EUGENE – No. 17/12 Sun Devil Baseball tied the second-best mark in program history with six home runs but unfortunately could not find the zeroes on the bottom half of the scoreboard to offset it in a 16-10 loss at No. 23/20 Oregon on Saturday in Eugene.
It marked the first Pac-12 series loss for the Sun Devils of the season but Arizona State (28-15, 13-6 Pac-12) still remains just half a game back of Stanford for first in the league.
Wyatt Crenshaw and Luke Keaschall each homered twice, marking the first time two players recorded multiple homers in a game since Jason Kipnis and Carlos Ramirez against Milwaukee in 2009. Two players have not logged multiple home runs in a single Pac-12 game since sometime before the 1998 season, as far as readily available statistics can be researched.
Keaschall also added a double and two walks and reached on all five plate appearances for the day. Crenshaw also recorded a double out of the leadoff spot. Jacob Tobias homered for the third straight game finished with three RBIs – his team-leading 15th multi-RBI game of the season.
Nick McLain homered in the ninth inning for his second long ball of the series, extending his hitting streak to 11 games to open his college career – the longest such streak for a Sun Devil freshman since at least the 1998 season.
Unfortunately, the Sun Devil pitchers simply could not pick up the offense with the Ducks recording at least a run in seven of eight innings at the dish. Things came apart early in this one again for ASU with Oregon putting up six in the third to take a commanding 8-2 lead and never looking back.
The Sun Devils will look to salvage the series tomorrow at Noon AZT to remain at least second in the Pac-12 heading out of the weekend. An ASU win and Stanford loss tomorrow would leave the Sun Devils in first place heading into the final three series of the season in May. Should ASU and Stanford both win, ASU would be second and half a game back of the Cardinal heading into next weekend's home series against them. An ASU loss would drop the Sun Devils to third in the league behind Stanford and Oregon.
It marked the first Pac-12 series loss for the Sun Devils of the season but Arizona State (28-15, 13-6 Pac-12) still remains just half a game back of Stanford for first in the league.
Wyatt Crenshaw and Luke Keaschall each homered twice, marking the first time two players recorded multiple homers in a game since Jason Kipnis and Carlos Ramirez against Milwaukee in 2009. Two players have not logged multiple home runs in a single Pac-12 game since sometime before the 1998 season, as far as readily available statistics can be researched.
Keaschall also added a double and two walks and reached on all five plate appearances for the day. Crenshaw also recorded a double out of the leadoff spot. Jacob Tobias homered for the third straight game finished with three RBIs – his team-leading 15th multi-RBI game of the season.
Nick McLain homered in the ninth inning for his second long ball of the series, extending his hitting streak to 11 games to open his college career – the longest such streak for a Sun Devil freshman since at least the 1998 season.
Unfortunately, the Sun Devil pitchers simply could not pick up the offense with the Ducks recording at least a run in seven of eight innings at the dish. Things came apart early in this one again for ASU with Oregon putting up six in the third to take a commanding 8-2 lead and never looking back.
The Sun Devils will look to salvage the series tomorrow at Noon AZT to remain at least second in the Pac-12 heading out of the weekend. An ASU win and Stanford loss tomorrow would leave the Sun Devils in first place heading into the final three series of the season in May. Should ASU and Stanford both win, ASU would be second and half a game back of the Cardinal heading into next weekend's home series against them. An ASU loss would drop the Sun Devils to third in the league behind Stanford and Oregon.