ASU Baseball: Sun Devils fall to Pepperdine 3-2 in regional opener

The Arizona State baseball team fell to the Pepperdine Waves 3-2 in their regional opener Friday afternoon. The loss drops the Sun Devils to the losers bracket where they will meet the loser of Cal Poly and Sacramento State on Saturday.

The Sun Devils were victims of some bad luck in the first inning, when starting pitcher Brett Lilek left the contest with an upper body injury. Lilek was attempting to cover first on a double play and the throw from shortstop Drew Stankiewicz, the throw forced Lilek to stretch and fall to the ground on the first base line.

He stayed down for several minutes and after throwing a few warm-up pitches, he was removed from the game. Freshman Seth Martinez came in for Lilek and was touched up early, as the Waves put up two runs in the second inning on an Austin Davidson double with the bases loaded.

However, Martinez settled down and allowed just three hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched, striking out seven.

The Sun Devils cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second on a Trevor Allen solo home run and Nate Causey pulled the Sun Devils within one in the fourth inning when he singled home Stankiewicz. However, Arizona State just could not come up with enough offense against Pepperdine starter Corey Miller.

The senior only gave up three hits over 7 1/3 innings of work, walking four batters and striking out four. Arizona State left five runners on base.

Arizona State will try to extend their season tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.