LOS ANGELES -- The No. 5 Sun Devil Baseball team homered twice but couldn't find the timely hit on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 7-3 decision to USC to suffer the first series loss of the season.
Spencer Torkelson and Alika Wiliams each had solo home runs and the Devils had nine hits, but ASU (25-4, 8-2 Pac-12) stranded nine batters and had numerous well-struck balls that just didn't find holes in the Trojan defense. And for every Sun Devil rally, USC seemed to have an answer in the bottom half of the inning.
Williams finished the game 2-for-2 with a homer, a walk and a hit by pitch.
The Sun Devil rotation walked just two batters on the day and largely limited the free base battle, though ASU's lone error in the sixth would prove to be a costly one. Boyd Vander Kooi took the loss, allowing five runs in 5.0 innings of action. Sam Romero and Chaz Montoya combined four three innings, allowed one run on a solo shot with no walks.
ASU got things going on Torkelson's solo shot to center in the top of the third, but USC led off the bottom half of the frame with a triple, double and homer to stake a 3-1 lead. ASU got one back in fourth on Gage Workman's sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
Alika Williams took the first pitch he saw to lead off the sixth inning over the wall in left field for his third homer of the season. The Sun Devils would then have their best shot at taking over the game in the same frame, loading the bases with two outs for Trevor Hauver. USC made a pitching change and Hauver got a good swing on one to deep right field but not enough to find paydirt as the game remained tied at 3-3.
USC immediately responded with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame and tagged on two more runs following an error on a sac bunt to take a 6-3 lead.
The Trojans added some insurance with a solo shot in the seventh and never looked back.
The Sun Devils will look salvage the series finale against USC on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. PT.
Spencer Torkelson and Alika Wiliams each had solo home runs and the Devils had nine hits, but ASU (25-4, 8-2 Pac-12) stranded nine batters and had numerous well-struck balls that just didn't find holes in the Trojan defense. And for every Sun Devil rally, USC seemed to have an answer in the bottom half of the inning.
Williams finished the game 2-for-2 with a homer, a walk and a hit by pitch.
The Sun Devil rotation walked just two batters on the day and largely limited the free base battle, though ASU's lone error in the sixth would prove to be a costly one. Boyd Vander Kooi took the loss, allowing five runs in 5.0 innings of action. Sam Romero and Chaz Montoya combined four three innings, allowed one run on a solo shot with no walks.
ASU got things going on Torkelson's solo shot to center in the top of the third, but USC led off the bottom half of the frame with a triple, double and homer to stake a 3-1 lead. ASU got one back in fourth on Gage Workman's sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
Alika Williams took the first pitch he saw to lead off the sixth inning over the wall in left field for his third homer of the season. The Sun Devils would then have their best shot at taking over the game in the same frame, loading the bases with two outs for Trevor Hauver. USC made a pitching change and Hauver got a good swing on one to deep right field but not enough to find paydirt as the game remained tied at 3-3.
USC immediately responded with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame and tagged on two more runs following an error on a sac bunt to take a 6-3 lead.
The Trojans added some insurance with a solo shot in the seventh and never looked back.
The Sun Devils will look salvage the series finale against USC on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. PT.