TEMPE, Ariz. – Sun Devil Baseball defeated Oklahoma State, 9-1, behind a dominant effort on the mound from Sam Romero on Friday night in the first of three games at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
In his first career start, the junior right-hander Romero was dealing for the Sun Devils, striking out seven batters and allowing just one run over six innings. Romero set the tone for the night as the Devils needed use just three pitchers in the outing while striking out a season-high 12 batters. After struggling to find the strike zone just 58 percent of the time on Wednesday against Long Beach State, the Sun Devil staff rebounded on Friday as the group threw strikes on nearly 70 percent of their pitches on the night.
The offense posted a season-high 14 hits as Gage Workman led the way with two triples and two RBIs. Every Sun Devil starter recorded a hit or an RBI in the contest. Alika Williams had a career-best three hits on 3-of-3 hitting with a walk and Spencer Torkelson added two RBI's to bring his team-leading total to 11.
After only giving up 3 runs in 11.2 innings pitched all year, Oklahoma State pitcher Jonathan Heasley allowed three runs in just the first inning to give ASU an early 3-0 lead. Coming into the game, the Devils had only scored four runs total in the first inning this season.
Gage Canning and Lyle Lin both recorded hits in their first at-bats, and now have a hit in all of the first ten games. Canning came into the contest as the NCAA's leader in hits with 21.
Romero induced a double-play with two runners on to get the Devils out of a potential game-changing jam in the second inning, maintaining the team's 3-0 lead.
The Devils increased their lead in the bottom of the third inning, as designated hitter Gage Workman tripled to right field, driving in two runs. Workman added another run to the lead, scoring on a sacrifice-fly from Trevor Hauver, leaving the Devils up 6-0 at the bottom of the third.
OSU scored their first and only run of the game in the fifth inning after Jake Taylor doubled-in Jon Littell.
In the bottom of the fifth, Workman hit his second triple of the night. One pitch later, he would scamper home after a wild pitch from Heasley, putting the Devils up 7-1. A Spencer Torkelson ground-rule double drove in the second of two runs in the sixth inning, extending the lead to 9-1.
Dellan Raish struck out five batters in just 2.0 innings pitched, combining with Brady Corrigan to keep the Cowboys off the scoreboard over the final three innings, as the Sun Devils would take the victory 9-1.
The Sun Devils return to action against the Cowboys tomorrow evening a 6:30 p.m. AZT with Eli Lingos expected to toe the rubber for Arizona State.
NOTES:
· Alika Williams recorded his first multi-hit game tonight, with 3 hits.
· Every single Sun Devil in the starting lineup had a hit or RBI.
· Five different Sun Devils recorded multi-hit games including the eighth for Lyle Lin, third for Drew Swift, second for Carter Aldrete and Gage Workman, and first occurrence from Alika Williams.
· ASU had struggled with runners in scoring position this season at just a .207 clip. ASU was 5-of-14 for a .357 clip tonight
· ASU had another errorless evening on defense, it's third errorless night of the season. ASU has just two errors total in five wins while committed 11 errors total in five losses.
· Spencer Torkelson had his fourth multi-RBI game of the season, leading the Sun Devils in the category.
· Single game season-high 2,373 were in attendance.
In his first career start, the junior right-hander Romero was dealing for the Sun Devils, striking out seven batters and allowing just one run over six innings. Romero set the tone for the night as the Devils needed use just three pitchers in the outing while striking out a season-high 12 batters. After struggling to find the strike zone just 58 percent of the time on Wednesday against Long Beach State, the Sun Devil staff rebounded on Friday as the group threw strikes on nearly 70 percent of their pitches on the night.
The offense posted a season-high 14 hits as Gage Workman led the way with two triples and two RBIs. Every Sun Devil starter recorded a hit or an RBI in the contest. Alika Williams had a career-best three hits on 3-of-3 hitting with a walk and Spencer Torkelson added two RBI's to bring his team-leading total to 11.
After only giving up 3 runs in 11.2 innings pitched all year, Oklahoma State pitcher Jonathan Heasley allowed three runs in just the first inning to give ASU an early 3-0 lead. Coming into the game, the Devils had only scored four runs total in the first inning this season.
Gage Canning and Lyle Lin both recorded hits in their first at-bats, and now have a hit in all of the first ten games. Canning came into the contest as the NCAA's leader in hits with 21.
Romero induced a double-play with two runners on to get the Devils out of a potential game-changing jam in the second inning, maintaining the team's 3-0 lead.
The Devils increased their lead in the bottom of the third inning, as designated hitter Gage Workman tripled to right field, driving in two runs. Workman added another run to the lead, scoring on a sacrifice-fly from Trevor Hauver, leaving the Devils up 6-0 at the bottom of the third.
OSU scored their first and only run of the game in the fifth inning after Jake Taylor doubled-in Jon Littell.
In the bottom of the fifth, Workman hit his second triple of the night. One pitch later, he would scamper home after a wild pitch from Heasley, putting the Devils up 7-1. A Spencer Torkelson ground-rule double drove in the second of two runs in the sixth inning, extending the lead to 9-1.
Dellan Raish struck out five batters in just 2.0 innings pitched, combining with Brady Corrigan to keep the Cowboys off the scoreboard over the final three innings, as the Sun Devils would take the victory 9-1.
The Sun Devils return to action against the Cowboys tomorrow evening a 6:30 p.m. AZT with Eli Lingos expected to toe the rubber for Arizona State.
NOTES:
· Alika Williams recorded his first multi-hit game tonight, with 3 hits.
· Every single Sun Devil in the starting lineup had a hit or RBI.
· Five different Sun Devils recorded multi-hit games including the eighth for Lyle Lin, third for Drew Swift, second for Carter Aldrete and Gage Workman, and first occurrence from Alika Williams.
· ASU had struggled with runners in scoring position this season at just a .207 clip. ASU was 5-of-14 for a .357 clip tonight
· ASU had another errorless evening on defense, it's third errorless night of the season. ASU has just two errors total in five wins while committed 11 errors total in five losses.
· Spencer Torkelson had his fourth multi-RBI game of the season, leading the Sun Devils in the category.
· Single game season-high 2,373 were in attendance.