PHOENIX - Sun Devil Baseball had as good of start as you could get but couldn't keep the momentum going, falling 11-5 in the rubber match against Utah on Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The Sun Devils led the game off with three straight homers from Ryan Campos, Kien Vu and Jacob Tobias but managed just two runs over the remainder of the game and was undone by a five-run Utah sixth inning.
Campos, Vu and Tobias all finished with two hits, as did Brandon Compton as part of ASU's 10-hit effort, but the team was held scoreless over the final six innings of action.
ASU will hit the road for a five-game stretch in the Los Angeles area this week, taking part in two midweek tilts against Cal State Fullerton before a weekend Pac-12 series at UCLA.
TURNING POINT
After ASU jumped out to a 4-1 lead, Utah responded with a three-run third inning behind three doubles and a homer to tie things up. ASU would load the bases in the bottom half of the frame with only one out but managed just a sac fly and a 5-4 lead which would prove to be not nearly enough down the stretch.
BIG MOMENT
The gut punch came in the sixth inning with a leadoff single followed by a two-run homer to give Utah its first lead of the game at 6-5. Ryan Schiefer, who has been elite all season, had his toughest inning of the year as he hit the next two batters to put two on with no outs. Schiefer looked like he might get out of the jam with a lineout and strikeout but Utah's nine-hole hitter Matt Flaharty, a defensive replacement in the game, got a hold of the first pitch he saw for a back-breaking three-run homer that made it 9-5 instead of ASU getting out of the frame down by a run.
FINAL STRAW
ASU would record four straight outs to the warning track over the next inning and change but they went into the scorebook as loud outs. Flaharty drove the nail in the coffin in the top of the eight with his second homer of the game, matching his career total in the span of three innings - this one a two-run shot that put the game out of reach at 11-5.
NOTABLES
The Sun Devils led the game off with three straight homers from Ryan Campos, Kien Vu and Jacob Tobias but managed just two runs over the remainder of the game and was undone by a five-run Utah sixth inning.
Campos, Vu and Tobias all finished with two hits, as did Brandon Compton as part of ASU's 10-hit effort, but the team was held scoreless over the final six innings of action.
ASU will hit the road for a five-game stretch in the Los Angeles area this week, taking part in two midweek tilts against Cal State Fullerton before a weekend Pac-12 series at UCLA.
TURNING POINT
After ASU jumped out to a 4-1 lead, Utah responded with a three-run third inning behind three doubles and a homer to tie things up. ASU would load the bases in the bottom half of the frame with only one out but managed just a sac fly and a 5-4 lead which would prove to be not nearly enough down the stretch.
BIG MOMENT
The gut punch came in the sixth inning with a leadoff single followed by a two-run homer to give Utah its first lead of the game at 6-5. Ryan Schiefer, who has been elite all season, had his toughest inning of the year as he hit the next two batters to put two on with no outs. Schiefer looked like he might get out of the jam with a lineout and strikeout but Utah's nine-hole hitter Matt Flaharty, a defensive replacement in the game, got a hold of the first pitch he saw for a back-breaking three-run homer that made it 9-5 instead of ASU getting out of the frame down by a run.
FINAL STRAW
ASU would record four straight outs to the warning track over the next inning and change but they went into the scorebook as loud outs. Flaharty drove the nail in the coffin in the top of the eight with his second homer of the game, matching his career total in the span of three innings - this one a two-run shot that put the game out of reach at 11-5.
NOTABLES
- Ryan Campos' first inning homer means he has now reached base safely in 115-of-125 career games (92.0 percent) with the Sun Devils.
- His second inning double was also his Pac-12-leading 17th of the season, a total good for the Top-10 nationally as well.
- ASU led the game off with three straight homers from Ryan Campos, Kien Vu and Jacob Tobias. It was the first time ASU had gone back-to-back-to-back since Trevor Hauver, Spencer Torkelson and Hunter Bishop on April 12, 2019 against Oregon State.
- Since at least 1998 (as far back as quickly available records go), ASU not only had never led off a game with three homers, it had never recorded three home runs in the first inning of a game, period.
- Utah starter Colter McAnelly had only given up two homers all season in 25.1 innings pitched prior to his three to lead off the game today.
- ASU held Utah scoreless in the first for the second straight game, the first time ASU has done it in consecutive games since March 20 and March 22 against Utah Valley and Washington State.
- This season, ASU has now posted 29 3+ run innings and 18 4+ run innings following its three-run first.
- ASU reached double digit hits for the 22nd time in 36 games this season, finishing with 13 today.