LAS VEGAS – Spencer Torkelson knocked his 16th home run of the season and Lyle Lin finished with three hits, but Sun Devil Baseball fell to UNLV, 14-6, on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Torkelson bat out of the leadoff position for the first time this season and responded in kind with his nation-leading 16th home run of the season to give ASU a 1-0 lead right out of the gates.
Lin finished the night 3-for-4 with two doubles and Gage Canning had a three-run home run. Jake Godfrey continued his impressive efforts of late, pitching one inning of perfect relief with two strikeouts
UNLV responded with seven unanswered runs in the first and second innings, however, to take a six-run advantage that forced ASU to have to claw back into the game.
Lyle Lin's ground rule double in the top of the fourth plated Gage Workman to bring ASU back within 7-2.
Drew Swift singled in the top of the fifth ahead of a Torkelson hit-by-pitch to bring Canning to the plate. Canning, who had his 31-game reached base streak snapped on Sunday against UNLV, returned to form with a three-run homer to right center. His fifth home of the season brought ASU back within 7-5.
UNLV put two runners on with no outs in the bottom half of the frame but Connor Higgins entered the game and escaped the damage with only a sac fly allowed to keep ASU within striking distance at 8-5.
However, UNLV would eventually tack on six unanswered runs to effectively put the game out of reach.
Godfrey continued his impressive week in the final inning of relief as he now has thrown 4.1 innings of relief in his last four games with five strikeouts, no walks and no runs allowed.
Zach Hogueisson earned his first collegiate hit and RBI in the eighth inning, plating Lin with an RBI single to make it 14-6.
ASU will remain on the road this weekend in a three-game Pac-12 series against a Top-5 Stanford program at the Sunken Diamond in Palo alto. The series will get underway on Friday at 6 p.m. PT.
Torkelson bat out of the leadoff position for the first time this season and responded in kind with his nation-leading 16th home run of the season to give ASU a 1-0 lead right out of the gates.
Lin finished the night 3-for-4 with two doubles and Gage Canning had a three-run home run. Jake Godfrey continued his impressive efforts of late, pitching one inning of perfect relief with two strikeouts
UNLV responded with seven unanswered runs in the first and second innings, however, to take a six-run advantage that forced ASU to have to claw back into the game.
Lyle Lin's ground rule double in the top of the fourth plated Gage Workman to bring ASU back within 7-2.
Drew Swift singled in the top of the fifth ahead of a Torkelson hit-by-pitch to bring Canning to the plate. Canning, who had his 31-game reached base streak snapped on Sunday against UNLV, returned to form with a three-run homer to right center. His fifth home of the season brought ASU back within 7-5.
UNLV put two runners on with no outs in the bottom half of the frame but Connor Higgins entered the game and escaped the damage with only a sac fly allowed to keep ASU within striking distance at 8-5.
However, UNLV would eventually tack on six unanswered runs to effectively put the game out of reach.
Godfrey continued his impressive week in the final inning of relief as he now has thrown 4.1 innings of relief in his last four games with five strikeouts, no walks and no runs allowed.
Zach Hogueisson earned his first collegiate hit and RBI in the eighth inning, plating Lin with an RBI single to make it 14-6.
ASU will remain on the road this weekend in a three-game Pac-12 series against a Top-5 Stanford program at the Sunken Diamond in Palo alto. The series will get underway on Friday at 6 p.m. PT.