May 19, 2003
SEATTLE, Wash. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Chad Boudon belted two home runs to set the Washington single-season record and the Huskies held off a late inning surge by the Sun Devils to earn a series-clinching 6-4 victory over No. 4 Arizona State Monday evening at Husky Ballpark.
Sophomore Will Fenton added two and a third inning of scoreless relief to pick up his Pac-10 leading eighth save of the year and extended his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 27.0 innings in 2003.
The Sun Devils nearly tied the game in the top of the ninth when Jeremy West drove a ball to the right field wall where Mike Wagner jumped and robbed West of an extra base hit. The hard-hit ball was only a few feet from clearing the fence and tying the game. Andre Ethier drilled a two-out double to put the tying run in scoring position, but Mike Guerrero struck out for the third time in the game to end the game and give the Huskies the series win.
With the loss the Sun Devils ended their challenging six-game, 11-day road trip to the Pacific Northwest with a 3-3 record, enduring only their third series loss of the year going 1-2 against the Huskies. ASU fell to 47-12 overall and stands in a second-place tie in the Pac-10 with Arizona with a 13-8 record. Of ASU's 12 losses this year, seven have been by two or less runs. The Sun Devils and Wildcats will meet in a crucial, regular-season ending three-game series next weekend (May 23-25) at Packard Stadium. Washington improved to 37-16 overall and remains one-game back of ASU and Arizona in fourth place with a 12-9 Pac-10 mark.
"I felt like we didn't compete today in a very crucial game in our season," said ASU head coach Pat Murphy. "We had several chances to put the game away early, but we didn't execute and played poorly in the middle innings. We didn't play well in the middle innings and in order to be a championship caliber team we are going to have to play all nine innings."
The Sun Devils out-hit the Huskies 16-9 in the game with every starter recording at least one hit. ASU hit into two inning-ending double plays early in the game and left 10 runners on base. Sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia led all players with three hits, finishing 3-for-5 and set the Pac-10 single-season record with his 32nd of the season. The newly named Pac-10 player of the week raised his Pac-10 leading batting average to .424 and now has 108 hits on the year, including 37 multi-hit games. Ethier went 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games and added his sixth homer of the year.
ASU starter Beau Vaughan cruised through the first three innings, but hit a wall giving up five runs in the fourth and fifth frames. The senior allowed two home runs and five runs total while striking out two in four innings. He took the loss to fall to 8-5 on the year. Four ASU relievers combined to hold the Huskies to one run over the final four innings. Junior closer Ryan Schroyer scattered one hit in two innings to lower his season ERA to
Boudon, a walk-on transfer from the University of Hawaii, broke the UW single-season record with his 20th and 21st home runs of the year. Boudon tied the game on a two-out, two-run shot over the scoreboard beyond the left field fence to break a 0-for-8 slump in the series. The previous UW record was 19 held by Dominic Woody (1999). He added to the record with his second scoreboard shot of the night with both balls traveling a combined estimated 900 feet.
For the third time in the series the Sun Devils took the first lead of the game with a two-run second inning. Ethier led off with a towering solo home run over the right field fence and freshman Travis Buck tabbed a two-out double to bring home Mike Guerrero with the second run of the inning.
Vaughan seemed to be in cruise control until the fourth inning when the Huskies rallied for four two-out runs. Boudon started the rally with his record-breaking two-run home run to tie the game at 2-2. Tila Reynolds followed with a single and moved to third on a double off the left field fence by third baseman John Otness. Designated hitter Nick Batoski drove home both players with a two-out, two-strike single to left field.
The Devils threatened in the fifth putting the tying run in scoring position after a Larish double, but Jeremy West flew out to the warning track in left-center field to end the inning. Washington capitalized on the missed ASU opportunity adding to its lead in the bottom half of the inning when center fielder Greg Lillibridge led off with a solo homer over the center field fence.
ASU cut into the four-run Husky lead with two runs in the seventh. Tuffy Gosewisch doubled in Buck and then West singled up the middle to bring the game to 6-4.
ASU (47-12, 13-8 Pac-10) return to Tempe on Tuesday and will resume practice at Packard Stadium. A complete workout schedule will be made available to media by calling the Arizona State media relations office (480-965-6592). The Sun Devils and Wildcats start the three-game series for state bragging rights Friday at 7 p.m. For ticket information, please call the Arizona State Athletics Ticket Office at 480-965-2381.
Game Notes: Andre Ethier (14 games) and Jeremy West (15 games) each extended their career-high hitting streaks... ASU extends NCAA record consecutive games scoring streak to 492 games... the new college baseball polls released today had ASU ranked No. 4 (Collegiate Baseball and Sports Weekly) and No. 6 by Baseball America... every Sun Devil starter recorded at least one hit... sophomore catcher Tuffy Gosewisch extended his hitting streak to six games (career high) and finished the six-game road trip 8-for-22 (.364)... Pedroia notched his 37th multi-hit game of the year Monday and now has 108 hits on the year, moving into a tie for ninth in the ASU single-season record books... the 32 doubles broke the Pac-10 record formerly 31 set by Washington State and current Los Angeles Dodger Mike Kinkade in 1994... ASU junior All-American candidate second baseman Steve Garrabrants left the game in the fourth inning with a shoulder injury after attempting to steal second base... Garrabrants is listed at day-to-day and will be evaluated when the team arrives back in Tempe... the three home runs given up were a season high for the ASU pitchers, with two being the previous high on nine different occasions... ASU has given up two or more home runs in each of the last four games. Washington 6, Arizona State 4 (May 19, 2003 at Seattle, Wash.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 020 000 200 - 4 16 1 (47-12, 13-8 PAC-10) Washington.......... 000 411 00X - 6 9 0 (37-16, 12-9 PAC-10) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Vaughan; Arguello(5); Sopko(5); Liebeck(6); Schroyer(7). Washington - C. Johnson; Carter(7); Fenton(7). Win-C. Johnson(6-3) Save-Fenton(8) Loss-Vaughan(8-5) T-3:22 A-714 HR ASU - Ethier (6). HR WASH - Lillibridge (11); Boudon 2 (21). --Sun Devil Baseball--