ASU Baseball: Vu’s walk-off single caps ninth inning comeback in 6-5 win over Washington State

PHOENIX - There were six innings that separated Arizona State’s three-run outbursts, but the Sun Devils (21-9, 8-2 Pac-12) squeezed in their second offensive explosion in-time to defeat Washington State (18-10, 5-7 Pac-12) 6-5 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium Thursday night.

Head coach Willie Bloomquist and pitching coach Sam Peraza opted for the righty Jonah Giblin to start the game on the mound for ASU. Ross Dunn, the ASU ace, will start game two in order to stay on the Friday schedule.

Giblin allowed three earned runs in the first inning, and he only completed two full innings. Lefty Timmy Manning ate most of the innings out of the bullpen. Manning only allowed one run in 4.1 innings of work. He struck out six Cougars in the process to tie his career-high.

The Sun Devils tied the game at 3-3 when freshman infielder Luke Hill launched a three-run blast for second homer of the season.

The Cougars took a 5-3 lead in the eighth inning by scoring a run off closer Jesse Wainscott.

First-baseman Jacob Tobias went deep with a solo shot in the ninth to cut the lead in half at 5-4. Still with no outs, Hill singled, and outfielder Wyatt Crenshaw drew a walk to put the winning run on first base. GCU-transfer Jonny Weaver played station-to-station ball when he singled to move Hill and Crenshaw over into scoring position.

Tobias and Hill led ASU hitters with two hits each.

Freshman outfielder Isaiah Jackson worked a full-count before flying out to score Hill, tying the game at 5-5. Kien Vu, another freshman, sealed the victory with a walk-off single to score Crenshaw and end the game at 6-5.

Washington State was previously 17-0 this year when leading after seven and eight innings.

First pitch for game two is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday night.