BATON ROUGE – An anomalous fifth inning would prove to be undoing of the Sun Devil Baseball team in a tough 15-3 loss to Southern Miss in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Baseball Tournament at the Baton Rouge Regional.
The Golden Eagles recorded 12 runs in the top of the fifth, 10 of which came with two outs in a bizarre frame where USM could do no wrong.
Spencer Torkelson recorded his 22nd home run of the season and 47th of his career, moving into sole possession of third in ASU history. Nick Cheema added his first RBI of the season late in the contest while Lyle Lin had the game's only other RBI on a sac fly that gave ASU a 1-0 lead before the tough top of the next frame.
Gage Workman was the lone Sun Devil to record a multi-hit game. Sam Romero and Chaz Montoya were efficient in relief on the mound, combing for three strikeouts, no runs and just one hit in 2.0 innings between them. Luke La Flam also provided a scoreless frame from the bullpen.
Alec Marsh struck out seven in 4.2 innings of work but simply could not get the pitch he needed to get out of the fifth inning as USM continued to find green grass all over the diamond and really blowing things open by finally squaring some balls up with runners on base.
With the loss, ASU will have to fight back from the loser's bracket of the double-elimination Baton Rouge Regional. The team will take on the loser of tonight's LSU/Stony Brook contest on Saturday 10 a.m. AZT. The game will be available through the WatchESPN app but any television designation is to be determined.
BATON ROUGE REGIONAL SCHEDULE
The Golden Eagles recorded 12 runs in the top of the fifth, 10 of which came with two outs in a bizarre frame where USM could do no wrong.
Spencer Torkelson recorded his 22nd home run of the season and 47th of his career, moving into sole possession of third in ASU history. Nick Cheema added his first RBI of the season late in the contest while Lyle Lin had the game's only other RBI on a sac fly that gave ASU a 1-0 lead before the tough top of the next frame.
Gage Workman was the lone Sun Devil to record a multi-hit game. Sam Romero and Chaz Montoya were efficient in relief on the mound, combing for three strikeouts, no runs and just one hit in 2.0 innings between them. Luke La Flam also provided a scoreless frame from the bullpen.
Alec Marsh struck out seven in 4.2 innings of work but simply could not get the pitch he needed to get out of the fifth inning as USM continued to find green grass all over the diamond and really blowing things open by finally squaring some balls up with runners on base.
With the loss, ASU will have to fight back from the loser's bracket of the double-elimination Baton Rouge Regional. The team will take on the loser of tonight's LSU/Stony Brook contest on Saturday 10 a.m. AZT. The game will be available through the WatchESPN app but any television designation is to be determined.
BATON ROUGE REGIONAL SCHEDULE
- Friday, May 31
- Game #1 (Arizona St. vs. Southern Miss) – L, 3-15
- Game #2 (LSU vs. Stony Brook) 3 p.m.AZT/ESPNU
- Saturday, June 1
- Game #3 - ASU vs. Stony Brook – 10 a.m. AZT/Noon CT
- Game #4 (Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2) – 3 p.m. AZT
- Sunday, June 2
- Game #5 (Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4) – 11 a.m. AZT
- Game #6 (Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5) – 5 p.m.AZT
- Monday, June 3
- Game #7 – if Necessary