March 4, 2007
AUBURN, Ala. - The Sun Devils dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday afternoon, falling 7-6 to the Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park. The loss drops the Devils to 12-5 on the year. The Devils threatened in the ninth, but the Auburn bullpen scuttled the rally and sent ASU to their second straight loss.
The Arizona State pitching struggled all afternoon, as ASU walked ten batters and threw two wild pitches.
ASU made it 1-0 in the top of the first when Andrew Romine scored on Brett Wallace's single to center. Auburn answered right back in the bottom of the first, scoring twice of starter Dustin Brader to take a 2-1 lead. Brader allowed a leadoff single and walked three batters, including one with the bases loaded.
Auburn would add to their lead in the second, scoring twice to make it 4-1. Brader gave up three straight singles that brought two home before being replaced by Joey Parigi.
Brett Wallace made it 4-3 with a two-run single that scored Jarred Bogany and Romine. Petey Paramore evened it up with an RBI single through the left side that scored Wallace. Matt Hall put the Devils back on top with an RBI single to left that scored Kiel Roling.
Auburn jumped back out in front in the bottom of the fourth off Parigi. After a walk, an error and a stolen base put a runner on third, Parigi's wild pitch brought the tying run home. Parigi's next pitch was taken deep to left by Josh Donaldson, giving the Tigers a 6-5 lead.
Matt Hall tied in the fifth with an RBI single up the middle that scored Ike Davis from second. The Tigers grabbed the lead back for good in the eighth off Jason Mitchell. After Mitchell hit Mike Bianucci, a sacrifice bunt moved him to second where he was replaced with a pinch runner. A wild pitch moved the runner to third, and a sac fly to right brought home the eventual winning run.
Jason Mitchell took the loss, dropping him to 0-1. Brett Wallace went 4-5 with three RBI in the loss.
The Devils return home next weekend to host the Long Beach State 49ers in a three-game series at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.