Baseball Rides Pitching to Series Opening Win at UCLA

LOS ANGELES - Sun Devil Baseball picked up one of its top pitching performances of the season to take the series opener, 5-3, on the road at UCLA on Friday evening at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. 
 
Ben Jacobs gave ASU (18-21, 8-11 Pac-12) 5.0 solid innings in the start, striking out eight and allowing just two runs - both in the first inning - to earn the victory. Matt Tieding tossed 2.0 scoreless innings of relief for the hold while Ryan Schiefer held on for a two-inning save - his team-leading third of the year. 
 
Jacob Tobias had three RBIs, all in the first two innings, including the go-ahead two-out, two-RBI knock in the second inning. Kien Vu added some valuable insurance with his solo homer in the ninth inning. 
 
TURNING POINT
Trailing 2-1 after an inning, ASU mounted a huge two-out rally in the top of the second that would prove to be the difference in the game. Steven Ondina legged out an infielder single and Ryan Campos drew a walk with ASU loading the bases on a Kien Vu walked. Nick McLain hit one of the screws that was unable to be corralled by the UCLA third baseman to plate the tying run and Jacob Tobias did the rest with a seeing-eye single through the right side to plate two more runs and give ASU a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
 
BIG MOMENT
Ben Jacobs and the Sun Devil pitchers handled the rest. Jacobs shook off a 41-pitch first inning to soldier through 5.0 innings, striking out five and stranding seven baserunners in the process to put himself in line for the win. Matt Tieding came in and gave ASU 2.0 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three - though none were more important than his final one as UCLA had the tying runs in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh and ASU still leading 4-2 before Matty Ice dropped a beautiful breaking ball in for a backwards K to strand them there and keep ASU on top. 
 
FINAL STRAW
Kien Vu continued his impressive stretch as he led off the ninth with his fifth homer in the last 15 games on the first pitch he saw of the inning, smoking one down the opposite left field line that stayed fair and gave ASU some insurance at 5-2. Ryan Schiefer gave up a pair of leadoff singles in the bottom half of the frame to make things interesting, but limited the damage to a sac fly and only run to hold on for his third save of the year. 
 
NOTABLES 

• Ryan Campos' second inning walk means he has now reached base safely in 118-of-128 career games (92.2 percent) with the Sun Devils and all but one game this season.
• Kien Vu has been electric over the last 15 games since his start against UNLV, leading the team with a .457 average with five homers, four doubles and a team-best 16 RBIs. His .870 slugging percentage is .260 points higher than the next closest eligible hitter on the team. He's also a perfect 6-for-6 on stolen bases in that time. 
• This season, ASU has now posted 31 3+ run innings and 18 4+ run innings following its three-run second.
• With the 12 punch out effort, ASU has now struck out double-digit batters in 20 of 39 games this season. 
• With his eight strikeouts today, Ben Jacobs now has 56 in just 38.1 innings this season. 
• ASU has trailed at some point in 31 of the team's last 39 victories dating back to last season. 
• ASU is now 13-12 in games decided by three runs or less this season. Today's win also improved the Sun Devils in a struggle this season, moving to 3-7 in games decided by two runs or less. 

 
INNING BY INNING 
First Inning
Campos smoked the first pitch of the game deep to the warning track in left and gave it a ride but it was tracked down by the UCLA left fielder for the first out. Vu legged out an infield single and went first-to-third on a successful hit-and-run from McLain to put runners on the corners with one out. Tobias wasted no time putting ASU on top with a first-pitch single, ASU's third straight one-bagger, to plate Vu and get ASU on the board first but ASU stranded a pair in scoring position. Consecutive two-out walks spelled trouble asu UCLA laced a double-off the wall in left to plate both and take a 2-1 lead. Another two-out walk continued the trouble but Jacobs finally got out of the inning after 41 pitches with his second strikeout to keep ASU within a run. 
 
Second Inning
ASU came right back with a massive two-out rally of its own in the next half inning. Ondina got it started by legging out a two-out infield single and Campos drew a walk. ASU loaded the bases on a Vu walk and brought the tying run in on a hard struck ball to the UCLA third baseman that was unable to be corralled. Tobias followed that with a two-RBI single through the right side to give ASU a 4-2 lead. Jacobs did his part to get a stop after score, striking out a pair and stranding a runner at second to keep ASU on top.
 
Third Inning
ASU went down in order with a busy inning for the Bruin shortstop, who had two assists and a putout. UCLA got a leadoff double but was unable to do anything else with it as Jacobs retired the next three in order to get out of the jam, including a big called strikeout followed by a lineout to a shifted Tobias at first for the final out. 
 
Fourth Inning
Campos reached on a one-out HBP off his inner left elbow that caused a brief delay while he visited with the trainer. He showed he was good to go, taking second on a nice dirt ball read but ASU was unable to bring him home as he remained stranded at second. Jacobs worked around another two-out jam, stranding a pair of two-out singles with a fielder's choice to keep ASU on top, 4-2. 
 
Fifth Inning
Karstetter reached on a two-out dropped third strike but that was all the action in the ASU side of the inning. Jacobs issued a leadoff walk but settled in to retire the next three batters, getting the final one after a mound visit from WIllie Bloomquist on a nice basket catch in foul territory from Campos as he Jacobs battled through 5.0 innings after an inauspicious 40-pitch first inning. 
 
Sixth Inning
Demera had the second ball smoked to the warning track in left but the ball died in the Los Angeles evening sea air for a loud out. Campos drew a two-out walk, but that was the extent of the ASU offense. Matt Tieding entered the game in relief and recorded ASU's first 1-2-3 inning of the night.
 
Seventh Inning
ASU ran itself out of the inning in the seventh after getting a two-out single form Williams and reaching on an error by Karstetter. The Devils attempted a double steal but the runner took off too soon for the easy third out. Tieding ran into some one-out trouble with a walk and a single with the duo moving into scoring position on a groundout but Tieding stranded them there with a disgusting breaking ball for a backwards K to keep the Devils on top. 
 
Eighth Inning
Ondina notched a two-out single but ASU couldn't advance him. Schiefer came in and retired the side in order, capped by a pair of strikeouts. 
 
Ninth Inning
Kien Vu wasted no time welcoming a new UCLA pitcher into the game, lacing a fast ball up in the zone down the left field line for a massive insurance oppo taco.Tobias worked a one-out walk from Tobias. However, Williams crushed a ball directly to the Bruin first baseman who was able to easily turn  double play and keep ASU from adding to its lead. Ryan Schiefer found himself in trouble with a pair of leadoff singles but he was able to limit the damage to just one run for his team-leading third save of the season. 
 
ON DECK: 
ASU will look to clinch the series against UCLA on Saturday with first pitch at 2 p.m. AZT. The game will be available via the UCLA Live Stream 2 and available over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM.