ASU Baseball: Costly outfield error the difference in extra-inning loss to Arizona

Sophomore outfielder Hunter Bishop was the hero Friday evening when he produced five RBIs in a 10-5 win over the Devils’ arch-rival. On Saturday night, his costly outfield mistake proved the difference in a 10-9 loss to Arizona in 11 innings at Hi Corbett Field.

ASU (22-30, 12-15 Pac-12) could’ve dodged extras and went home victorious had Bishop not dropped a fly ball deep in left center field that let in two unearned Arizona (32-21, 11-16) runs with two outs in the seventh inning. Arizona had trailed 9-7, before scoring twice on the dropped pop up.

Freshman outfielder Donta Williams drove in the winning run on a hit to right field that broke a 9-9 tie in the 11th inning.

In the Devils’ loss, Arizona secured the Territorial Cup series win, taking two of of three games from ASU, and won the overall 2017-18 Territorial Cup series, which the Devils had held for four years straight.

The Sun Devils scored four runs in the top of the fourth — three on freshman first baseman Spencer Torkelson’s three-run homer — to take a 7-2 lead, before senior left-hander Eli Lingos let in four of his six runs in the bottom half of the inning. Arizona’s four-run inning included a three-RBI double from senior left fielder Ryan Haug.

Arizona scored once in the sixth to tie it at 7-7. The Sun Devils scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a two-run lead, then Bishop’s error in left field allowed the Wildcats to even the game, 9-9.

Lingos was pulled after 3 ¹⁄₃ innings, and freshman righty Brady Corrigan gave up three runs over the next 3 ¹⁄₃ innings. Sophomore lefty Chaz Montoya came in and tossed two-thirds of a scoreless inning, then freshman righty Boyd Vander Kooi finished the game, giving up no runs over three innings until Quintana drove in the game-winning RBI.

The Sun Devils finish the season with three home games against California (30-22, 15-14), starting Thursday at 7 p.m.