May 18, 2004
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- The No. 13 Arizona State Sun Devils exploded for season highs in runs (22), hits (26) and home runs (4) in a 22-4 thrashing of the University of New Mexico Tuesday night at Isotopes Park.
The Devils had 14 players record at least one hit and 10 players notched multi-hit performances at the plate. The 26 hits are tied for ninth in ASU single-game history and the most by a Sun Devil squad since 2000.
ASU won its eighth straight game and 13th in the last 15 games to improve to 36-13 overall. New Mexico, who plays for a chance to win the Mountain West regular season title this weekend, fell to 22-26-1 with its worst loss of the season. The Lobos were riding a hot streak of winning 19 of the last 32 games and had won seven in a row at Isotopes Park.
With a busy schedule of five road games in a six-day span, freshman starting pitcher Pat Cassa (Cypress, Calif.) gave a solid effort while eating up six and a third innings. Cassa scattered 10 hits and three runs while striking out six in 6.1 innings to pick up the victory and improve to 3-1 on the year. Freshman left-hander Travis Webb (Spokane, Wash.) sealed the victory with a career-high four strikeouts in two innings.
Junior first baseman Chris Cook (Mesa, Ariz.) led the hitting parade, going 2-for-4 with a career high six RBI. He drilled a grand slam in the first inning and a two-run double in the sixth inning. Sophomore Ryan McKenna (Elgin, Ill.) went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run off the bench and Nick Cadena (Glendale, Ariz.) added a solo home run.
Junior All-American shortstop Dustin Pedroia (Woodland, Calif.) went 3-for-6 to raise his season batting average to .414 and moved into a tie for fourth place in the ASU record books with his 286th career hit. Junior left fielder Jeff Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) went 2-for-5 with three runs scored and blasted his fourth home run of the year.
Travis Buck (2-for-2, 3B, 2 R), Josh Asanovich (2-for-2, 3B, 2 RBI), Seth Dhaenens (3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI), Colin Curtis (2-for-2, R, RBI), Tuffy Gosewisch (2-for-2, R) and Joel Bocchi (2-for-3, RBI, R) also recorded multi-hit games. Dhaenens (Chandler, Ariz.) had a career high three hits while entering the game off the bench.
UNM starter Darren Coltrinari (1-3) recorded the loss while being tagged for eight hits and eight runs in one and a third innings. Leadoff hitter Matt Young went 3-for-5 and third baseman Tim Grady was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a home run to lead the Lobos at the plate.
The Devils jumped out to a commanding lead with a six-run first inning and never looked back. Asanovich got things started with a two-out, run-scoring single to put the Devils on the board. After a hit-by-pitch and a walk to load the bases, Cook provided the big blow with a grand slam home run over the 428-foot marker in right-center field.
ASU scored two more runs in the second on an Asanovich triple and a single by freshman center fielder Colin Curtis to extend the lead to 8-0. Junior All-American Jeff Larish added two more runs in the third with his fourth home run of the year.
A five-run fifth inning extended the lead to 15-0. Redshirt freshman third baseman Seth Dhaenens drove home a pair of runs with a single to center field and Bocchi and Pedroia plated runs with bases loaded walks.
After the Lobos pushed a run across in the bottom of the fifth to erase the shutout, ASU scored two more runs in the sixth on a two-run double down the left field line by Cook.
UNM scored a pair of runs in the sixth inning before the Devils could added five more runs in the top of the eighth. Redshirt sophomore outfielder Nick Cadena led off with a solo home run to deep center field and junior Ryan McKenna added a three-run blast to left field to cap the inning. Pedroia also drove in a run with a sharp single to right field in the inning.
The Sun Devils return to action tomorrow night with a 6 p.m. (MST) tilt against New Mexico State in Las Cruces at Presley Askew Field. ASU returns to Pac-10 action this weekend with a crucial three-game series at rival Arizona (May 21-23) at Kindall Field in Tucson.
Game Notes: ASU scored in the first inning for the 25th time this year (51% of games played)... ASU is now 22-3 when scoring a run in the first inning... the six-run first frame was the second best first inning output, second only to seven runs against Gonzaga (2/16)... Cook's first-inning grand slam was his fourth homer of the year and ASU's second grand slam of the year for the Devils (Dustin Pedroia had other)... ASU set the NCAA record with 14 grand slams last season... Josh Asanovich went 2-for-2 with two RBI and a triple to extend his hitting streak to nine games... Asanovich is 17-for-35 (.486) in his last 11 games... sophomore right fielder Travis Buck went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt to extend his career-high hitting streak to 12 games... he recorded his 17th multi-hit game... Pedroia recorded his 25th multi-hit game of the year to extend his hitting streak to four games... Pedroia is now just 14 hits sort of 300 for his career and is tied for fourth in school history with a .389 batting average... the Devils entered the season with only four triples, but hit two tonight (Asanovich and Buck)... catcher Tuffy Gosewisch went 2-for-2 while recording his 18th multi-hit game of the year... Gosewisch has hit safely in eight of his last nine games... Larish's third-inning home run was his fourth of the year and 25th of his career... Ryan McKenna hit his second career homer with an opposite field, three-run homer in the eighth inning... McKenna's only other home run came in 2002 at UNLV (also a Mountain West school)... ASU played errorless in the field for the 16th time this season and has one or less errors in the last eight games. Arizona State 22, New Mexico 4 (May 18, 2004 at Albuquerque, N.M.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 622 052 050 - 22 26 0 (36-13) New Mexico.......... 000 012 001 - 4 12 2 (22-26-1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Cassa; Bresnehan(7); Webb(8). New Mexico - COLTRINARI; PACAS(2); SMITH, J.(5); LETZ(5); SMITH, M.(8); SALAS(8). Win-Cassa(3-1) Loss-COLTRINARI(1-3) T-3:32 A-1153 HR ASU - McKenna (1); Larish (4); Cadena (3); Cook (4). HR UNM - GRADY, T. (3). --Sun Devil Baseball--