March 9, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State first baseman Jeff Larish was 2-for-4 with four RBI and hit his Pac-10 leading 11th home run of the year as the No. 3 Sun Devils won their 19th straight game with a 12-2 victory over Cal State Northridge Sunday afternoon in front of 3,389 at Packard Stadium. The win also completed ASU's 4-0 run in the annual Bob Schaefer Classic that also included Utah and Southern Utah.
Scoring in double-digits for the 10th time in the last 11 games, ASU continued its best start in school history at 28-1 overall. The 19-game win streak is the longest by an ASU squad since winning 23 straight in 1990, but still 13 games off the school record of 32 set in 1972. ASU has not lost since Jan. 31 (Long Beach State). Cal State Northridge, the defending Big West Conference champions, fell to 5-17 on the year.
Starting pitcher Jered Liebeck picked up the win to remain perfect on the year at 5-0. He picked up his 10th career win by scattering five hits and two runs in five innings. Freshman left-hander Brett Bordes contributed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. CSUN starter Kyle Jean took the loss giving up nine hits and six runs (four earned) in 3.2 innings.
Sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia continued his torrid season at the plate going 2-for-5 to notch his 19th multi-hit game of the season and extend his hitting streak to 17 games. The 2002 Team USA member now has hits in 28 of ASU's 29 games this season and 39 of his last 40 dating back to the end of his freshman season. Junior designated hitter Jeremy West was also 2-for-2 with two walks and a two-run home run. ASU out-hit the Matadors 15-8 and recorded 59 hits and scored 47 runs in the four tournament games.
Arizona State struck first with two runs in the first inning. Pedroia led off with his 18th double of the year and came around to score on a two-out, two-run home run from West.
CSUN battled back with a pair of runs in the third. Consecutive singles from Mel Robinson and Keith Bowman set up the rally, before a run-scoring groundout by Mark McCauley and a bunt single from Michael Paulk tied the game at 2-2.
A sacrifice fly by ASU's Steve Garrabrants to score Andre Ethier put ASU ahead in the third and then the Sun Devils tacked on two more with a two-run single up the middle by freshman center fielder Ryan Bosch in the fourth. First baseman Jeff Larish added a two-out single to score a run to give the Devils a 6-2 lead. After three more runs in the fourth, Larish increased the lead to 12-2 with his 11th round-tripper of the year.
Arizona State (28-1) will now embark on a tough stretch that consists of eight games in 11 days starting next weekend with a three-game series with Oklahoma (8-3) starting Friday at 7 p.m. The Sun Devils will then host nationally ranked Wichita State to two midweek games and then begin the 2003 Pac-10 season with Stanford (Mar. 22-24 at Packard Stadium.
Game Notes: Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a leadoff double in the first inning... he now has 18 doubles on the year and has recorded at least one hit in 28 of ASU's 29 games this year and 39 of his last 40 games dating back to the end of the 2002 season... he also recorded his 19th multi-hit game of the year... West's homer in the first was his eighth of the season and 27th of his career... the two-run first inning marked the 16th time ASU has scored in their first at-bat this year... with Andre Ethier hitting second in the lineup, the Sun Devils now have had 26 different batting lineups in the first 29 games this year... ASU extended its NCAA record consecutive games scoring streak to 462 games... catcher Tuffy Gosewisch had two sacrifice bunts for a ASU single-game high this season... ASU now has 38 home runs on the year to equal the entire team total from all of last year... the Devils are now a perfect 17-0 at Packard Stadium this year (20-0 in state of Arizona) and have won 21 straight games at home dating back to end of 2001 season... the crowd of 3,389 is the fourth largest home attendance of the year and marks the fifth time this year ASU has surpassed 3,000. Arizona State 12, CS Northridge 2 (Mar 09, 2003 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CS Northridge....... 002 000 000 - 2 8 4 (5-17) Arizona State....... 201 330 30X - 12 15 2 (28-1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: CS Northridge - Jean; Hochgesang(4); Bierly(7). Arizona State - Liebeck; Bordes(6); Lopez, J.(8); Kartler(8); McClellan(9). Win-Liebeck(5-0) Loss-Jean(0-1) T-3:16 A-3389 HR ASU - Larish (11); West (8). --Sun Devil Baseball--