by Tony Thai, Sun Devil Athletics
PHOENIX – After rain postponed Friday's series opener, the Sun Devil Baseball team faced off against UC Davis in a Saturday doubleheader. The Sun Devils came out on top of both games, winning the first game 3-2 and the second game 13-3 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium to improve to 6-0 on the season.
Lyle Lin provided the team with big clutch moments all day long. In both games, Lin came up to bat with the bases loaded, and he answered by bringing in the game-winning run in the first game and a grand slam in the second. Lin finished the day with seven RBIs over the two games.
Spencer Torkelson continued to be Mr. Consistent, going 4-for-9 on the day and adding two RBIs to his team-leading total of 14 on the season. Trevor Hauver continued to reach base at an exceptional clip, going 4-for-9 on the day with a double and a pivotal RBI in the first game.
Arizona State's pitching staff only gave up five runs total in both games and were exceptional at holding runners on the base paths. ASU stranded 14 runners over the course of the two games and held UC Davis to just 2-for-16 batting over the course of the day with runners in scoring position (1-for-8 in each game).
Soft contact was the name of the game with Sun Devil pitchers combining to retire 23 batters by way of ground outs over the two games. The rotation had Aggie batters guessing in game two, with seven of the team's 13 strikeouts coming of the backwards K variety.
ASU moved to 6-0 for the first time since 2010, where the Sun Devils opened the season on a 24-game winning streak.
The Sun Devils close out the series versus UC Davis tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Arizona time with a potential sweep on the line. The game can be viewed on the ASU Live Stream via Pac-12 Networks.
Game 1 – ASU 3, UC Davis 2
Trailing 2-0 to UC Davis after a slow start on offense, the Sun Devils rallied back with runs in the sixth and eighth inning to sneak away with a win in the first game of the doubleheader.
This game was scoreless until the fifth inning when the Aggies dropped a single into shallow left field to bring a runner home from third base.
Arizona State gave up another run in the sixth inning after a fielding error. Later in the inning, Spencer Torkelson put the Sun Devils on the board after singling up the middle to score a run and make it 2-1.
Trevor Hauver tied the game up at 2-2 in the eighth inning with an RBI single to score Dusty Garcia. With the bases loaded, Lin delivered with an RBI sac-fly to give Arizona State a 1-run lead heading into the ninth inning.
Erik Tolman picked up his first career save after retiring the next three Aggie batters to complete the comeback.
Alec Marsh picked up his second win in his second start after going eight innings and keeping things close enough for his team to eventually come back and win.
Game 2 – ASU 13, UC Davis 3
The bats for Arizona State were much more active in the second game, scoring 13 runs and leading to a more decisive victory than the first game.
Lin had six RBIs and Myles Denson had three RBI's as both players went 3-for-5. Gage Workman went 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Boyd Vander Kooi picked up the win after pitching five innings, striking out eight, while allowing just two runs on five hits.
Arizona State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning following a Lin double that scored two and an RBI triple from Workman.
Vander Kooi gave up a run in the third inning and but escaped a bases-loaded jam in the frame without giving up any more runs. Arizona State scored twice later that inning following Alika Williams' RBI double and Denson's RBI single.
UC Davis scored a run in the fourth inning after an Aggie runner was called safe at second that could've been a double-play to end the inning if called out. The score was 5-2, but Hunter Bishop made it 6-2 after he bombed a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth inning, Lin was up with the bases loaded for the second time of the day, and he delivered again, this time with a huge grand slam, the first ASU grand slam since Bryan Serven hit one in 2014. The four runs by Lin capped off a 7-run inning for the Sun Devils to put them up 13-2 over UC Davis.
The Aggies added one run in the sixth inning before three straight scoreless innings to close out the game.
The final frames were highlighted by a pair of freshmen as Luke La Flam entered in the eighth and promptly struck out the side. Blake Burzell came on in the ninth and set the tone with a scorching fast ball that touched 96 on the radar gun to get the final three outs of the contest.
PHOENIX – After rain postponed Friday's series opener, the Sun Devil Baseball team faced off against UC Davis in a Saturday doubleheader. The Sun Devils came out on top of both games, winning the first game 3-2 and the second game 13-3 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium to improve to 6-0 on the season.
Lyle Lin provided the team with big clutch moments all day long. In both games, Lin came up to bat with the bases loaded, and he answered by bringing in the game-winning run in the first game and a grand slam in the second. Lin finished the day with seven RBIs over the two games.
Spencer Torkelson continued to be Mr. Consistent, going 4-for-9 on the day and adding two RBIs to his team-leading total of 14 on the season. Trevor Hauver continued to reach base at an exceptional clip, going 4-for-9 on the day with a double and a pivotal RBI in the first game.
Arizona State's pitching staff only gave up five runs total in both games and were exceptional at holding runners on the base paths. ASU stranded 14 runners over the course of the two games and held UC Davis to just 2-for-16 batting over the course of the day with runners in scoring position (1-for-8 in each game).
Soft contact was the name of the game with Sun Devil pitchers combining to retire 23 batters by way of ground outs over the two games. The rotation had Aggie batters guessing in game two, with seven of the team's 13 strikeouts coming of the backwards K variety.
ASU moved to 6-0 for the first time since 2010, where the Sun Devils opened the season on a 24-game winning streak.
The Sun Devils close out the series versus UC Davis tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Arizona time with a potential sweep on the line. The game can be viewed on the ASU Live Stream via Pac-12 Networks.
Game 1 – ASU 3, UC Davis 2
Trailing 2-0 to UC Davis after a slow start on offense, the Sun Devils rallied back with runs in the sixth and eighth inning to sneak away with a win in the first game of the doubleheader.
This game was scoreless until the fifth inning when the Aggies dropped a single into shallow left field to bring a runner home from third base.
Arizona State gave up another run in the sixth inning after a fielding error. Later in the inning, Spencer Torkelson put the Sun Devils on the board after singling up the middle to score a run and make it 2-1.
Trevor Hauver tied the game up at 2-2 in the eighth inning with an RBI single to score Dusty Garcia. With the bases loaded, Lin delivered with an RBI sac-fly to give Arizona State a 1-run lead heading into the ninth inning.
Erik Tolman picked up his first career save after retiring the next three Aggie batters to complete the comeback.
Alec Marsh picked up his second win in his second start after going eight innings and keeping things close enough for his team to eventually come back and win.
Game 2 – ASU 13, UC Davis 3
The bats for Arizona State were much more active in the second game, scoring 13 runs and leading to a more decisive victory than the first game.
Lin had six RBIs and Myles Denson had three RBI's as both players went 3-for-5. Gage Workman went 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Boyd Vander Kooi picked up the win after pitching five innings, striking out eight, while allowing just two runs on five hits.
Arizona State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning following a Lin double that scored two and an RBI triple from Workman.
Vander Kooi gave up a run in the third inning and but escaped a bases-loaded jam in the frame without giving up any more runs. Arizona State scored twice later that inning following Alika Williams' RBI double and Denson's RBI single.
UC Davis scored a run in the fourth inning after an Aggie runner was called safe at second that could've been a double-play to end the inning if called out. The score was 5-2, but Hunter Bishop made it 6-2 after he bombed a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth inning, Lin was up with the bases loaded for the second time of the day, and he delivered again, this time with a huge grand slam, the first ASU grand slam since Bryan Serven hit one in 2014. The four runs by Lin capped off a 7-run inning for the Sun Devils to put them up 13-2 over UC Davis.
The Aggies added one run in the sixth inning before three straight scoreless innings to close out the game.
The final frames were highlighted by a pair of freshmen as Luke La Flam entered in the eighth and promptly struck out the side. Blake Burzell came on in the ninth and set the tone with a scorching fast ball that touched 96 on the radar gun to get the final three outs of the contest.