TUCSON, Ariz. – Hunter Bishop homered twice and Spencer Torkelson notched his 25th big fly of the year, but Sun Devil Baseball dropped the rubber match in the series against rival Arizona, 10-9, in 11 innings on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.
The exciting back and forth affair had plenty of fireworks, as Bishop continued what had been an already impressive weekend with the first multi-home run game of his career. The sophomore had a solo shot early on and then a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh, the latter of which cleared the batter's eye in center field.
With the weekend's effort, Bishop finished with eight RBIs in the team's three games while adding a pair of doubles and scoring three runs.
Bishop, Carter Aldrete and Hunter Jump all finished with three hits in the game. ASU's bullpen was solid again, not allowing a single earned run in 7.0 innings of relief. ASU was undid again, however, by three defensive errors that led to the final four unearned runs of the game.
Torkelson continued his historic freshman season as his three-run home run in the fourth inning gave him 25 on the season – extending the ASU and Pac-12 freshman records and moving within one home run of the NCAA freshman record of 26 set by Todd Greene in 1990.
The frosh became the first Pac-12 player to reach 25 home runs since fellow Sun Devil Mitch Jones set a ASU school record with 27 in 2000. Torkelson is now tied for 11th in Pac-12 history for single season home runs. Saturday's homer also extended his NCAA lead in the category to two home runs. No freshman in NCAA history has ever led the country in home runs.
The two teams traded runs from the onset of the game, with ASU taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first just to have Arizona answer in the bottom of the frame.
ASU went up against in the second on an Alika Williams sac fly to make it 3-2 and opened things up in the fourth with Bishop's solo shot followed by a three-run bomb from Torkelson to make it 7-2.
The Wildcats stormed back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to make it 7-6 before tying it against in the sixth inning on an unearned run.
ASU immediately went back on top, however, behind Bishop's second home run of the game. The two-out shout gave ASU a 9-7 advantage that was again wiped out in the bottom half of the frame after two Wildcats scored following a dropped fly ball that would have ended the inning.
The pitching staffs locked in to trade zeroes over the next three innings, though ASU loaded the bases twice in the team's final four plate appearances and couldn't bring the go-ahead run across.
The Wildcats would eventually take advantage in the bottom of the 11th, scoring of a fielding error to right field to earn the walk-off victory.
The ASU bullpen did its part to keep ASU in the game, however with Brady Corrigan going 3.1 innings after a solid outing last night, allowing no earned runs in his longest appearance in over a month.
Boyd Vander Kooi saw his first extended action since the first month of the season, going 3.0 innings with three strikeouts and no earned runs to keep ASU alive in the latter stages of the game, despite taking the tough-luck loss on an unearned run.
ASU will conclude the 2018 season next weekend at home with a three-game series against Cal beginning Thursday night.
The exciting back and forth affair had plenty of fireworks, as Bishop continued what had been an already impressive weekend with the first multi-home run game of his career. The sophomore had a solo shot early on and then a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh, the latter of which cleared the batter's eye in center field.
With the weekend's effort, Bishop finished with eight RBIs in the team's three games while adding a pair of doubles and scoring three runs.
Bishop, Carter Aldrete and Hunter Jump all finished with three hits in the game. ASU's bullpen was solid again, not allowing a single earned run in 7.0 innings of relief. ASU was undid again, however, by three defensive errors that led to the final four unearned runs of the game.
Torkelson continued his historic freshman season as his three-run home run in the fourth inning gave him 25 on the season – extending the ASU and Pac-12 freshman records and moving within one home run of the NCAA freshman record of 26 set by Todd Greene in 1990.
The frosh became the first Pac-12 player to reach 25 home runs since fellow Sun Devil Mitch Jones set a ASU school record with 27 in 2000. Torkelson is now tied for 11th in Pac-12 history for single season home runs. Saturday's homer also extended his NCAA lead in the category to two home runs. No freshman in NCAA history has ever led the country in home runs.
The two teams traded runs from the onset of the game, with ASU taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first just to have Arizona answer in the bottom of the frame.
ASU went up against in the second on an Alika Williams sac fly to make it 3-2 and opened things up in the fourth with Bishop's solo shot followed by a three-run bomb from Torkelson to make it 7-2.
The Wildcats stormed back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to make it 7-6 before tying it against in the sixth inning on an unearned run.
ASU immediately went back on top, however, behind Bishop's second home run of the game. The two-out shout gave ASU a 9-7 advantage that was again wiped out in the bottom half of the frame after two Wildcats scored following a dropped fly ball that would have ended the inning.
The pitching staffs locked in to trade zeroes over the next three innings, though ASU loaded the bases twice in the team's final four plate appearances and couldn't bring the go-ahead run across.
The Wildcats would eventually take advantage in the bottom of the 11th, scoring of a fielding error to right field to earn the walk-off victory.
The ASU bullpen did its part to keep ASU in the game, however with Brady Corrigan going 3.1 innings after a solid outing last night, allowing no earned runs in his longest appearance in over a month.
Boyd Vander Kooi saw his first extended action since the first month of the season, going 3.0 innings with three strikeouts and no earned runs to keep ASU alive in the latter stages of the game, despite taking the tough-luck loss on an unearned run.
ASU will conclude the 2018 season next weekend at home with a three-game series against Cal beginning Thursday night.