BERKELEY – Sun Devil Baseball hit into a number of tough-luck outs on Sunday, dropping a 3-2 decision at Cal in what proved to be the series finale in Berkeley.
Scheduled to play a doubleheader today after rain in the Bay Area yesterday, field conditions after another flurry in the middle of game one and impending weather coming into the area coupled with ASU's travel plans led to both teams agreeing to cancel the third game.
For the second consecutive game, both
Spencer Torkelson and
Carter Aldrete knocked solo home runs. But ASU struck the ball into a number of hard outs that limited its chances to put more runs on the board. Among those was a surefire homerun robbery against
Trevor Hauver, another leaping catch against
Hunter Bishop at the wall early in the game and a couple incredible diving stabs through the middle of the infield that wiped base hits off the board.
Boyd Vander Kooi posted another quality start, dodging baserunners all day to hold the potent Cal offense to just two runs. The sophomore went 6.0 innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs allowed. Vander Kooi scattered nine hits through the outing but stranded eight different batters to keep ASU close throughout.
Blake Burzell had another flawless outing, going 2.0 innings without any baserunners allowed to drop his ERA to 3.86 on the season. Burzell has allowed just one single run in his last nine appearances over 18.1 innings pitched.
Torkelson's monster shot in the fourth inning was his 21
stof the season and 46
thof his career. He is now tied for third in ASU school history in career homers with Mike Kelly and moves within 10 of Bob Horner's school record of 56 – despite being only a sophomore.
The home run brought ASU back within a run after a two-run third inning from Cal but the Bears tacked on a pivotal insurance run in the sixth to go ahead 3-1. Aldrete's seventh home of the year came just ahead of a 30-minute rain delay as he took one for a right to opposite field as the downpour began to again make it a one-run game.
ASU mounted one final rally in the ninth with a two-out triple from
Gage Workman but ASU was unable to bring the runner home.
The Sun Devils will wrap up the regular season next weekend with a three-game series against a Top-10 ranked Stanford team at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The series gets underway Thursday with all three tilts scheduled to be broadcast by the Pac-12 Network.
