(Phoenix, AZ) No. 25 Sun Devil Baseball rode another dominant outing from its pitching staff, three-hitting the Baylor Bears to take a 4-2 win and series victory on Saturday evening at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Arizona State (30-14, 13-7 Big 12) improved to 9-1 in weekend series this season and have won six of seven Big 12 conference series. The Sun Devils became just the 26th team to reach 30 wins in Division I this season in the process.
The combination of Taylor Penn, Colin Linder, Alex Overbay and Derek Schaefer combined to strike out 14 Baylor (22-20, 9-11 Big 12) batters with the only blemishes coming on a pair of solo home runs and a two-out pinch hit single in the ninth.
Linder was especially efficient out of the bullpen, shaking off a rocky entrance by escaping a bases loaded jam after a leadoff solo shot and going on to retire nine of the next ten batters he faced to earn his fourth victory of the year. Derek Schaefer closed things out for his Big-12 leading seventh save of the season.
Nu’u Contrades homered for the second consecutive night and had a pair of RBIs in an otherwise quiet evening for the Sun Devil offense.
The big number
4 – The Sun Devils have allowed just four runs in the first two games of the series – all of which have come on solo home runs (two on Friday and two tonight). Tonight, those solo shots in the second and fourth innings represented Baylor’s ONLY hits of the night until John Youens’ pinch-hit single with two outs in the ninth. The Bears are batting just 7-for-59 (.119) through two games with tonight’s three-hit effort matching its lowest output for the season. Baylor is 0-for-21 with runners on base in the series and 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Photo – Sun Devil Athletics
Inning by inning
First inning
Taylor Penn took the mound for the Sun Devils, and after the first batter reached on an error, Penn retired the next two on strikeouts. The runner at first was then caught stealing to end the frame.
Landon Hairston singled to lead off the game, and Nu’u Contrades drove him in with an RBI-double to left center. Contrades moved over to third on a groundout from Dean Toigo, and came around to score on Austen Roellig’s sac fly to make it 2-0, Devils. Dominic Smaldino struck out to end the inning.
Second inning
Penn returned to the mound with a strikeout to start the inning. He drew a fly out before allowing a Baylor homerun which moved the score to 2-1. He struck out the next batter to bring the frame to a close.
Polk and Zavorek went down with a ground out and a strikeout. Brody Briggs singled, but was caught trying to steal second base.
Third inning
The first batter of the inning reached on a hit by pitch, and Penn was able to get a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to erase the runner. Baylor got a baserunner on a walk, but Dean Toigo made a play over the wall in right field to secure a foul out for the third out.
After PJ Moutzouridis and Hairston both went down, Contrades launched a solo home run to right center, extending Arizona State’s lead to 3-1. Toigo popped up to end the frame.
Fourth inning
Colin Linder took over on the mound for the Sun Devils, giving up a homerun to cut the lead to 3-2. After a flyout, Linder loaded the bases on a walk, error, and hit by pitch. However, he was able to get a double play to prevent Baylor from scratching any runs across.
After a ground out to start the frame, Smaldino singled. He advanced to second on a single from Zavorek, following a flyout. A walk by Brody Briggs loaded the bases for the Sun Devils, but they could not capitalize as a groundout from Moutzouridis ended the inning.
Fifth inning
Linder returned to the mound and delivered a 1-2-3 inning with a lineout, flyout, and strikeout.
The Sun Devils couldn’t get anything started in the fifth, going down in order.
Sixth inning
Linder started the inning with a looking strikeout before delivering a walk. He struck out another batter and the Sun Devils ended the frame with a fielder’s choice out at second base.
Austen Roellig singled to start off, but was out at second on a fielder’s choice from Smaldino. Matt Polk continued the hits with a double, then Zavorek drove in a run with a sac fly to extend the Sun Devil lead 4-2. A Baylor pitching change brought the inning to a close with a strikeout.
Seventh inning
Another three-up, three-down inning for Linder had two strikeouts and a groundout to keep the Sun Devils up by two.
Moutzouridis led off with a flyout. Hairston worked a walk, but Contrades grounded into a double play to end the frame.
Eighth inning
Alex Overbay entered the game to pitch for the Sun Devils, with a walk and an error to start. He then dealt back-to-back swinging strikeouts, before loading the bases with a walk. Derek Schaefer came in to replace Overbay and protected the ASU lead with a flyout to end the frame.
ASU started the frame with a ground out and fly out, and despite a walk from Smaldino, the inning ended on a ground out.
Ninth inning
Schaefer returned to the mound for the ninth, retiring the first two batters on a pop out and a strikeout. Baylor picked up a two-out baserunner on a single through the right side, but Schaefer was able to strike out the next batter to close out the game.
Photo – Sun Devil Athletics
Quotables
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening statement
“The staff threw the ball great tonight. (Taylor) Penn got us off to a nice start, and can’t say enough about the job Colin Linder did, coming in and eating up the bulk of the game there. And Alex Overbay, I thought, threw the ball really well. Just got into some trouble there and we went with the guy that knows how to get out of that usually. So (Derek) Schaefer came in and finished. So that was an outstanding job by the pitching staff for the most part. Offensively, we came out hot and stuck to a really good approach, and then we got kind of away from it as the game went on, but we were able to push a few runs across. They had some exotic arms they threw at us late that were tricky on our guys, and we just couldn’t seem to figure out and add on any runs late, but we were able to put up enough runs and make the plays when we had to in order to get a win.”
On Brody Briggs’ defensive contributions
“Briggs has been great. Those were two huge plays in today’s game that kind of go unnoticed, and the Sanders kid is a very dynamic player that runs really well and knows how to steal bases, and it’s tricky, but Briggs throwing them out, and Penn, the way he was holding him over there, was really textbook on keeping them close and varying his times and tempos. That’s something we’ve stressed this week in practice, just to really make sure that we’re varying our times, varying our tempos, and holding those guys on because that’s a big part of their game, is to run and take advantage of guys when, when they’re sleeping. So something we can’t afford to do, but having Briggs back there defensively has just been great, that’s what he’s made for. He loves that. He loves that challenge. And was able to throw a couple guys out today.”
On Nu’u Contrades hitting in the two hole
“It’s been good. Hopefully I’m not putting words for opponents coaches or trying to get in their heads of what they’re thinking. But I think it forces them to not pitch around (Landon) Hairston so much and when you have that big offensive threat and power threat right behind Landon, it makes you think twice if you’re just going to put him on. Having Nu’u come up behind him, been swinging the bat really well all year, and has some thump in his bat to where he can put a crooked number on the board with one swing. And (Austen) Roellig seems to like that four hole a little bit. He’s getting a lot of hits there. So we’re having to be creative with it. But on the same token, it’s whatever works.”
On the message to the team through the last few weeks of the season
“We put a lot of emphasis on the standard. And what’s your standard? What are you holding yourselves to? What are you holding this program and this team to? So live up to the standard. Expect to win, regardless of if we got the first two in the hopper or not. You come tomorrow, we’re going to get their best effort tomorrow. Certainly, Baylor is a very well coached team. They’ve had five, I think, four or five losses in a row. They aren’t going to settle with that. That’s not going to go over real well over there, if I know Mitch (Thompson, Baylor’s head coach), those guys are going to be ready to play tomorrow. So our guys got to come and not be satisfied with getting the first two. They all count. They all matter. So we got to come ready to play again tomorrow and come with our best bullets tomorrow.”
Up next
The Sun Devils will close out their conference series against Baylor on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. AZT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and available over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremey Hawkes
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