SEATTLE – Sun Devil Baseball spotted the Washington Huskies a massive early lead and couldn't muster any late-inning magic in an 8-3 loss on Friday in Seattle.
Washington jumped to an 8-0 lead through four innings with four of those being unearned and two scoring on wild pitches as the Sun Devils (24-10, 10-3 Pac-12) allowed Washington (20-10, 7-6 Pac-12) to score the eight runs on just five hits, with two errors and a passed ball mixed in.
Nick McLain homered for the second time in as many games in just his second collegiate game. Wyatt Crenshaw was the only Sun Devil with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with a two-run home run.
The Sun Devil bullpen was largely successful, holding Washington scoreless in four innings of work and allowing just three hits in the process. Ross Dunn matched his career high with nine strikeouts in just 4.0 innings of work but five walks and five wild pitches would be his undoing in the effort.
TURNING POINT
Erratic pitching was the struggle right out of the gates as a wild pitch on a potential inning-ending strikeout in the first allowed a run to score and would prove to be the story of the contest moving forward.
BIG MOMENT
The Sun Devils simply couldn't avoid the free bases, allowing four runs to score in the second inning on just two hits, aided by two walks, a stolen base, a throwing error and a wild pitch with the final two runs being unearned. ASU dropped into an insurmountable 5-0 hole as a result of the sloppy play.
FINAL STRAW
UW tacked on three more unearned runs in the third and fourth behind a passed ball and a two-out dropped fly ball error that would lead to two runs. ASU cut the lead to five in the sixth and had runners on the corners in the frame to make it one big hit away from keeping things interesting but couldn't get a knock to keep the frame alive
NOTABLES
Washington jumped to an 8-0 lead through four innings with four of those being unearned and two scoring on wild pitches as the Sun Devils (24-10, 10-3 Pac-12) allowed Washington (20-10, 7-6 Pac-12) to score the eight runs on just five hits, with two errors and a passed ball mixed in.
Nick McLain homered for the second time in as many games in just his second collegiate game. Wyatt Crenshaw was the only Sun Devil with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with a two-run home run.
The Sun Devil bullpen was largely successful, holding Washington scoreless in four innings of work and allowing just three hits in the process. Ross Dunn matched his career high with nine strikeouts in just 4.0 innings of work but five walks and five wild pitches would be his undoing in the effort.
TURNING POINT
Erratic pitching was the struggle right out of the gates as a wild pitch on a potential inning-ending strikeout in the first allowed a run to score and would prove to be the story of the contest moving forward.
BIG MOMENT
The Sun Devils simply couldn't avoid the free bases, allowing four runs to score in the second inning on just two hits, aided by two walks, a stolen base, a throwing error and a wild pitch with the final two runs being unearned. ASU dropped into an insurmountable 5-0 hole as a result of the sloppy play.
FINAL STRAW
UW tacked on three more unearned runs in the third and fourth behind a passed ball and a two-out dropped fly ball error that would lead to two runs. ASU cut the lead to five in the sixth and had runners on the corners in the frame to make it one big hit away from keeping things interesting but couldn't get a knock to keep the frame alive
NOTABLES
- The Sun Devils were without the services of the defending Pac-12 Player of the Week and Golden Spikes Award Watch List member Ryan Campos, who is day to day with an oblique injury.
- Jacob Tobias again defied probability with his team-leading fourth triple of the season to give him an ASU's active career lead in games played for the Sun Devils at five.
- Nick McLain has homered in each of his first two collegiate games, this time the switch-hitter doing so as a right-handed batter with his leadoff solo shot in the sixth.
- Will Armbruester gave the Sun Devils 2.0 innings of scoreless relief and ASU's bullpen (Dylan Gardner, Brock Peery, Austin Humphres and Armbruester) held Washington scoreless over the final 4.0 innings, allowing just three hits.
- Despite the loss, the Sun Devils remain tied for first in the Pac-12 thanks to Oregon's defeat of Stanford on Friday as well.
- Luke Hill drew a career-high three walks in the contest.
- Ross Dunn now has six or more strikeouts in his last six starts and seven or more in five of those, including back-to-back career high nine punchout efforts.