ASU 10 – @ UCLA 5
@ Cal 11 – Arizona 5
Washington 5 – @ USC 4
ASU moves a half game in front of Stanford for first place in the Pac-10. The starting pitching for both teams ended up with nearly identical box scores, but neither figured in the decision. Mike Leake for ASU and Tim Murphy for UCLA both struck out 10, walked zero and gave up 8 hits. Tommy Rafferty picked up his 9th win (tied for most in the nation) after pitching the final 2 innings and gave up zero runs, 1 hit, 1 walk and struck out 2. Offensively Jermaine Curtis for UCLA had the most hits going 4 for 5 with a double. For ASU Jason Kipnis went 3 for 5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI’s while Marcel Champagnie also had 3 hits, 2 RBI’s and stole 2 bases.
Cal snaps a four game loosing streak with the win. Tyson Ross of Cal picked up the win allowing 11 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 5 strike outs in 8 innings. Cal also got home runs from Charlie Cutler, Josh Satin, Brett Jackson and Blake Smith. Defending Pac-10 pitcher of the week Preston Guilmet takes the loss for Arizona as he gave up only 7 hits but 7 earned runs along with 1 walk and 8 strike outs in 6.1 innings.
Washington’s Jorden Merry picked up his 7th win after going 7.2 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 4 walks and 3 strike outs. Tommy Milone takes the loss for USC after he went 8 innings, giving up 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 0 walks and 7 strike outs. Kyle Conley was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate for Washington with 2 RBI’s.
Media Releases
(Los Angeles, CA) – #3 Arizona State used a five-run ninth inning to cap off a comeback 10-5 victory over UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Devils, who trailed 5-0 after three innings, were paced by two homers from Jason Kipnis to improve to 36-7, 11-5 in Pac-10 play.
UCLA got to starter Mike Leake in the bottom of the first, taking a 1-0- lead. Alden Carrithers hit a soft liner to center that scored Jermaine Curtis from second. They would add to their lead in third, scoring four to go ahead 5-0. An RBI double by Casey Haerther followed by a two-run double by Brandon Crawford put the Bruins up 4-0. Mickey Weisser added another run with an RBI single to make it 5-0.
The Devils got on the board in the fourth, thanks to back-to-back home runs by Brett Wallace and Petey Paramore. Wallace sent a laser beam over the center field wall for his 13th homer of the season, then Paramore followed with a blast to left-center for his fifth round-tripper of the year. The last time two Sun Devil went back-to-back was on May 19, 2006 at Arizona, when Wallace and Ike Davis did it.
The home run was the 36th of Brett Wallace’s career, tying him with Jeremy West, Ted Dyson and Mike Sodders for ninth most in school history.
Jason Kipnis drew the Devils closer in the eighth, homering to left-center off Tim Murphy with Ryan Sontag aboard to make it 5-4. It was the first homer since March 22 for Kipnis and his ninth of the season. Marcel Champagnie evened it up with an RBI single to right that scored Brett Wallace.
Kipnis put the Devils ahead in the ninth, homering to right field with Sontag on to make it 7-5. It was his second multi-homer game of the season, joining the February 28 game against Michigan when he homered twice and had five RBI. Champagnie added to the lead, singling home Brett Wallace from second to make it 8-5. Kiel Roling came home when the relay throw to third was high, making it 9-5. Champagnie would steal home to make it 10-5 before UCLA finally got out of the inning.
Leake was fantastic over his seven innings of work, tying a career high with 10 strikeouts. He allowed five runs on eight hits, four of which came in the third when UCLA scored four times. He did not walk a batter and did not figure into the decision.
UCLA’s Tim Murphy was equally impressive, fanning 10 and allowing four runs on eight hits. He also did not walk a batter and also got a no decision.
Tommy Rafferty pitched the final two frames for Arizona State, upping his record to 9-0. Rafferty struck out two and allowed only a single. Brendan Lafferty (1-2) took the loss for the Bruins, allowing five runs in 1.2 innings of work.
Kipnis was 3-5 on the day, driving home four. Marcel Champagnie was 3-5 with two RBI at the DH spot. Ryan Sontag, Brett Wallace and Petey Paramore all had three hits for ASU in the win. The Devils totaled 14 hits on the game, despite Ike Davis missing his third straight game. Davis is not expected to play this weekend.
The Sun Devils and Bruins will play again tomorrow evening at 4 p.m., with FSN Arizona televising the game from Jackie Robinson Stadium.
NOTES: Former Arizona State star and Major League Baseball Home Run King Barry Bonds visited the Sun Devils before the game, chatting with players in the dugout and watching the game from the stands at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
(Berkeley, CA) – Paced by the masterful pitching of junior right-hander Tyson Ross and home runs from Charlie Cutler, Josh Satin, Brett Jackson and Blake Smith, the No. 16-ranked California baseball team defeated No. 20-ranked Arizona, 11-5, Friday afternoon at Evans Diamond. The Golden Bears, who lead the Pac-10 with 63 home runs, got solo shots from Cutler and Smith, a three-run homer from Satin and a grand slam from Jackson. Meanwhile, Ross improved his record to 7-2 by throwing 8.0 innings with 11 hits, three runs, three walks and five strikeouts. Cal improves to 28-14-2 overall and 8-8 in league. The Wildcats drop to 30-14 and 7-9 in conference play. The Bears also snapped a four-game losing streak.
The losing pitcher for Arizona was last year’s Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year and last week’s Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week Preston Guilmet (5-3), who threw 6.1 innings with seven hits, seven runs, one walk and eight strikeouts.
Cal scored a run in the bottom of the first on junior left fielder Cutler’s home run to right field. The Wildcats tied the game, 1-1, in the second inning when Jon Gaston led-off the inning with a double and later scored on Dwight Child’s bunt single. The Bears then exploded for four runs in the bottom of the third inning on junior first baseman David Cooper’s RBI double to left, followed by senior second baseman Satin’s three-run shot off of Guilmet.
Arizona got within 5-2 with a run in the fifth inning when T.J Steele scored on a Ross wild pitch. But, Cal rallied again for another big inning, this time scoring six runs in the seventh inning on Cooper’s RBI single, sophomore center fielder Jackson’s first career grand slam and sophomore right fielder/pitcher Smith’s eighth home run of the year. The Wildcats ended up scoring a run in the eighth on pinch hitter Rafael Valenzuela’s RBI single, and two runs in the ninth on bases loaded walks by Colt Sedbrook and Daniel Butler for the 11-5 final.
Both teams finished with 11 hits, but the Wildcats left 13 runners on base. Cutler led the Bears with three hits. Sophomore designated hitter Rich Gorman and sophomore catcher Dylan Tonneson also hit doubles for Cal.
The Bears will next face Arizona in the second game of the three-game Pac-10 series, Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m. at Evans Diamond.
Home Runs:
Arizona: None.
Cal: Cutler, solo home run in the first inning. Satin, three-run homer in the third inning. Jackson, grand slam in the seventh inning. Smith, solo home run in the seventh inning.
(Los Angeles, CA) – Right-hander Jorden Merry improved to 7-0 on the season, holding USC to four hits over seven and two-thirds innings as the Washington baseball team beat the Trojans, 5-4, Friday night in the first game of a Pac-10 series at Dedeaux Field.
Right fielder Kyle Conley paced the Husky hitters, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and two runs batted in.
Merry, a junior from Pasco, gave up a solo homer in the second and then didn’t allow another run until the eighth. He finished having walked four and struck out three.
USC rallied in the ninth, scoring two runs off of Husky reliever Nick Haughian. After a double, Haughian walked two to load the bases. With two outs, he walked Roberto Lopez and hit Nick Buss with a pitch to force in two runs, but Brian Pearl came on and got Grant Green to fly out to center to end the game.
The Huskies (26-16 overall, 6-7 in the Pac-10) got an early break to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning as leadoff hitter David Bentrott reached on a two-base error by USC third baseman Joe De Pinto. After a lineout and a groundout, he scored on a single from Conley.
USC (21-23, 7-9 in the Pac-10) drew even in the second when left fielder Anthony Vasquez belted a two-out solo homer to right, his fourth of the season. The home run was the first allowed all season by Merry.
Washington, however, went back on top with two runs in the top of the third. With Michael Burgher aboard at first on a bunt single, Bradley Boyer drilled a two-out, stand-up triple to right to drive him in. The rally continued as Aaron Russell drove in Boyer with a single up the middle and then scored himself when Conley doubled down the left-field line, giving the UW a 4-1 lead.
Washington had a chance to add to its total in the sixth when Conley doubled off the top of the right-field fence, but Russell, trying to score from first, was thrown out at the plate.
In the eighth, USC put two runners aboard on walks before shortstop Grant Green singled to score one, ending Merry’s outing. Tyler Cheney came on and got a groundout to end the threat.
Washington tacked on a run in the ninth when Conley led off with a triple off the left-field wall and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Jake Rife.
USC southpaw Tommy Milone (5-4) threw eight innings in the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven.
Saturday at 1:30 p.m., the Huskies and Trojans square off in the second game of the series. The game will air live on KKNW AM-1150. Sunday’s 1:00 p.m. game will air only on the internet at gohuskies.com.
