PROVO, Utah – Ethan Long stayed hot but Sun Devil Baseball was unable to overcome a four-run first inning from the BYU Cougars in a 8-5 loss in a midweek road non-conference tilt on Tuesday in Provo, Utah.
Ethan Long - who was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week yesterday - launched his fourth homer in his last four games and fifth in the last seven, a three-run shot that brought ASU back within 6-4 of the Cougars in the sixth inning after an early 5-0 deficit. But BYU responded right back with two runs in the bottom half to stretch the lead back to four and the Devils were unable to rally from there.
ASU got within three and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning but couldn't break through to complete the rally.
Jack Moss had yet another three-hit game – his team-leading fourth game of the season with three hits or more. Sean McLain also added his team-leading 18th multi-hit game of the season and Sam Ferri had two hits as well.
The Sun Devil bullpen was efficient, holding BYU to just three runs down the stretch after a 5-0 hole through two innings. Brock Peery struck out five in 3.0 innings of work through the midsection of the game. THE BIG MOMENT
The trouble came early in this one as ASU starter Jared Glenn struggled with his command in the opening frame. A walk and two hit batters would all score in a four-run frame that set ASU into a deep hole. Two home runs from Cole Gambill did the rest of the damage as the cleanup hitter torched ASU for three hits and four RBIs. NOTABLES
The Sun Devils will look to get back on track at home this weekend with a three-game non-conference series against Rhode Island beginning Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. AZT.
Ethan Long - who was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week yesterday - launched his fourth homer in his last four games and fifth in the last seven, a three-run shot that brought ASU back within 6-4 of the Cougars in the sixth inning after an early 5-0 deficit. But BYU responded right back with two runs in the bottom half to stretch the lead back to four and the Devils were unable to rally from there.
ASU got within three and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning but couldn't break through to complete the rally.
Jack Moss had yet another three-hit game – his team-leading fourth game of the season with three hits or more. Sean McLain also added his team-leading 18th multi-hit game of the season and Sam Ferri had two hits as well.
The Sun Devil bullpen was efficient, holding BYU to just three runs down the stretch after a 5-0 hole through two innings. Brock Peery struck out five in 3.0 innings of work through the midsection of the game. THE BIG MOMENT
The trouble came early in this one as ASU starter Jared Glenn struggled with his command in the opening frame. A walk and two hit batters would all score in a four-run frame that set ASU into a deep hole. Two home runs from Cole Gambill did the rest of the damage as the cleanup hitter torched ASU for three hits and four RBIs. NOTABLES
- Hunter Haas had his 15-game hitting streak ended.
- Hunter Jump extended his reached base streak to a team-best 22 straight games with an RBI single in the third.
- ASU has stranded 310 opponent baserunners in 36 games this season (8.6 per game).
- ASU added two more doubles in the game and now have 32 in the last 11 games (3.0 per game). The team had averaged just 1.8 doubles per game in the first 25 games of the season.
- The Sun Devil pitching staff has inherited 146 baserunners this season and allowed just 40 to score (27.4). Just one of the seven inherited runners on Sunday against the Utes scored. For reference, the previous low in the category since AT LEAST 1998 was 28.1 in 2011.
- ASU added two double plays in the game to bring its total to 35 on the year. It entered the week 10th nationally in double plays (33) and now has 29 in its last 22 games after having just six in the first 14 games.
- In the last three games, true freshmen hitters Ethan Long and Jack Moss have combined to go 18-34 (.529) in the middle of the order with four homers, a triple, four doubles eight RBI and eight runs scored with a gaudy 1.059 fielding percentage between the two. The numbers are especially notable as neither was a consistent fixture in the starting lineup until beyond the first month of the season.
The Sun Devils will look to get back on track at home this weekend with a three-game non-conference series against Rhode Island beginning Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. AZT.