliever Spencer Van Scoyoc in the seventh after a solid outing from Lingos, but the freshman struggled with controls issues and walked the first two batters he faced. That prompted the call to the pen in favor of Todd, who quickly got an out at second on a fielder's choice but still had runners on the corners.
The Cougars attempted a squeeze bunt with one out but popped the effort in the air to Todd for the second out before the redshirt sophomore lefty put away the third batter on a flyout to center. Todd put together a perfect eighth and worked around a one-out single in the ninth to keep the Devils within striking distance.
NOTES: ASU improved to 16-2 in series' against the Cougars since 2000 and picked up their sixth sweep in that time…It was the third sweep of the season for the Devils and first Pac-12 sweep since taking three against Stanford last season… Gage Canning set a new season-high with an eight-game hitting streak following his two-hit effort on the day…Lyle Lin has reached base in all but one contest this season (33-of-34) and extended his ASU season-best reached base streak to 20 games… Andrew Shaps reached on an intentional walk in the ninth, extending his current reached base streak to 10 consecutive games…Since 2016, the Devils off eight walk-off wins (three this season) and are 17-3 in one-run games (5-2 this year), including 6-2 in Pac-12 play. ASU has driven in the game-winning run in the eighth innings or later 14 times (four times this season) and have notched 11 wins since 2016 when trailing after six innings (five times this season)…Lillard's home-run was the second time this season the Devils notched a game-tying home run in the ninth inning…
UP NEXT: The Sun Devils head on the road for a mid-week non-conference tilt at UNLV on Tuesday, April 18 at 6 p.m. MT in Las Vegas before hosting a three-game non-conference series against CSU Bakersfield beginning Friday, April 21. All three games of the series will be available via live stream at the Pac-12.com/live.