ASU Baseball: Sun Devils drop rubber match to No. 5 Oregon State, 6-5

The Arizona State Sun Devils (18-25, 10-11 Pac-12) fell to the No. 5 Oregon State Beavers (32-8, 12-7) Sunday afternoon in Corvallis by a score of 6-5, dropping the series two games to one.

The Sun Devils got out of the gates hot when sophomore catcher Lyle Lin grounded an RBI single to right field scoring junior center fielder Gage Canning in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.

Senior left handed pitcher Eli Lingos took the hill for ASU but couldn’t settle in early, as he allowed two runs before recording an out. Junior shortstop Cadyn Grenier launched a two-run home run to left putting the Beavers ahead, 2-1.

The Sun Devils would respond in the fourth inning, scoring three runs against Beavers’ starting pitcher sophomore Grant Gambrell. Junior center fielder Gage Canning had the big hit a bloop single to left center evening the score at 4-4.

Freshman right fielder Hunter Jump would tack on a go-ahead RBI double, but the lead wouldn’t last long.

Lingos, reaching the end of his line, was sent out to pitch the seventh, after already throwing well above 100 pitches and allowing four runs.

Senior third basemen Michael Gretler evened the game at five with an RBI single to right field — his third hit on the afternoon. Gretler would score the decisive run on freshman catcher Troy Claunch’s sacrifice fly.

Lingos threw seven innings, allowing 13 hits and six earned runs. He kept his team in the game, but the late runs were too much to overcome for the Sun Devils.

Up a run with two outs and one runner on base in the eighth inning, Oregon State head coach Pat Casey turned to his closer sophomore lefty Jake Mulholland for the final four outs. Mulholland struck out Canning swinging to end the inning, leaving the potential tying run on base. Mulholland would breeze through the Sun Devil four, five and six hitters to record his 12th save on the season.

ASU now will return home for a three-game weekend series against the Washington Huskies.