CINCINNATI – Sun Devil Baseball dropped a heartbreaker in which it rallied from a four-run deficit - and a two-run deficit in the ninth - as it fell in extra innings 9-8 (10) in Sunday's rubber match at Cincinnati.
ASU (23-13, 9-6 Big 12), scored three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 8-7 lead after trailing by two entering the frame. The Bearcats, down to their final out, got a pinch hit home run to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame before walking things off in the 10th.
The Sun Devils rallied from a four run deficit early to tie the game at 5-5 on Landon Hairston's first career homer in the seventh inning - a two run shot. UC would take a two-run-lead in the eighth before ASU's second rally of the game.
Kyle Walker homered in the ninth inning and also had a triple ahead of Hairston's homer in the seventh
TURNING POINT
Like last night, ASU took advantage of an inning-extending error by the Bearcats in the first inning to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Unlike last night - when Arizona State promptly gave two of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning - Jack Martinez struck out the side in the bottom half of the frame and allowed the Sun Devils some breathing room in retiring the first nine batters he faced.
BIG MOMENT
Martinez experienced his high stress situation in the fourth as a single and three free bases pushed the first UC runner across with no outs and the bases loaded. In what could have been a disastrous frame for the Sun Devils, Martinez allowed just one more run on a sac fly in the frame, keeping ASU up 4-2 - a lead the team would extend to 5-2 in the next half inning.
FINAL STRAW
Martinez got ASU through 5.0 inning with a 5-4 lead after UC picked up two runs in the fifth - one coming by way of just sheer bad luck on an error. The Sun Devils picked him up in the top of the sixth with back-to-back RBI singles from Landon Hairston and Matt King to make it 7-4. That was more than enough cushion for the red hot Cole Carlon, who mowed down the Bearcat order over 4.0 innings to close out the game with a save, striking out six, allowing just one hit and one walk and no runs and helping record the last out of the game as UC tried to sneak a bunt by him to slow down his rhythm - a futile feat as the sophomore executed a perfect PFP for the final out.
NOTABLES
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Kyle Walker extended his on-base streak to 23 games with his walk in the third.
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Matt King has now recorded a 13-game hitting streak, his longest in his 195 career games between ASU and UTSA. He now has 14 RBIs in his last five games alone. He has multiple hits in nine of the games in the streak.
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Jacob Tobias is currently on a 11-game hitting streak after his infield single in the first.
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Big innings have been the theme of ASU's season as the team has now scored in 128 halves of an inning on the year and have plated two or more runs in 84 of those.
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The Sun Devils have 44 innings this season scoring at least three runs, 19 with 4+ and 11 with 5+.
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ASU recorded multiple doubles for the 25th time in 35 games, finishing with four to bring its total to 37 over the last 10 games
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Sun Devil pitchers struck out double digit batters for the 22nd time in 35 games this season, finishing with 16 today.
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ASU recorded 10+ hits for the 20th time this season and have done so in 35 of its last 52 regular season games dating to last season.
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The Sun Devils moved to 14-0 in day games this season.
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ASU has outscored opponents 500-314 over its last 51 regular season games, posting a 37-15 record in those.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
Hairston reached on a one-out walk and Tobias extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an infield single and UC went to the bullpen out the gates as part of a Johnny Wholestaff game. The new pitcher picked up a flyout and the Sun Devils were blanked in the first inning for the first time in four games.
UC notched a leadoff triple and a walk to put runners on the corners. A one-out soft single through the hole in the right side led to one run and runners on second and third and a double plated another run but the Sun Devils made a huge defensive play with Hairston connecting with Walker who threw a dot to Briggs to get the second out at the plate. Walker then snagged a lineout to limit the damage to just 2-0 through one.
Second Inning
Cincinnati's middle infielders made a trio of impressive plays as ASU couldn't find any luck in the second, going down in order. Alba bounced back from a shaky first to retire the bottom of the UC lineup in order
Third Inning
Walker reached on a one-out walk but was thrown out stealing second and Hairston lined out as UC faced the minimum. UC threatened with a leadoff double and sac bunt to move the runner to third with just one out but Alba was able to get a big strikeout against the UC three-hole hitter and a groundout to keep the deficit at 2-0.
Fourth Inning
The Sun Devils went down in order as UC faced the minimum through 10 straight outs. Alba faced the minimum thanks to some help from his defense, taking advantage of an aggressive turn at first on a single and catching the runner in no-man's land.
Fifth Inning
Contrades led off the frame with a single through the middle and moved to second on a groundout but he would ended up stranded there with two straight flyouts to left. A leadoff single and collision on a sac bunt led to two on with no outs. A safety squeeze ended up as a bunt single and a run scored and a wild pitch dropped ASU into a 4-0 hole.
Sixth Inning
Walker notched a leadoff walk and went first to third on Hairston's single. King's high chopper single plated a run and the sailed throw to first allowed Hairston to score from first as well to to make it 4-2. Tobias singled and Compton brought King home on an RBI fielder's choice to make it 4-3. A pair of HBPs loaded the bases with one out and forced a pitching change but two pop-outs ended the threat. UC had an answer with another pair of doubles to right field around a HBP to plate a run and put two on with one out but Koger was able to escape the frame without any further damage to keep ASU within two at 5-3.
Seventh Inning
Walker knocked a leadoff triple off the center field wall to lead the frame off and Landon Hairston picked up his first career homer at the most opportune time, a no-doubt two-run show to right to tie the game at 5-5. ASU was unable to do any more in the frame. ASU got a massive 1-2-3 frame against the 2-3-4 UC hitters from Koger to keep the game even with the stop after score.
Eighth Inning
Jackson reached on a two-out walk but a strikeout ended the threat. A borderline ball four led to a lead off walk and a double put two runners in scoring position with no outs and both scored on a double. Kelly was able to strand that runner at second with three straight outs to keep ASU within two.
Ninth Inning
Walker led off the frame with a homer to get ASU back within a run. Hairston was hit with a pitch to put the tying run and King singled to put the tying and go-ahead runs on with no outs. Both runners moved into scoring position on a Tobias groundout. Compton legged out an RBI infield single to put runners on the corners and tie the game with one out. Contrades poked one through the right side for the go-ahead RBI. ASU was unable to add any insurance to that 8-7 lead from there.
ASU had UC down to its final out but a pinch-hit game-tying home run would send the game to extras.
Tenth Inning
The Sun Devils went down in order. UC got a leadoff single before ASU hit a batter on a 1-2 count. The runner at second stole third and scored on a squeeze bunt for the walk-off win.