Sun Devil Baseball One-Hits Sacramento State in Series Victory
PHOENIX -- The 15th-ranked Sun Devil Baseball team picked up a series victory over Sacramento State with the team's arms combining to post the program's first one-hitter since 2007 in a 3-1 victory on Sunday.
Joe Lampe again had the big hit with a two-out, two-strike RBI double putting the Sun Devils up 2-0 in the third inning and a lead it would not relinquish.
Erik Tolman gave the Sun Devils 5.0 solid innings, allowing one run on one hit with six strikeouts to earn the win. The bullpen did the rest with Cam Dennie rallying for a tough outing on Friday to face the minimum in his one inning of work. Boyd Vander Kooi saw his first action on a limited pitch count and Graham Osman did the rest, retiring all seven batters he faced, striking out three and walking none to earn his first career save.
Allbry Major gave ASU an insurance run in the fourth with an RBI single while Sean McLain and Sam Ferri each recorded multi-hit efforts in addition to Lampe, who added his second triple of the weekend in the game to go with the big double early.
Sunday's victory over the WAC favorites moved ASU to 2-1 on the season after opening weekend.
TURNING POINT
The Sun Devil bats came alive on Sunday to the tune of 10 hits, but none were bigger than Lampe's back-against-the wall double in the second. Hunter Haas got the two-out rally going with a nice piece of hitting to opposite right field to put runners on the corners. Behind in the count with two outs on the board, Lampe turned on one and laced it into right field for a double. Sam Ferri scored easily but it was Hunter Haas' hustle that proved key as he scored for first on a masterful slide at the plate to avoid the tag and give ASU the early 2-0 lead to which it never looked back.
QUOTABLES
"What they teach us here at Arizona State is to look hard away and react in. I saw in the previous at bats that the guy was pumping the fastest he had been the whole day. I saw a couple 95s and I was a little late on the fast ball so I completely sold out to a middle-away approach to protect the outer half of the plate. He ended up going back to that slider and left it up a little bit. I was able to keep my barrel in the zone long enough to hit in down the line and score those two runs." - Joe Lampe on his big second inning hit.
NOTABLES
- It was the program's first one-hitter since May 20, 2007 when Brian Flores went the distance in an 8-1 victory over Oregon State. ASU has had two no-hitters since then (Ryan Kellogg in 2013 and Ryan Hingst in 2016).
- Tolman's effort today capped off an exceptional week for the Sun Devil starting pitchers. Cooper Benson, Tyler Thornton and Tolman combined for 16.2 innings pitched, allowing just two total runs, striking out 20 and walking just two batters. Benson and Tolman each allowed just one single hit in their appearances.
- The ninth inning of the season opener aside (four runs on a grand slam), ASU's entire rotation and bullpen allowed just two runs in 26.0 innings of work, striking out 29 and walking just five batters. ASU allowed just 12 hits in those 26.0 innings, limiting the opposition to a .133 batting average minus the 9th inning of Game 1.
- Lampe comes out of the weekend slugging a gaudy 1.222 with four extra base hits (2 doubles, 2 triples on his five hits on the weekend).
- Blake Pivaroff saw his first action in a pinch hit situation in the 5th inning, wasting zero time in recording his first collegiate hit as he sent the first pitch to right field.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
Tolman worked the change early, picking up a pair of swinging strikeouts en route to ASU's first 1-2-3 opening frame of the weekend. Swift singled to lead off the game and stole a base, but ASU was unable to bring him across.
Second Inning
Tolman worked another 1-2-3 frame while the bottom of the Sun Devil order worked some masterful two-out hitting with Hunter Haas lacing a single to right to move Ferri to third and bring Lampe to the plate. Lampe responded with a double to right and Haas got on his horse to score from first, sliding in just ahead of the tag to give ASU a 2-0 lead.
Third Inning
Tolman faced his first jam of the game with a leadoff walk followed by an infield error. Swift came to the rescue, skying up to rob a line drive down the middle and quickly getting the force at second for a double play while Tolman induced the inning-ending flyout to keep Sac State off the board. More two-out hitting ensued for ASU in the bottom half of the frame as Major recorded an RBI single to plate McLain after the latter's leadoff double.
Fourth Inning
Tolman recorded another pair of strikeouts in another 1-2-3 frame and Lampe tripled in his second straight game but ASU was unable to capitalize.
Fifth Inning
Sac State finally broke through in the fifth on its first hit of the game, as Dorraugh's two-out double to the right-center gap plated Denholm from first. Tolman escaped further damage with his sixth strikeout of the game. Blake Pivaroff earned his first AB of the season and responded with a single on the first pitch he saw but that was the extent of the ASU damage in the frame.
Sixth Inning
Cam Dennie spelled Tolman in the sixth and bounced back from an error on his first pitch, getting a flyout ahead of a sweet caught stealing from Ferri to McLain before capping off the frame by freezing the batter with an inside pitch. The Devils went down in order as it remained a 3-1 game.
Seventh Inning
Boyd Vander Kooi saw his first action of the weekend, walking one and getting the first two outs of the inning. Graham Osman entered with two outs and a runner on third, playing the matchup card and getting a looking strikeout to keep it a two-run game. McLain recorded his second hit of the game but ASU was unable to do more with it.
Eighth Inning
Osman cruised through the eighth with a 1-2-3 inning while the Sun Devil bats remained quiet outside of Ferri's second hit of the game.
Ninth Inning
There was no ninth inning drama this time. Osman earned his first career save as he set down all seven batters he faced.
ON DECK
ASU will host Hawaii at home next weekend in a three-game series over two days. The series will get underway on Friday at 6:35 p.m. AZT followed by a Saturday doubleheader with the first game scheduled for 2:05 followed by a 6:35 first pitch in Game Two to wrap up the series.
All three games of the series will be featured on the ASU Live Stream and carried over the airwaves on 1060 AM.