ASU Baseball: Sun Devils lose early lead, suffer sweep to Stanford

If the Barry Bonds pregame visit at Stanford on Sunday was supposed to inspire power within the Sun Devil lineup, it rubbed off more effectively in the home dugout.

The ASU (14-19, 5-7) bats were by no means quiet, but Stanford (17-10, 9-6) rode its long-ball heroics from Saturday into Sunday’s game for a 16-10 Cardinal win.

Willie Bloomquist’s squad carried another early lead through the early innings on Sunday. Jacob Tobias (3-for-4, 3 RBI, 1 R) continued his impressive weekend with a two-RBI single in the first. Kai Murphy (0-for-5, 1 RBI) added another run via an RBI fielder’s choice. The Sun Devils led 3-0 after one.

Stanford responded immediately with two runs in the home half, one coming off a solo shot. Jacob Walker (0-0, 8.15 ERA) started for ASU, and allowed four earned runs on the day. He earned a no-decision.

In 12 appearances, Walker has worked just one scoreless outing, while throwing more than four innings just three times. In five of those appearances, he gave up three earned runs or more.

Cam Magee (1-for-5, 2 RBI) played well all weekend as he guns for the rotational middle-infield spot, and added another RBI double in the third. Joe Lampe (3-for-6, 1 R, 1 RBI) followed up with a run-scoring double of his own, and ASU extended its early lead to 5-2.

Over the span of the next three innings, things imploded for ASU.

Stanford tied the game back up at 5-5 when Chase Webster (1-3, 4.58 ERA) relieved Walker. Webster then loaded the bases, and if you watched Saturday’s game, you know what happened next: Cardinal catcher Vincent Martinez launched a score-breaking grand slam. Martinez also homered later in the game for his fifth and sixth RBI off the day.

Two days in a row, Stanford broke a 5-5 tie with a grand slam.

The Cardinal continued to pile on in the middle innings, including another homer from Braden Montgomery.

By the end of the seventh inning, the Sun Devils had shown some fight thanks to an RBI single from the freshman Ryan Campos (2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI), and an RBI groundout from his first-year comrade Magee. But Martinez’s second shot all but ended things for ASU, and the Cardinal extended its lead to 16-7 by the inning’s close.

Ethan Long (1-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI) and Tobias showed fight in the eighth, each adding an RBI base-knock to slim the lead to 16-10 after Nate Baez scored on a wild pitch.

The first four pitchers for the Sun Devils (Walker, Webster, Blake Pivaroff and Brock Peery) all allowed three earned runs or more. Stanford recorded 22 hits on the day. Ethan Long threw the lone inning of scoreless relief.