April 13, 2003
BERKELEY, Calif. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Junior designated hitter Nick Walsh had three more hits and senior starting pitcher Jered Liebeck gave up four hits in six shutout innings as the No. 4 Arizona State Sun Devils completed a series and doubleheader sweep of the California Golden Bears with a 10-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Evans Diamond. ASU won the earlier game 6-0 and started the series Friday with a 11-3 victory.
Arizona State has now won four straight games and already surpassed its entire win total from 2001 (37-20-1) and 2002 (37-21) by improving to 38-7 and moved into second place in the Pac-10 with a 6-3 record. California lost its fourth straight game to fall to 20-18 overall and 6-6 in conference play.
Liebeck improved to 7-0 on the year scattering four hits in six shutout innings. The senior from Glendale, Ariz., struck out four and allowed only one walk to lower his season ERA to a Pac-10 best 2.54 and is also tied for the conference lead with freshman teammate Erik Averill with the seven wins.
Cal starter Kyle Crist dropped to 2-2 giving up five runs (four earned) and two walks in one and a third innings. Three different Cal relievers combined to give up five runs and four hits in four and two-thirds innings before Bobby Read finished with three innings of hitless relief. Read allowed only one run in eight innings out of the bullpen in two outings against the Sun Devils in the series.
ASU was once again led at the plate by Walsh who went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI to finish the doubleheader 6-for-8 with three RBI and reached base in eight of his 10 plate appearances. The Bay Area native (Alamo, Calif.), had made only five previous start before today going only 1-for-16, but with this six hits improved his season batting average 88 points from .238 to .320. Although they were out-hit 10-8 in the game, ASU received timely hitting from several players, including a key two-run double from sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia (Woodland, Calif.) went 1-for-3 with his league-leading 25th double of the year and tallied a career high three RBI. Freshman Travis Buck (Richland, Wash.) was also 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI to combined with Walsh as the No. 1 and No. 2 hitters at the top of the ASU lineup combined to go 6-for-9 (.667) with four RBI and five runs scored.
The Devils again jumped ahead to a big lead with a five-run second frame. Nearly duplicating the second inning in the first game of the doubleheader with five runs, ASU sent nine batters to the plate and tallied three hits. After a pair of walks to lead off the inning, an error on a sacrifice bunt by Joel Bocchi plated the first run of the frame. Hot hitting Walsh followed with a single to right field and Pedroia capped the scoring with a two-run double to left field.
ASU added two more runs each in the fourth and seventh innings. Larish plated a run with a single in the fourth and a pair of fielders' choices by Walsh and Buck led to the scoring in the seventh.
Cal erased any chances of ASU's first back-to-back shutouts in Pac-10 play since joining the league in 1979 when they scored a single run in the bottom of the eighth. ASU's junior closer Ryan Schroyer (Casa Grande, Ariz.) sealed the win with two shutout innings.
Arizona State (38-7, 6-3 Pac-10) returns to action with a three-game series starting next Thursday (April 17) against UCLA. Arizona State 10, California 1 (Apr 13, 2003 at Berkeley, Calif.) (Game 2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 050 201 200 - 10 8 1 (38-7, 6-3 PAC-10) California.......... 000 000 100 - 1 10 1 (20-18, 6-6 PAC-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Liebeck; Arguello(7); Bordes(7); Schroyer(8). California - Crist; Ingram(2); Padgett(4); Hale(7); Read(7). Win-Liebeck(7-0) Loss-Crist(2-2) T-2:57 A-219 --Sun Devil Baseball--