FULLERTON – The No. 23 Sun Devil Baseball team jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held on for a 6-4 victory over Cal State Fullerton in ASU's first road test of the season, moving to 12-0 on the year.
Sophomore Alika Williams went big fly for the first time in his Sun Devil career, going 2-for-3 on the evening with a walk. Hunter Bishop was 2-for-5 with a triple and a run scored while Trevor Hauver also finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The story of the day was the Sun Devil pitching staff, however, which held the Fullerton offense scoreless through the first seven innings. Brady Corrigan earned the win in relief, going 2.2 innings with a career high six strikeouts.
The Sun Devil pitchers struck out 12 Titan batters, capped by Alec Marsh's relief appearance to stem the bleeding after ASU's shaky 8thinning. Marsh recorded the final six outs of the game, including three strikeouts – the last coming on a nasty slider to record the final out of the game.
The Sun Devil defense turned a season-high three double plays in the contest – all ending innings - committing just one error.
ASU got on the board first in the top of the second with ASU getting a pair of leadoff runners into scoring position behind Myles Denson's sac bunt. Sam Ferri brought Gage Workman across with an RBI groundout, followed by a Trevor Hauver RBI single for an early 2-0 advantage.
The Sun Devils took control of the game in the top of the third behind the unlikely big bat of Williams.
ASU led off the inning behind a leadoff triple from Bishop that promptly resulted in a run on Lyle Lin's sacrifice fly – the 20thRBI of the junior's season.
Back-to-back walks from Carter Aldrete and Gage Workman kept the pressure on. With a pair of runners on base in front of him the sophomore - who had not homered in over 200 career at bats – knocked a line drive over the wall in left for his first career dinger. The three-run shot gave the Sun Devils a 6-0 advantage early in the contest.
It was the Sun Devil pitching rotation and defense that handled things from there.
ASU got 2.1 innings of solid starting pitching from Sam Romero who got himself into a bit of trouble in the third after giving up two baserunners with no out. Romero induced a popout for the final out of his outing and paving the way for Corrigan, who promptly came in and struck out the heart of the CSUF order to escape the jam.
Corrigan struck out the first five batters he saw, en route to a season-best six strikeouts as he cruised through 2.2 innings of action with just one hit allowed and no runs.
Corrigan then found himself in a jam in the sixth with a pair reaching with no outs. Like Corrigan did for Romero, Chaz Montoya did for Corrigan. The junior lefty entered and got a quick fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out before inducing ASU's third double play of the game on an incredible turn from Gage Workman to Carter Aldrete to Spencer Torkelson to keep CSUF off the board.
ASU ran into some trouble in the eighth after a leadoff error and a pair of walks loaded the bases for Blake Burzell. The Sun Devils turned to Mr. Friday Night, Alec Marsh, who was scheduled to throw a bullpen session on the day anyways to help them escape the jam.
Fullerton was able to scrape four across in the frame but Marsh stymied the rally, striking out two batters in the ninth inning to seal the deal.
Sophomore Alika Williams went big fly for the first time in his Sun Devil career, going 2-for-3 on the evening with a walk. Hunter Bishop was 2-for-5 with a triple and a run scored while Trevor Hauver also finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The story of the day was the Sun Devil pitching staff, however, which held the Fullerton offense scoreless through the first seven innings. Brady Corrigan earned the win in relief, going 2.2 innings with a career high six strikeouts.
The Sun Devil pitchers struck out 12 Titan batters, capped by Alec Marsh's relief appearance to stem the bleeding after ASU's shaky 8thinning. Marsh recorded the final six outs of the game, including three strikeouts – the last coming on a nasty slider to record the final out of the game.
The Sun Devil defense turned a season-high three double plays in the contest – all ending innings - committing just one error.
ASU got on the board first in the top of the second with ASU getting a pair of leadoff runners into scoring position behind Myles Denson's sac bunt. Sam Ferri brought Gage Workman across with an RBI groundout, followed by a Trevor Hauver RBI single for an early 2-0 advantage.
The Sun Devils took control of the game in the top of the third behind the unlikely big bat of Williams.
ASU led off the inning behind a leadoff triple from Bishop that promptly resulted in a run on Lyle Lin's sacrifice fly – the 20thRBI of the junior's season.
Back-to-back walks from Carter Aldrete and Gage Workman kept the pressure on. With a pair of runners on base in front of him the sophomore - who had not homered in over 200 career at bats – knocked a line drive over the wall in left for his first career dinger. The three-run shot gave the Sun Devils a 6-0 advantage early in the contest.
It was the Sun Devil pitching rotation and defense that handled things from there.
ASU got 2.1 innings of solid starting pitching from Sam Romero who got himself into a bit of trouble in the third after giving up two baserunners with no out. Romero induced a popout for the final out of his outing and paving the way for Corrigan, who promptly came in and struck out the heart of the CSUF order to escape the jam.
Corrigan struck out the first five batters he saw, en route to a season-best six strikeouts as he cruised through 2.2 innings of action with just one hit allowed and no runs.
Corrigan then found himself in a jam in the sixth with a pair reaching with no outs. Like Corrigan did for Romero, Chaz Montoya did for Corrigan. The junior lefty entered and got a quick fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out before inducing ASU's third double play of the game on an incredible turn from Gage Workman to Carter Aldrete to Spencer Torkelson to keep CSUF off the board.
ASU ran into some trouble in the eighth after a leadoff error and a pair of walks loaded the bases for Blake Burzell. The Sun Devils turned to Mr. Friday Night, Alec Marsh, who was scheduled to throw a bullpen session on the day anyways to help them escape the jam.
Fullerton was able to scrape four across in the frame but Marsh stymied the rally, striking out two batters in the ninth inning to seal the deal.