Sun Devil Baseball Rally Cut Short With Utah Walkoff in Series Finale

SALT LAKE CITY – A dramatic ninth inning rally for the Sun Devil Baseball team proved to not be enough as Utah mounted a rally of its own in the same frame to walk it off in a 7-6 victory over ASU in the series finale on Sunday in Salt Lake City.
 
The Sun Devils (22-13, 10-8 Pac-12) ripped off four runs in the top of the ninth to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 advantage. But Utah came storming back with a two-run homer and an RBI single in the bottom half to take the win despite a series victory for ASU.
 
Ethan Long and Hunter Haas continued their hot hitting, both recording a pair of hits. Haas extended his hitting streak to 15 games and it was his two-RBI double that gave ASU its first lead of the game in the ninth. 
 
The Sun Devil bullpen put a lot into the first eight innings of the game, holding Utah to just three earned runs behind Christian Bodlovich in his first career start as he went 3.1 innings with just one run allowed. Brock Peery, Graham Osman, Cam Dennie and Brady Corrigan worked the middle innings and did enough to keep ASU in striking distance, stranding 11 Utah runners on base.
 
Will Levine, who has been exceptional in late relief all season, unfortunately took the loss in the ninth.
 
The Sun Devil defense did its part as well, gunning down three runners trying to take home in the early innings of the game to keep things from spiraling out of control at the onset. 

THE BIG MOMENT
All of the action came in a frantic ninth inning with ASU looking to rally for a 4-2 deficit. Three straight singles from Sean McLain, Ethan Long and Jack Moss plated a run and brought ASU within 4-3 with two on and one out. Haas, ASU's best hitter with runners in scoring position – ripped a double down the opposite right field line, scoring pinch runners Seth Nager and Allbry Major and giving ASU a 5-4 lead. Kai Murphy tacked on some insurance with an RBI single off the base at first to score Haas and make it 6-4.  The advantage was short lived after a tough-hop infield single led off the bottom of the frame and Christopher Rowan absolutely tanked a two-run shot to dead center over 420 feet away to tie the game. A single and a wild pitched moved the winning run into scoring position and Shea Kramer did just that with an RBI single up the middle to walk it off for Utah.   

NOTABLES

• Hunter Haas extended his hitting streak to a team-best 15 straight games and it was his seventh-straight multi-hit game
• Both Haas' hits resulted in RBI and he now has six games with multiple RBIs this season. His 15 multi-hit games are tied for second on the team. 
• Haas is now 21-of-45 with runners in scoring position this year (.467). His 21 hits are nine more than any other player in that situation.
• Haas has successfully advanced baserunners 45 times on 83 chances (.542) – also nine more times than anyone on the roster.
• Haas also leads the way with 19 hits this season with two outs on 43 chances (.442) – three more than any other Sun Devil. His 15 two-out RBI are tops on the team. 
• Hunter Jump extended his reached base streak to a team-best 21 straight games with an RBI single in the sixth.
• Ethan Long finished the five games this week with a .450 average (9-of-20) with four home runs and seven RBIs while slugging an absurd 1.100
• Sun Devil baseball is fielding the second-youngest lineup among all Power-Five teams with freshmen representing 64.8 percent of the Sun Devil at-bats this season. Only Virginia Tech's 74.1 percent is higher. Despite that, ASU is batting .289 as a team – notable as the 10 youngest Power Five programs outside of ASU are batting a combined .263.
• It wasn't the most auspicious start to the season for Cam Dennie with six runs allowed in his first five appearances and a 13.50 ERA through that point. Dennie has settled in to a nice groove since though, allowing just one earned run over his last 14 games and shaving over 10 points off his ERA in the process as it now sits at a team-best 3.00.
• ASU has stranded 305 opponent baserunners in 35 games this season (8.7 per game). 
• ASU added two more doubles in the game and now have 30 in the last 10 games (3.0 per game). The team had averaged just 1.8 doubles per game in the first 25 games of the season. 
• The Sun Devil pitching staff has inherited 142 baserunners this season and allowed just 38 to score (26.8). Just one of the seven inherited runners on Sunday against the Utes scored. For reference, the previous low in the category since AT LEAST 1998 was 28.1 in 2011.
• ASU added another double play in the game to bring its total to 33 on the year. It entered the weekend 17th nationally in double plays and now has 27 in its last 21 games after having just six in the first 14 games. 

ON DECK
Weather permitting, ASU will head to Provo tomorrow to take on the BYU Cougars at 10 a.m. AZT in a non-conference midweek tilt. 

INNING-BY-INNING
 
1st Inning
Hunter Jump drew a one-out walk but a double play ended the threat. A leadoff walk yet again hurt ASU as a stolen base and a single scored the run. Bodlovich avoided further damage with a double play of his own to keep it 1-0.   
 
2nd Inning
The Sun Devils got a leadoff walk but a fielder's choice and a double play again ended any threat. ASU look prime for a 6-pitch inning but a sailed throw across the infield led to a two-out base runner and a double put two in scoring position. Bodlovich got the gut check strikeout to keep it at a run. 
 
3rd Inning
The Sun Devils went down in order as Utah faced the minimum through three innings. 
 
4th Inning
Jump put a good strike on one to the center field warning track that would have  been a homer in most parks but with the 420 center at Smith's Ballpark, ending up being just a loud out in another 1-2-3 inning. ASU found itself in trouble a couple times in the bottom half with a  runner on third and one out. Brock Peery came in and got a soft grounder that led to Swift making the throw to the plate to get the runner on the fielder's choice. After a bobbled single in center, the Utah runner tried to go from first to home but was gunned down at the plate by the relay throw from Sean McLain.
 
5th Inning
ASU had its best chance of the game, moving a runner to third with one out. But just like Utah, the runner went on a soft grounder to short and was thrown out at home. ASU played with fire too long and Utah finally broke through with four straight hits and two runs. However, the damage could have been worse with Drew Swift cutting down yet another runner trying to take home and ASU stranding a runner on third with just one out thanks to strikeouts from Brock Peery and Graham Osman to keep it a 3-run game. 
 
6th Inning
Nick Cheema wore his team-leading fifth HBP of the year and moved into scoring position on a Drew Swift groundout. Hunter Jump got ASU on the board with an RBI single to make it 3-1.  Osman got a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless frame to keep it 3-1. 
 
7th Inning
ASU mounted a two-out rally with a double from Jack Moss and an RBI single from Hunter Haas to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and claw back within a run of Utah.  But Utah came right back behind some free bases, loading them up with one out behind a single, catcher's interference and a walk. A run would score on a wild pitch before Brady Corrigan came in and got a huge pair of outs to keep ASU within two runs. 

8th Inning
The Devils went down in order. Corrigan worked a 1-2-3 inning of his own. 
 
9th Inning
All of the action came in a frantic ninth inning with ASU looking to rally for a 4-2 deficit. Three straight singles from Sean McLain, Ethan Long and Jack Moss plated a run and brought ASU within 4-3 with two on and one out. Haas, ASU's best hitter with runners in scoring position – ripped a double down the opposite right field line, scoring pinch runners Seth Nager and Allbry Major and giving ASU a 5-4 lead. Kai Murphy tacked on some insurance with an RBI single off the base at first to score Haas and make it 6-4.  The advantage was short lived after a tough-hop infield single led off the bottom of the frame and Christopher Rowan absolutely tanked a two-run shot to dead center over 420 feet away to tie the game. A single and a wild pitched moved the winning run into scoring position and Shea Kramer did just that with an RBI single up the middle to walk it off for Utah.