ASU Baseball: Sun Devils fall short, lose series to Washington in Seattle

Arizona State (22-26, 8-16 Pac-12) clinched a victory in just one of three games to the Washington Huskies (26-22, 12-12 Pac-12) in Seattle over the weekend.

The series loss officially eliminated the Sun Devils’ chances of continuing its nation leading 54-year streak of 30-win seasons.

It also put Arizona State at four games below .500. For the Sun Devils to finish with a winning season, the Maroon and Gold would need to win at least six of their last seven games.

While offense was lackluster in Friday’s matchup, it was plenty in games two and three, but in some cases, the Sun Devils’ hitting proved to be inconsistent as clutch hitting was absent in game three.

All the action from games one, two and three can be read below.

Game One

In Arizona State’s north most Pac-12 visit of the season, early inning offense from the Huskies and a dominant performance from Washington’s ace, right-hander Noah Bremer (6-2, 2.08 ERA), froze the Sun Devils en route to a Huskies victory.

By the end of the first inning, Arizona State dug itself into a 3-0 hole.

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, a passed ball scored Washington’s Levi Jordan. Sun Devil starter left-handed Eli Lingos then walked a batter to put runners on first and second. A single from John Naff scored a run, and then a dropped fly ball by Hunter Bishop in right field put Washington ahead 3-0.

A sac fly from Jack Meggs in the fifth inning increased the Huskies lead to 4-0.

For Washington’s starter, it was Bremer’s first career complete game shutout as he struck out 10 and gave up one hit on 115 pitches.

While Lingos’ performance was unlike the stature of Bremer’s complete game, he allowed just four hits in five innings of work.

What ultimately led to the loss, was Arizona State’s quiet day at the plate. Andrew Snow’s base hit in the fourth inning and Zach Cerbo’s walk in the eighth inning were ASU’s lone base runners. Neither of them reached scoring position.

Game Two

A seven hit combined defensively overblown Friday night contest was followed by a 25-hit, 13-run offense parade on Saturday.

The Sun Devils failed to score in the first three innings before producing eight runs in four of the next five innings to secure an 8-5 win.

In a lineup where every ASU batter earned a hit, Jeremy McCuin (3-for-4), Bishop (2-for-4), Carter Aldrete (2-for-4) and Snow (2-for-4) each stood out with multi-hit afternoons.

The Arizona State scoring began in the fourth inning after a 2-RBI triple from Bishop to right-center that scored Snow and Lyle Lin. Later in the inning, a single from Cerbo gave ASU a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom half of the fourth, Washington evened the game until Arizona State regained its lead from an RBI single by Snow in the fifth, 4-3.

The Sun Devils gave up a run in the sixth and seventh innings each, but scored a pair of runs in the both the seventh and eighth innings to go ahead to maintain their lead and win 8-5.

On the mound for his second start of the season was Connor Higgins. The sophomore left-hander lasted just 3 ²⁄₃ innings giving up three runs. Right-handed reliever Ryan Hingst closed out the last 5 ¹⁄₃ of the game as he allowed only two runs and earned the win.

Game Three

Sunday’s rubber match ended as an afternoon of missed opportunities for the Sun Devils who left 11 runners on base and pounded nine hits compared to Washington’s six. Arizona State failed to earn a run and fell 4-0.

The Sun Devils trailed 4-0 after the third inning, and after hitting 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position, the list of missed chances to chip away at Washington’s lead seem endless. Arizona State had two runners on base in five of nine innings and failed to score.

After back-to-back singles from Canning and Snow to start the game Arizona State’s three, four and five hitters produced two fly outs and a strikeout looking.

Strikeouts also ended the fourth and sixth innings for the Sun Devils who had runners on first and second in both.

In the seventh inning when Arizona State had runners on first and second with only an out, Lin grounded out into a double play. The following inning saw runners at first and second again before Myles Denson flied out to center field to make the third out.

What put Arizona State in an early hole was the short-lived 1 ¹⁄₃ inning start from left-hander Spencer Van Scoyoc. While he gave up just one earned run, Adrete’s throwing error from second base and a hit batsmen that scored led to unearned runs.

Right-hander Eder Erives relieved for Van Scoyoc as he allowed a run in his first inning of work before throwing 4 ²⁄₃ more shutout innings and retiring each of his last 11 batters. Left-handed pitcher Tanner West then pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

Up Next

Arizona State will remain in the Evergreen State for a contest against the Seattle University Redhawks (18-30-1, 7-14 WAC) in a late Tuesday afternoon 4 p.m. matinee.