TUCSON – The Sun Devil Baseball team launched three homers and overcame a tough call early in the game to earn the series sweep over rival Arizona, 10-7, on Tuesday evening in Tucson.
Hunter Bishop had two monstrous home runs and Spencer Torkelson homered in his seventh game in eight career games against the Wildcats as the Sun Devil offense had an answer for every Wildcat score as ASU rallied from a late deficit for the second consecutive game. The win gave ASU its first season series sweep over the Wildcats since 2009, when ASU won the series and two non-conference midweek games against Arizona.
The Sun Devil pitching rotation struck out 14 batters – tied for the most this season – behind a career high six strikeouts from freshman Erik Tolman and four from Blake Burzell, who was instrumental in shutting down the Wildcat offense and paving the way for the comeback.
Burzell earned the victory to move to 5-0 on the season, allowing just one hit and no runs with four strikeouts and no walks in 3.0 innings. Sophomore RJ Dabovich capped the game with his third consecutive save – all coming in the last week and a half of action. Dabovich struck out two in the final frame to solidify the Sun Devil victory and move ASU to 34-12 on the season.
Torkelson was 2-for-5 in the contest with three runs scored while Hunter Bishop was 2-for-4 with a trio of runs and three RBIs as well. Trevor Hauver, Gage Workman and Drew Swift all added mutli-hit efforts as well.
The Devils got off to a hot start, loading the bases in the first with an out and bringing three across behind back-to-back singles from Lin and Workman.
The Wildcats came roaring back in the second, taking advantage of what replays appeared to show as a missed call on a bang-bang play at first that would have ended the inning without a blemish. Instead the UA pushed four runs across after the play to take a 4-3 advantage.
Bishop responded quickly with a monster shot over the fences in center field, a 420-plus ball that easily cleared the abnormally large walls at Hi Corbett Field to make it 4-4.
Erik Tolman came in to quell the outburst and set the tone for bullpen that allowed just two earned runs over the remainder of the game. The freshman went 2.2 innings with a career-best six strikeouts and no walks and two earned runs allowed.
Again, Arizona pushed a run across in the bottom of the fourth and again, Arizona responded in a big way immediately on a lead-off laser of a home run from Torkelson in the top of the fifth to even things at 5-5.
The Wildcats mounted a two-out, two-strike rally in the fifth, pushing a pair across behind a bloop double and an infield error from the Sun Devils to make it 7-5. Burzell came into the game and shut the door, shaking off the infield error behind him to get a key strikeout to end the inning.
Burzell gave ASU what it needed in the sixth, a 1-2-3 inning to keep ASU within striking distance – and strike they did. Lyle Lin reached on an error in the seventh and brought a run across in the process. Myles Denson - who spent the first half of the game coaching at first base after undergraduate student assistant coach David Greer was ejected from the game – entered to pitch hit with two outs and tied things up as he took a hanger into opposite right field to score Lin and make it 7-7.
Burzell recorded his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to set the table for the Sun Devil offense. ASU put runners on the corners with one out and Alika Williams gave the team the lead with a sac fly to center to score Drew Swift.
That allowed Bishop to silence the Wildcat crowd and bring an eruption from the Sun Devil faithful as he outdid himself with his second homer of the day. This one landed in the trees about 450 feet to right center field, soaring over the Wildcat Wall of Honor – a two run shot make it a three-run game at 10-7.
Burzell bounced back after a leadoff single in the eighth to retire the next two batters he faced. Up 0-2 in the count against the Wildcats top hitter, the Sun Devils went to the bullpen after a couple well-struck foul balls from Cameron Cannon. Brady Corrigan needed just one pitch to induce the inning ending groundout to keep it a three-run game.
Dabovich did the rest in the ninth against the heart of the Arizona order, unfazed by a one-out error as he struck out the final two batters he saw to earn his third save since returning to the Sun Devil lineup last Sunday against Washington.
The Sun Devils will conclude non-conference play for the 2019 season this weekend as the team heads to the Midwest for a three-game series against Nebraska beginning on Friday. Each game of the series will be streamed with a paid subscription to the Big Ten Network at https://www.btn2go.com/.
Hunter Bishop had two monstrous home runs and Spencer Torkelson homered in his seventh game in eight career games against the Wildcats as the Sun Devil offense had an answer for every Wildcat score as ASU rallied from a late deficit for the second consecutive game. The win gave ASU its first season series sweep over the Wildcats since 2009, when ASU won the series and two non-conference midweek games against Arizona.
The Sun Devil pitching rotation struck out 14 batters – tied for the most this season – behind a career high six strikeouts from freshman Erik Tolman and four from Blake Burzell, who was instrumental in shutting down the Wildcat offense and paving the way for the comeback.
Burzell earned the victory to move to 5-0 on the season, allowing just one hit and no runs with four strikeouts and no walks in 3.0 innings. Sophomore RJ Dabovich capped the game with his third consecutive save – all coming in the last week and a half of action. Dabovich struck out two in the final frame to solidify the Sun Devil victory and move ASU to 34-12 on the season.
Torkelson was 2-for-5 in the contest with three runs scored while Hunter Bishop was 2-for-4 with a trio of runs and three RBIs as well. Trevor Hauver, Gage Workman and Drew Swift all added mutli-hit efforts as well.
The Devils got off to a hot start, loading the bases in the first with an out and bringing three across behind back-to-back singles from Lin and Workman.
The Wildcats came roaring back in the second, taking advantage of what replays appeared to show as a missed call on a bang-bang play at first that would have ended the inning without a blemish. Instead the UA pushed four runs across after the play to take a 4-3 advantage.
Bishop responded quickly with a monster shot over the fences in center field, a 420-plus ball that easily cleared the abnormally large walls at Hi Corbett Field to make it 4-4.
Erik Tolman came in to quell the outburst and set the tone for bullpen that allowed just two earned runs over the remainder of the game. The freshman went 2.2 innings with a career-best six strikeouts and no walks and two earned runs allowed.
Again, Arizona pushed a run across in the bottom of the fourth and again, Arizona responded in a big way immediately on a lead-off laser of a home run from Torkelson in the top of the fifth to even things at 5-5.
The Wildcats mounted a two-out, two-strike rally in the fifth, pushing a pair across behind a bloop double and an infield error from the Sun Devils to make it 7-5. Burzell came into the game and shut the door, shaking off the infield error behind him to get a key strikeout to end the inning.
Burzell gave ASU what it needed in the sixth, a 1-2-3 inning to keep ASU within striking distance – and strike they did. Lyle Lin reached on an error in the seventh and brought a run across in the process. Myles Denson - who spent the first half of the game coaching at first base after undergraduate student assistant coach David Greer was ejected from the game – entered to pitch hit with two outs and tied things up as he took a hanger into opposite right field to score Lin and make it 7-7.
Burzell recorded his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to set the table for the Sun Devil offense. ASU put runners on the corners with one out and Alika Williams gave the team the lead with a sac fly to center to score Drew Swift.
That allowed Bishop to silence the Wildcat crowd and bring an eruption from the Sun Devil faithful as he outdid himself with his second homer of the day. This one landed in the trees about 450 feet to right center field, soaring over the Wildcat Wall of Honor – a two run shot make it a three-run game at 10-7.
Burzell bounced back after a leadoff single in the eighth to retire the next two batters he faced. Up 0-2 in the count against the Wildcats top hitter, the Sun Devils went to the bullpen after a couple well-struck foul balls from Cameron Cannon. Brady Corrigan needed just one pitch to induce the inning ending groundout to keep it a three-run game.
Dabovich did the rest in the ninth against the heart of the Arizona order, unfazed by a one-out error as he struck out the final two batters he saw to earn his third save since returning to the Sun Devil lineup last Sunday against Washington.
The Sun Devils will conclude non-conference play for the 2019 season this weekend as the team heads to the Midwest for a three-game series against Nebraska beginning on Friday. Each game of the series will be streamed with a paid subscription to the Big Ten Network at https://www.btn2go.com/.