PHOENIX β The Arizona Wildcats were in position to make rival Arizona State sweat. A four-run margin had shrunk to two. The bases were loaded. A season-high crowd of 6,059 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium suddenly became restless.
But the sizzling Sun Devils got out of the inning. Then they pulled away.
No. 14 Arizona State defeated Arizona 8-2 on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series. The Sun Devils β the biggest surprise story in college baseball β improved to 23-1, 6-1 in the Pac-12. They also snapped a four-game losing streak against the Wildcats at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Slumping Arizona lost its fifth in a row to fall to 13-12, 2-5.
βWe had our crack,β UA coach Jay Johnson said. βAgainst a good team, when you have your crack, you have to capitalize. And we didnβt do it.β
The Wildcats chipped away at a 4-0 deficit, halving it on solo home runs by freshmen Austin Wells and Dayton Dooney. Arizona then loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh.
Reliver Brady Corrigan entered from the bullpen to face Cameron Cannon. The UA junior, whoβs been scuffling of late, popped out to third on a 1-0 pitch. He slammed his bat into the turf upon exiting the batterβs box.
ASU plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it 8-2.
Arizona starter Randy Labaut battled the Pac-12βs most powerful lineup into the seventh. The Sun Devilsβ biggest boppers, Spencer Torkelson and Hunter Bishop, smacked solo home runs off Labaut, whose final line β six runs on seven hits in 6ΒΊ innings β didnβt reflect how well he pitched.
This season hasnβt gone the way Labaut had hoped. After missing most of last year following emergency surgery for compartment syndrome in his leg, Labaut entered 2019 as Arizonaβs presumptive ace.
At the time of his surgery last March, Labaut was the Wildcatsβ most effective pitcher. He entered Friday with a 2-2 record and a 6.51 ERA.
Labaut didnβt get much help from his defense in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff walk to Trevor Hauver, Torkelson lofted a towering fly ball to right-center field. UA right fielder Tate Soderstrom appeared to be in position to catch the ball but lost it at the last second. Torkelson was credited with a double, and ASU had runners on second and third.
After an intentional walk to Bishop β the Pac-12 leader in multiple offensive categories, including home runs and RBIs β to load the bases, Alika Williams hit a fly ball to center that was too shallow to score Hauver.
Carter Aldrete then hit a popup to shallow left-center. Shortstop Jacob Blas couldnβt corral it, allowing Hauver to score. Blas threw to second to retire Bishop. Johnson argued that the infield-fly rule should have been called, to no avail.
No errors were charged against the Wildcats. Had those two balls been caught, itβs likely no runs would have scored.
ASU junior right-hander Alec Marsh has taken to the Friday-night role. He entered Game 1 with 6-0 record and a 0.65 ERA and proved those sparkling numbers were no fluke.
Marsh didnβt allow a baserunner through three innings. The perfect game ended when Cannon and Wells walked with one out in the top of the fourth. Marsh stranded them.
Arizonaβs first hit came with two outs in the fifth on a double by Soderstrom. The Wildcatsβ first run came on Wellsβ solo home run in the sixth, the freshmanβs second of the season. The first came in his first collegiate at-bat on Feb. 15.
Arizona chased Marsh in the seventh after Dooney clubbed his second homer of the season, a solo shot to right.
Torkelsonβs home run, which made it 5-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, was his fifth in as many games against Arizona.
Johnson then called for another intentional walk of Bishop, even though the bases were empty. He eventually scored on a wild pitch. The wild pitch came on a strikeout that would have ended the inning and kept the score at 5-2.
Inside pitch
β’Wells made his first career start in left field. He previously had split his time between catcher (13 starts) and first base (11). Wells robbed Williams of an extra-base it with a running, sliding catch in the bottom of the fifth.
β’Redshirt-freshman right-hander Quinn Flanagan, whoβs from nearby Chandler, is expected to start for Arizona in Game 2 Saturday. Heβll be opposed by sophomore righty Boyd Vander Kooi.
β’Junior outfielder Matt Fraizer joined the team here after having surgery Thursday to remove a broken hamate bone. Fraizer, who got hurt March 17, likely will miss the rest of the season.
β’As part of a $4 million offseason renovation project at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, the outfield fence was brought in between 11 and 17 feet. The new dimensions: 333 feet to left, 395 to center, 334 to right and 373 in the power alleys. The bullpens have been moved from foul territory to the other side of the wall.
