ASU Baseball: Sun Devils surrender early lead, get swept by No. 2 Stanford

Three weeks ago, Arizona State (14-22, 6-9 Pac-12) called upon its only senior starter – lefty Eli Lingos – to get the team out of a jam and help it avoid a sweep against UCLA. He did just that.

Tracy Smith and Co. did the same thing, facing the same situation again on Sunday. The outcome, however, was different.

Lingos gave up nine hits and five earned runs six innings of work against the 2^nd-ranked Stanford Cardinal (27-5, 9-3) Sunday in a 10-3 loss.

ASU, though, did get on the board first in the top of the third inning as Hunter Bishop and Alika Williams came around to score courtesy of a 2-RBI double from Gage Canning.

The Devils didn’t hold that lead for long. In the bottom of the third, Stanford scored a trio of runs capped off by a two-run home run from first baseman Andrew Daschbach.

The Devils were only down one heading into the fourth but, instead of hanging on, they followed a script that has plagued them all season blow: Making dumb mistakes. Drew Swift threw a ball away that would have been the second out in the game, but instead put runners on the corners.

Two batters later, Lingos threw a wild pitch to Beau Branton that allowed Alec Wilson to advance to third – allowing him to tag up just a few pitches later to give Stanford a 6-1 lead through just four innings.

The Sun Devils managed just two hits after the two they got in the third – garnering just one more hit (4) than errors (3) on the day. That’s not exactly a winning formula for a team that has now lost six straight.

ASU travels back to Phoenix Municipal Stadium next week to take on the Utah Utes for a three-game weekend set. First game is Friday, April 20 at 6:30 MST.