(Tempe, AZ) The Sun Devils were silenced in the opening game of a three-game series against No. 19 Oregon, 5-2, on Friday night at Farrington Stadium.
Arizona State (21-14, 5-8 Pac-12) was held to four hits and went 0-for-11 with runners on base. The pitchers held Oregon (26-11, 6-7 Pac-12) to three hits through five innings before the Ducks tallied four hits – including three home runs – over the final two innings.
Mac Osborne pitched the first five innings and had two strikeouts and Kenzie Brown came in for the final two innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Yanni Acuña hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the first to give the Sun Devils the early 1-0 lead.
Kayla Lissy singled to start the ASU third and stole two bases with two outs before being stranded at third to end the threat.
Oregon used a single and an error to get two on the the top of the fifth, but a pair of Osborne strikeouts kept the Ducks off the board.
Gianna Boccagno led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and pinch runner Mackenzie Nicholson was sacrifice to third before a strikeout and ground out ended the inning.
The Ducks took a 4-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning with a pair of two-run home runs.
Acuña was hit by a pitch and Jordyn VanHook reached on a dropped third strike and they reached second and third on a passed ball to setup a sacrifice fly from Makenna Haprer made it 4-2 going into the final inning.
Oregon led off the top of the seventh with a solo homerun to extend its lead out to 5-2.
Lissy reached on an error in the bottom of the seventh, but that would be all the Sun Devils could manage.
NOTABLES
The Sun Devils have outscored the opposition 26-20 in the first inning of games this season.
Acuña’s home run was her ninth of the season and 34th of her career. That is good for 17th in program history.
Acuña also extended her hitting streak to three straight games during which she has gone 5-for-8 with a double, homer, three RBIs, and a seven runs scored.
With her single in the third, Lissy has now recorded a hit in six of the last nine games after having just two through the first 16 games she played.
Lissy recorded a stolen base on back-to-back plays for her first two steals of the season.
The double by Boccagno in the bottom of the fifth was her first as a Sun Devil.
The five innings from Osborne are her most since going seven in a shutout of UCF on March 18.
QUOTES
Head coach Megan Bartlett
On shifts on offensive approach for the rest of the series:
“All three of their pitchers look pretty similar and have a similar pitch profile. So, I will go back and watch the game a couple of times before we get going tomorrow. Right now, I think we’re rolling with the crew and we need to make better adjustments.”
On energy in the dugout:
“We’re in our home field and we love Club Farrington and our fans are awesome, so we need to start to find a way to stay locked in and focused and engaged. They did a nice job anytime it needed to get going and locked into the game and I thought Gianna did a nice job of shutting the run game down.”
Graduate catcher Gianna Boccagno
On overall performance:
“Starting off with a Yanni Acuña bomb is the best way to start it off. She’s a powerhouse and I think we follow behind her. Our bats are strong and now that we’ve seen their pitching, we’re gonna face them again Saturday and Sunday and we will be able to overcome them and fix that in the next two games.”
On the dugout’s support:
“I think that our dugout was pretty good, we’re kind of a sing-songy dugout, sometimes not. But we definitely have some people that like to cheer in there, it brings up energy so much and I think if we continue our energy that will make a big difference in our defense.”
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils will look to even the series with the Ducks Saturday night at 5 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on the ASU Live Stream.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Josh Fisher
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