PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball right-hander Alec Marsh welcomed the defending national champs to town with an emphatic victory on Friday, as No. 9 Arizona State (27-5, 10-3 Pac-12) took down third-ranked Oregon State, 4-1, to open the three-game series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Marsh - after suffering his first loss of the season in his last outing - returned to form in this one as he went the distance for his first career complete game and the first complete game by a Sun Devil this season. The junior allowed just one run on three hits while striking out nine batters to just one walk.
The junior was absolutely dominant from start to finish as he shook off a second-inning solo shot to retire the minimum over the next 22 batters he faced – including holding OSU All-American and potential No. 1 draft pick Adley Rutschman to 0-for-3 in the evening. A two-out single in the bottom of the ninth - one pitch after he lit of the radar gun with a 95 mile per hour fastball - ended the streak, but Marsh capped his gem of an outing with a game-ending pop-up to move to 8-1 on the season.
The Sun Devil offense contributed with 12 hits, taking what they were given with 11 singles as the team relied on manufacturing runs and working counts as opposed to getting it all with one swing of the bat and the wind blowing in all game.
Every Sun Devil in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit with the middle of the order doing a bulk of the work with the 5-6-7 trio of Carter Aldrete, Lyle Lin and Gage Workman each recording two hits. Trevor Hauver had the lone multi-RBI outing of the game as he accounted for the first run and the last run of the contest.
The Sun Devils gave Oregon State starter Brandon Eisert all he could handle in this one. Eisert entered the game undefeated tied with Marsh as the national leader in wins with seven wins while producing video-game like numbers through the first half of the season. But ASU was not caught up in the lust and recorded 11 hits against the junior – easily a season high.
Eisert entered the game allowing three runs all season before the Sun Devils matched that total in the first five innings. ASU also drew three walks against the southpaw, despite him entering the game having allowed just five all season.
Still, Eisert and the OSU staff made big pitches when they had too and escaped a numbers of jams in stranding 14 Sun Devil baserunners on the night to remain in striking distance – making Marsh's magnificence that much more important.
After ASU was unable to take advantage of loading the bases in the bottom of the first, a solo shot by Oregon State got the Beavers on the board first with a 1-0 advantage. But Arizona State came back with four straight singles in the bottom half of the inning to go up 2-1 behind RBIs from Hauver and Spencer Torkelson.
In the top of the fifth, Marsh faced the minimum, stranding a leadoff wall with a wicked pickoff move that left the Oregon State runners on his knees and building on that momentum with a strikeout and groundout. Gage Workman singled in a run later that inning to go up 3-1 after five innings.
ASU added some insurance in the seventh as Hauver recorded a bases-loaded walk for his second RBI of the game and a 4-1 Sun Devil advantage.
After another 1-2-3 inning for Marsh in the eighth, in part thanks to a highlight-reel diving catch by Carter Aldrete, the junior returned back to the mound in the ninth inning and pumped out several mid-90s fastballs – clock one in at 95 MPH – while mixing in some wicked off-speed pitches to keep the OSU bats out of sorts and sealing the victory to move ASU to 10-3 in Pac-12 games.
Up next, the Sun Devils continue the series against Oregon State tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Arizona time. The game can be viewed on live through the Pac-12 Plus Live Stream or heard through NBC Sports 1060 AM.
Marsh - after suffering his first loss of the season in his last outing - returned to form in this one as he went the distance for his first career complete game and the first complete game by a Sun Devil this season. The junior allowed just one run on three hits while striking out nine batters to just one walk.
The junior was absolutely dominant from start to finish as he shook off a second-inning solo shot to retire the minimum over the next 22 batters he faced – including holding OSU All-American and potential No. 1 draft pick Adley Rutschman to 0-for-3 in the evening. A two-out single in the bottom of the ninth - one pitch after he lit of the radar gun with a 95 mile per hour fastball - ended the streak, but Marsh capped his gem of an outing with a game-ending pop-up to move to 8-1 on the season.
The Sun Devil offense contributed with 12 hits, taking what they were given with 11 singles as the team relied on manufacturing runs and working counts as opposed to getting it all with one swing of the bat and the wind blowing in all game.
Every Sun Devil in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit with the middle of the order doing a bulk of the work with the 5-6-7 trio of Carter Aldrete, Lyle Lin and Gage Workman each recording two hits. Trevor Hauver had the lone multi-RBI outing of the game as he accounted for the first run and the last run of the contest.
The Sun Devils gave Oregon State starter Brandon Eisert all he could handle in this one. Eisert entered the game undefeated tied with Marsh as the national leader in wins with seven wins while producing video-game like numbers through the first half of the season. But ASU was not caught up in the lust and recorded 11 hits against the junior – easily a season high.
Eisert entered the game allowing three runs all season before the Sun Devils matched that total in the first five innings. ASU also drew three walks against the southpaw, despite him entering the game having allowed just five all season.
Still, Eisert and the OSU staff made big pitches when they had too and escaped a numbers of jams in stranding 14 Sun Devil baserunners on the night to remain in striking distance – making Marsh's magnificence that much more important.
After ASU was unable to take advantage of loading the bases in the bottom of the first, a solo shot by Oregon State got the Beavers on the board first with a 1-0 advantage. But Arizona State came back with four straight singles in the bottom half of the inning to go up 2-1 behind RBIs from Hauver and Spencer Torkelson.
In the top of the fifth, Marsh faced the minimum, stranding a leadoff wall with a wicked pickoff move that left the Oregon State runners on his knees and building on that momentum with a strikeout and groundout. Gage Workman singled in a run later that inning to go up 3-1 after five innings.
ASU added some insurance in the seventh as Hauver recorded a bases-loaded walk for his second RBI of the game and a 4-1 Sun Devil advantage.
After another 1-2-3 inning for Marsh in the eighth, in part thanks to a highlight-reel diving catch by Carter Aldrete, the junior returned back to the mound in the ninth inning and pumped out several mid-90s fastballs – clock one in at 95 MPH – while mixing in some wicked off-speed pitches to keep the OSU bats out of sorts and sealing the victory to move ASU to 10-3 in Pac-12 games.
Up next, the Sun Devils continue the series against Oregon State tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Arizona time. The game can be viewed on live through the Pac-12 Plus Live Stream or heard through NBC Sports 1060 AM.