ASU baseball: Sun Devils fall to Anteaters, lose third straight

IRVINE, Calif.- No. 18 ASU baseball fell behind early for the second consecutive game this weekend, falling to UC Irvine 5-2 Saturday afternoon.

The defeat marked the first time the Sun Devils (2-4) have lost four of their first six games in school history.

Sophomore starter Ryan Kellogg ran into trouble in the bottom of the first, giving up hits to five of the first six Anteaters (3-3) he faced, resulting in three runs.

The Sun Devil offense couldn't support Kellogg (0-1) either.

Before scoring twice in the sixth inning, the Sun Devils went 19 straight innings without a run.

Sun Devils' head coach Tim Esmay credited Anteaters senior pitcher Andrew Morales, who gave up just the two runs over seven innings while scattering just four hits.

"That kid we faced today (Morales) is their guy," Esmay said. "We hit some balls hard today but we are kind of just weathering the storm right now."

Kellogg weathered his storm nicely after the rough first, allowing just one more run in his six innings.

"He (Kellogg) pitched well today," Esmay said. "He minimized that thing and didn't let it get away from him."

Sophomore infielder Dalton DiNatale and sophomore outfielder Johnny Sewald drove in runs for the Sun Devils, but it wasn't enough.

Esmay said he isn't worried about the state of his team, though, and is still taking things a day at a time.

"It's just baseball," Esmay said. "Like I said, we've just got to weather the storm a little bit and keep playing. Tomorrow's another day and we'll come out and play good baseball."

The Sun Devils' final chance to pick up a victory this weekend is tomorrow at 2 p.m. MST (1 p.m. PT) against Wright State.