May 16, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- The No. 8 University of Arizona Wildcats connected on five doubles in a six-run fourth inning en route to a series-clinching 18-1 victory over No. 17 Arizona State Monday night in Pac-10 Baseball action at Winkles Field at Packard Stadium.
After winning the opening game of the rivalry series Saturday night 6-2, ASU was outscored 34-8 over the final two games of the series to drop a conference series to the Wildcats for the first time since 1999. With their fifth loss in the last seven games, the Sun Devils drop to 30-20 overall and remain in fourth place in the conference at 11-7. Arizona improved to 34-16 overall and 14-4 in Pac-10 play.
Junior starting pitcher Brett Bordes (Mesa, Ariz.) suffered the loss giving up four this and five runs (four earned) in three innings to fall to 3-5 on the season. Junior reliever Tony Barnette (Federal Way, Wash.) was roughed up for four hits and four runs in just two-thirds of an inning and took the brunt of the six-run fourth inning. Senior right-hander Ty Marotz (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and freshman lefty Josh Satow (Scottsdale, Ariz.) each contributed a scoreless inning of work to close out the loss.
UA senior starting pitcher Sean Rierson gave up one run in a season-high five and two-thirds innings to pick up the win. The Chaparral High School product scattered eight hits and struck out three to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Freshman shortstop Andrew Romine (Lake Forest, Calif.) led the Sun Devils at the plate going 3-for-4 the lone RBI. Romine extended his hitting streak to a career-high six games, going 11-for-22 (.500) over that stretch to raise his season average to .304. Junior right fielder Travis Buck (Richland, Wash.) recorded his team-leading 19th double of the year in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
Arizona notched 17 hits and had all but one starter record a hit. Left fielder Trevor Crowe and first baseman Jordan Brown each had three hits, with Brown tying the UA single-game record with three doubles.
The Wildcats jumped out to the early lead with a three-run second inning. UA loaded the bases on a leadoff double by Jordan Brown, a walk to Nick Hundley and a throwing error by ASU third baseman Joey Hooft. After a strikeout to shortstop Jason Donald, designated hitter Jason Seefeld hit a two-run single to center field. Third baseman Bryan Kervin added a run on a sacrifice fly to left field to stake the Wildcats to the 3-0 lead.
Arizona put the game away with a six-run fourth inning, including drilling five doubles. After chasing Bordes from the game, pinch-hitter Derek Decater greeted Barnette with a two-run double to the right field gap to extend the lead to 6-0. Doubles by Kervin and Brown, and a bloop single by right fielder Jeff Van Houten added three more runs to cap the six-run frame.
The Sun Devils plated their only run of the game in the fourth inning on a single up the middle by Romine to score senior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch.
The Wildcats tacked on four more runs on four hits in the sixth and five more runs in the seventh to bring the game to the final score of 18-1.
Arizona State (30-20, 11-7 Pac-10) returns to the road next weekend for a three-game conference series with the University of Washington (27-21, 7-11 Pac-10). The series starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. and continues Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Husky Ballpark in Seattle.
Game Notes: The 18 runs given up to Arizona are the most by ASU since losing 19-11 in Tucson on May 19, 2000... the win by Arizona on Sunday snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Wildcats at Packard Stadium dating back to 2001... senior third baseman Joey Hooft singled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to four games... freshman shortstop Andrew Romine recorded a run-scoring single in the fourth inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-high six games... Travis Buck extended his hitting streak to 14 games with his 19th double of the year... Buck is hitting .475 (29-for-61) with five doubles and 11 RBI during the streak... his 14-game hitting streak is one off his career-high of 15... freshman center fielder J.J. Sferra returned to the lineup after missing the first two games of the series with a leg injury... the double by Jeff Larish with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning ended a streak of 23.2 consecutive innings that ASU went without and extra base hit... prior to the double, ASU's last extra base hit was a home run by Travis Buck in the eighth inning against Utah Valley State (5/4)... Arizona closed out its first series win over the Sun Devils since 1992 by winning four of the five meetings this season... prior to this season, ASU head coach Pat Murphy had never lost a season series to the Wildcats and still leads the series 35-20 in his 11 years at the helm of the Sun Devils dating back to 1995.
Arizona 18, Arizona State 1 (May 16, 2005 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona............. 030 604 500 - 18 17 2 (34-16, 14-4 Pac-10) Arizona State....... 000 100 000 - 1 10 1 (30-20, 11-7 Pac-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona - Rierson; Mills(6); Melancon(7). Arizona State - Bordes, B.; Barnette(4); Bresnehan(4); Dryanski(7); Marotz(7); Satow(9). Win-Rierson(3-2) Save-Melancon(8) Loss-Bordes, B.(3-5) T-3:28 A-3312