LOS ANGELES – Poor defensive play and free passes inevitably doomed the No. 5 Sun Devil Baseball team on Friday in 10-6 loss on the road at USC to open a three-game Pac-12 series in Los Angeles.
Trevor Hauver notched his eighth home run of the season, a three-run shot in the ninth inning with the result no longer in the balance in a game that lacked many highlights on either offense or defensive for the Sun Devils (25-3, 8-2, Pac-12). Lyle Lin had two RBI while Carter Aldrete logged the only multi-hit game of the day for ASU with his 2-for-4 effort.
While ASU did itself no favors, it was also a game that features some tough bounces, hard liners to the wrong position and a pivotal home run robbery early that set the tone for the remainder of the game.
USC took advantage of a couple early hits off of start Alec Marsh to stake a 1-0 advantage in the first inning. The Sun Devils looked like they would change that in the top of the third inning when Spencer Torkelson hit a towering shot to left center field that had every appearance that it would leave the ballpark. But the ball got caught in the Los Angeles airstream and hung just long enough for USC center fielder Matthew Acosta to get a beat on it and the Trojan made an incredible leaping grab at the wall to steal the homer and keep the Sun Devils off the scoreboard.
USC took the momentum straight into the bottom of the third as they padded their lead with another two runs, aided by a Sun Devil error.
Still with the game very much in reach, the Sun Devils notched pair of two-out hits in the top of the fourth to get on the scoreboard and back within two runs. But USC came right back with four hits and three runs to take a 6-1 edge and force the Devils to rally again.
Rally ASU did, plating two runs in the top of the sixth to make it a game at 6-3. But the wheels came off in the bottom half of the frame on the defensive side of the ball. While only one error was credited in the bottom of the sixth, there were three defensive miscues that would inevitably cost the Sun Devils three runs and effectively put the game out of reach at 9-3.
ASU loaded the bases in the top of seventh with one, trying to rally for one last push but a pair of inning-ending strikeouts ended the threat without any damage caused.
The Sun Devils did see some promising innings in relief from a trio of freshman pitchers in Blake Burzell, Luke La Flam and Will Levine. Burzell deserved a better fate as he was undone by the sloppy defense behind him but allowed just one run with a strikeout. La Flam gave up an seventh-inning homer but it wasn't for lack of pounding the strike zone as his inning was unblemished otherwise.
Levine looked to have put his last couple appearances behind him as he took the mound with a purpose and retired the heart of the USC lineup in order for his first 1-2-3 inning of the season. He was also the only Sun Devil pitcher to record an out against Acosta, who was a nightmare in the lineup with a 4-for-5 outing and five RBIs.
ASU still showed some life to the finale out however, with Myles Denson and Drew Swift reaching on back-to-back singles before Hauver lifted his eighth homer of the year off the scoreboard in right center to make the final score more respectable.
The Sun Devils will return to the diamond Saturday at 2 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed live through the USC Live Stream and will also be available over the airwaves at NBC Sports Radio 1060 AM.