STARKVILLE, Miss. – Sun Devil Baseball suffered its second loss of the season, dropping a 16-3 contest in the final game of a three-game series at Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon in Starkville.
Luke Hill recorded his first career home run and Ethan Long added his second of the year.
THE TURNING POINT
After trailing 3-2 heading into the fourth inning, the Bulldogs erupted with a six-run fourth inning to give them a 9-2 lead.
Following a hit by pitch that loaded the bases that went to replay and was upheld, Mississippi State hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to blow the game open. It was the first home run allowed by the Sun Devil pitching staff this season.
THE FINAL STRAW
Mississippi State hit two of its three home runs in the sixth and seventh innings, expanding their lead to 12-3 by the seventh inning.
NOTABLES
- Ryan Campos stole home for the first time in his career in the top of the first inning.
- Luke Hill has reached base safely in six of his first seven career games. Additionally, he has a hit in five straight games and added his first career homer
- Wyatt Crenshaw has a hit in seven straight games to open the season. He has 13 hits in his first 27 bats as a Sun Devil.
- Hill's two-hit day matched Crenshaw for a team-leading five multi-hit games this season.
- Blake Pivaroff struck out two of ASU's nine strikeouts in his one inning of work
INNING BY INNING
FIRST INNING
Ryan Campos and Ethan Long reached base on a walk and a single, respectively. Campos stole home on a double steal to end the first inning and gave ASU its first run.
SECOND INNING
Luke Hill led off the inning with his first career home run on an opposite field to right field, cutting the lead to just one.
Manning retired the side with two strikeouts.
THIRD INNING
Wyatt Crenshaw recorded his second steal of the season after drawing a one-out walk but nothing came of it for the Sun Devils.
Manning walked the leadoff batter for the second time in three innings. Mississippi State took second base on a wild pitch. Luke Keaschall provided an unassisted double play after he snagged a line drive and dove to second base for the second out. Manning struck out his third batter on a breaking ball to end the inning.
Jacob Tobias drew a two-out walk after falling behind 1-2 in the at-bat. Five pitches later, Nu'u Contades snuck a single through the right side of the infield but were unable to capitalize.
Manning continued his early-inning woes with two hits on the first two at-bats of the inning. Three pitches later, Mississippi State scored on an infield single making it 4-2 Bulldogs. Matt Tiedling entered for Manning with runners on the corners with no outs. He gave up a run on a single to left field. After hitting a batter to load the bases, Mississippi State hit a grand slam to extend its lead to 9-2. Tieding retired two of the next three batters to end the inning.
FIFTH INNINGCrenshaw recorded a two-out single but nothing came of it.
Blake Pivaroff entered the game for Tiedling. He struck out two and faced the minimum to end the inning.
SIXTH INNINGHill reached base for the second time with a single to the right-center gap.
Jesse Wainscott came in for Pivaroff to open the inning. Mississippi State immediately capitalized with a solo home run to left-center field. Wainscott retired three of the final four batters faced in the inning.
SEVENTH INNINGThe Sun Devils got just one batter on base with a walk in the inning.
The Bulldogs got their third home run of the day with a blast to right field. Will Armbruester entered the game with two outs and retired the final batter of the inning.
EIGHTH INNINGEthan Long hammered a one-out home run to right field, followed by a single from Reese Behler. The Sun Devils were unable to get anything with one runner on.
ASU allowed four runs.
NINTH INNINGThe Sun Devils stranded two to end the game.
ON DECK
The Sun Devils will return to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to play North Dakota State in a standalone game on Wed. March 1, at 6 p.m. MST. The game can be seen on ASU live stream.