Sun Devil Baseball Outlasts Nevada in Tuesday Slugfest

RENO – The Biggest Little City in The World wasn't big enough for Ethan Long and Jack Moss as the duo combined for 10 RBIs on four hits with two homers as Sun Devil Baseball outlasted Nevada, 14-11, in a slugfest on Tuesday in Reno, Nev. 
 
The two teams combined for eight homers, 35 hits and 25 runs, but it was two massive five-inning frames from the Sun Devils that would prove to be the difference in addition to five-RBI games from Ethan Long and Jack Moss.
 
Six different Sun Devils recorded a multi-hit game, including a season-best four hit effort out of Hunter Jump. Long, Moss, Drew Swift, Hunter Haas and Allbry Major all recorded two hits. 
 
Moss recorded the first grand slam of his career in the first inning and ASU's first since 2019 and recorded a career-best five RBIs as well. Long went yard for the 13th time this season and 11th time in the last 11 games. Drew Swift and Nate Baez each homered for the second consecutive game as well with Swift finishing with three RBIs.
 
Brady Corrigan earned the win as the only Sun Devil to not allow a run in his one inning of work. Will Levine did enough over the final two innings to help ASU hold on after a four-run Wolfpack eighth inning made things interesting. 
HOW IT HAPPENED
ASU rode the momentum of two five inning frames to pace the offense on the afternoon. ASU came out with a five-spot to lead off the game behind Jack Moss' grand slam and a Nate Baez solo shot. However, Nevada clawed its way back to take a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning behind for homers of its own in the first half of the game.
 
The Sun Devils erupted for five in the sixth immediately after, however, loading the bases with no outs behind a walk and two HBP from the bottom half of the order. Drew Swift brought two across with his single off the wall in left and Ethan Long made the Wolfpack pay for not putting him on a free base with two outs and rewarded the decision with the three-run homer as ASU took an 11-7 lead. 
 
The insurance came in the seventh, however, as ASU got a leadoff single from Swift followed by four straight singles (including three RBIs from Jack Moss and Ethan Long) to score three runs – runs it would inevitably need as Nevada scored three in the 8th to get back within 14-11. 

STARS OF THE GAME
The two freshmen sluggers in the middle of the lineup did the bulk of ASU's damage as Jack Moss and Ethan Long each matched ASU season-highs with five RBIs. Moss did so with his first career grand slam in the top of the first but he was also a part of a three-run seventh inning that would prove to be the difference after a late Nevada rally.
 
Long went yard for the 13th time this season, tying the Pac-12 lead in homers in the process. Like Moss though, it was his two-RBI single in the top of the seventh that helped ASU get the insurance runs it would eventually need to win the game. 

NOTABLES
 

• Ethan Long tied the Pac-12 lead with his 13th home run of the year. It was his 11th home run in the last 11 games. 
• Long has had as good of a last month of baseball as anyone in the nation. After ASU's series finale at Washington on April 11, Long had just one home run  - three shy of the team lead - and was 7th on the team with just 12 RBIs. On May 11, Long has 45 RBIs – 13 more than any other player on the roster – and 13 home runs – seven more than any other player on the team. 
• Jack Moss' grand slam in the first was ASU's first of the season and first since Hunter Bishop against UCLA on May 5, 2019. 
• ASU's four home runs were tied for the second most in a game this season. ASU had just 16 home runs in the first 23 games of the year (0.70 per game). It now has 28 in the last 20 games (1.40 per game). 
• With one today, ASU has 47 double plays this season and 41 in the last 29 games. It had just six in the first 14 games of the season. ASU entered the game second nationally in double plays this year. 
• ASU added two doubles today and has 48 in the last 17 games (2.8 per game). It averaged just 1.8 doubles per game in the first 26 games of the year. ASU entered the game 24th nationally with 90 doubles and 19th in doubles per game.
• ASU matched a season-high with 17 hits on the day and has now posted double-digit hits in 14 of its last 19 games. The Devils had just 10 double-digit hitting games in the first 24 games of the year. 
• The Devils also tied a season high with 14 runs.
• ASU moved to 11-9 this season when trailing or tied after 5 innings. Those 11 wins are tied for fifth in a season at ASU since 1998 (the 2011 team was 13-13 and three times ASU had 12). Only the 2007  (10-7) and 2010 (10-9) have posted winning records in the category since 1998.
• The Sun Devil bullpen has inherited 162 baserunners this season and just 47 have scored (29.0 percent).
• The ASU pitching staff has stranded 365 baserunners in 43 games (8.5 per game).

ON DECK
The Sun Devils continue down the stretch of the Pac-12 season with a big series against Oregon State at home this weekend, beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. AZT.  All three games of the series will be streamed live through the ASU Pac-12 Live Stream. 

INNING-BY-INNING
 
1st Inning
ASU quickly loaded the bases with a single and back-to-back HBP and Jack Moss threw together a heck of an at-bat, fouling of several pitches before getting one he liked and launching it to right center for his first career grand slam and ASU's first grand slam since Hunter Bishop against UCLA in 2019. Nate Baez followed that up with a monstrous solo shot over the batter's eye in dead center to make it 5-0. 
 
ASU was on the wrong side of history in the bottom half of the inning as Tyler Bosetti set an NCAA record with his ninth consecutive game with a home run to lead off the frame. The Wolfpack added another two-out solo shot in the frame to cut the ASU lead to 5-2.
 
2nd Inning
Drew Swift had his second homer in as many games and fifth of the season, a no-doubter to left to extend ASU's lead back to four runs. Nevada quickly wiped that off the board with a homer of its own to lead off the bottom of the frame and posted a three-spot to get back within a run. ASU got a huge outfield assist from Joe Lampe to Swift to McLain on a flyout to double up a runner and help ASU escape further damage. 
 
3rd Inning
ASU stranded a two-out double from Hunter Haas. Nevada loaded the bases with two outs and tied the game on a HBP.
 
4th Inning
Hunter Jump got his third hit of the game but that was the extent of the action. Peery posted the first scoreless frame of the day for ASU in the bottom half.
 
 5th Inning
Nevada took its first lead of the game on a solo shot to leadoff the bottom of the fifth. 
 
6th Inning
The Sun Devil bats came back to life after loading the bases with no outs on free bases. Swift brought two in on a single off the wall in left and Ethan Long made Nevada pay for pitching to him with an open base and two outs, giving one a ride over the wall in right center for his 13thhomer of the year and a five-run ASU frame to go back on top 11-7.
 
Nevada immediately put a pair of leadoff runners on the base path, but Graham Osman coolly settled in to retire the side and strand both, keeping it a four-run game. 
 
7th Inning
ASU got a pair of singles from Hunter Haas and Allbry Major but couldn't do anything with it. Again, Nevada put a pair of leadoff runners on. And again, Graham Osman got out of it without any damage caused. 
 
8th Inning
A leadoff HBP by Drew Swift was followed by four straight singles, including a two-RBI one by Long to may it 14-7. The Wolfpack was not going quietly into night, however, ripping off four runs on soft singles themselves in the bottom half to get back within three. 
 
9th Inning
ASU was unable to do any damage in the ninth. However, Will Levine did what he needed to do in the bottom half to close things out without much drama.