ASU Baseball: BYU’s quick start stuns Sun Devils in mid-week loss

Despite fighting back in the later innings, Arizona State (22-14) was unable to match BYU (12-24) offensively. A fatal first inning helped give the Cougars the 8-5 win, and ASU received its second straight loss.

Patience was a virtue for the Cougars to start on Tuesday morning. BYU walked twice and got hit by pitches twice in a four-run first inning. Abraham Valdez capped off the frame with a two-run double after a 10-pitch at-bat.

Jared Glenn, the starter for ASU, threw 49 pitches in the frame (20 balls) and gave up three hits in his first inning of work. Glenn returned and finished the second frame, but not before he surrendered a solo shot to Cole Gambill, making the score 5-0.

Gambill hit another solo bomb in the bottom of the fifth. In total, he went 3-4 with four RBIs on the afternoon.

The Sun Devils were able to get some offense going, but struggled to push guys across the plate. ASU tallied 11 hits and left nine runners on while grounding into three double plays.

Ethan Long continued his hot streak at the plate for ASU. Coming off of a weekend that earned him Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, Long bashed a three-run homer, giving him sole possession of the team lead (6).

Long had an opportunity to tie the game with two runners on in the ninth, but he struck out after two whiffs (clearly trying to hit another home run).

The two other runs for ASU came off a sacrifice-fly from Drew Swift that scored Sam Ferri in the third, and an RBI single by Nate Baez in the eighth.

BYU added two more runs in the sixth against reliever Brock Peery, and that was enough to keep the Sun Devils at an arms-length.

Most midweek games tend to be “staff games” where multiple pitchers are used. On Tuesday, both teams combined to throw 10 pitchers. The game was originally scheduled for Monday morning, but the impending Provo weather postponed it.

The Sun Devils will travel back to Phoenix Municipal Stadium for a non-conference series against Rhode Island this weekend. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. local time.