March 9, 2012
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The 10th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, playing their second extra-innings game in the past three contests, beat Long Beach State 3-2 in 12 innings on Friday night at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif.
Andrew Aplin drove a two-out single to right field for the go-ahead run, scoring James McDonald from second, to give the Sun Devils (9-3) the 3-2 victory.
Right-hander Jake Barrett (1-1) earned his first win of the season after pitching three perfect innings in relief. He took the mound in the 10th, and allowed no runs and no hits while striking out two in the extra innings.
Right-hander Brady Rodgers struck out seven in nine innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits in a no-decision. He gave up his first earned run of the season in the second, ending his consecutive scoreless-innings pitched streak at 23 2/3 frames.
Aplin led off the first inning with a single and Kasey Coffman took first on a walk before a double steal gave ASU runners on second and third with no outs. Joey DeMichele scored Aplin two batters later on an RBI groundout, his 20th RBI of the season, to give the Devils an early 1-0 lead.
The Dirtbags (4-9) tied it up in the top of the second as Ino Patron hit a double to begin the frame, advanced to third on a groundout and scored the first run of the game for Long Beach on an RBI sacrifice fly by Jeff McNeil.
Max Rossiter singled to start the second inning and then advanced to second on a passed ball. Allen drove him home with an RBI sacrifice fly to retake the lead for ASU, 2-1.
Long Beach once again knotted the score in the bottom of the fifth, 2-2, on an RBI single by Michael Hoime. He scored McNeil, who singled to start the inning.
The Devils were unable to capitalize on hits in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings. Trever Allen doubled to start the eighth, but the next three batters couldn't get on base and Allen was left stranded on third. Abe Ruiz and Rossiter hit back-to-back singles in the ninth with two outs, but a flyout by James McDonald ended the inning.
Allen once again led off with a base hit in the 10th, but he was out at second on a sacrifice bunt. A pop-up in foul territory gave the Devils their second out, but a single by pinch-hitter Rouric Bridgewater put runners on first and third before Deven Marrero grounded out to end the inning.
Right-hander Shawn Stuart went nine innings and took a no-decision, giving up two runs, including one earned, on six hits to go with five strikeouts.
Left-hander Eddie Magallon (0-2) took his second loss of the season after conceding one run on two hits in two innings of relief.
The Sun Devils play the second part of a three-game series against Long Beach State at 2:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif.
Game Notes: Aplin is 3-3 this season on stolen bases and Coffman leads the team with eight stolen bases on eight attempts...ASU has only been caught stealing once this season...Rodgers came within 5 1/3 innings of moving into fifth place on ASU's all-time consecutive scoreless-innings pitched...Rodgers now has 31 strikeouts this season...Allen recorded a leadoff hit in both the eighth and 10th inning....DeMichele saw his nine-game hitting streak come to an end.