ASU Rallies Past Huskies, 8-5, To Even Series

Saturday, May 13

Seattle, Wash.

2:05 PM

University of Washington

25-22, 0

Arizona State

22-25, 0

Arizona State

Washington

May 13, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score Box: ASU 8, UW 5

By: Brian Tom

SEATTLE – Washington jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Arizona State Saturday at Husky Ballpark, but could not hold on as the Sun Devils rallied for a 8-5 win to even the three-game series at 1-1.

The loss put the Huskies (25-22, 11-12 Pac-12) in an almost must-win situation on Mother's Day with just seven games remaining in the regular season.

ASU (22-25, 8-15) pounded out 14 hits and scored all eight of their runs starting in the fourth inning a night after being shutout and one-hit by Huskies' ace Noah Bremer.

For a second-consecutive game, the Huskies scored in the first inning to grab an early lead. The Huskies loaded the bases with no outs and scored when clean-up hitter Joey Morgan grounded into a fielder's choice that the third baseman Jeremy McCuin could not handle allowing everyone to be safe and Levi Jordan to score.

The Huskies added another run in the third on a RBI double by MJ Hubbs that scored Jack Meggs, but the big story of the inning was Jordan getting hurt on an earlier play at the plate that forced the junior to have to leave the game and took some of the wind out of UW's sails.

After leading off the inning with a double, Jordan tried to score from second on a single by Meggs, but he was thrown out at home and had to be helped off the field with an apparent hamstring injury. Coach Lindsay Meggs said the red-hot hitting Jordan will be evaluated further and is day-to-day for the time being.

ASU starter Connor Higgins minimized the damage in the first and third innings allowing his team to stay close, which proved key as the Sun Devils' offense started clicking in the fourth inning.

Hunter Bishop tripled home a pair of runs to tie the game at 2-2 and Zach Cerbo followed one-out later with a RBI single off UW starter Jordan Jones to give the Sun Devils a 3-2 lead.

The Huskies chased Higgins from the game in the fourth and tied things back up at 3-3. Willie MacIver opened things up with a double, took third on a fly out and came around to score when Nick Kahle singled up the middle through a drawn-in infield.

ASU re-took the lead in the fifth and chased Jones from the game. McCuin singled to start the inning and eventually came around to score on a single by catcher Lyle Lin to put the Dawgs in a 4-3 hole.

With the bullpens in for each team, the Huskies were able to equal things back up in the sixth with a two-out run. John Naff singled off Ryan Hingst and came around to score on a double by Kahle into the left-field corner.

The game didn't remain tied for long as ASU scored twice in the seventh and two more times in the eighth. In the seventh, McCuin doubled home a run and eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Snow to make it 6-4.

UW answered back with a run in the seventh on back-to-back two-out doubles by Meggs and Hubbs that cut the lead to 6-5, but ASU scored twice after there were two outs to go up by three runs. Carter Aldrete tripled one run home and Myles Denson singled him home for the 8-5 advantage.

That would be all the offense the rest of the way for either team. Hingst threw the final 5 1/3 innings for ASU to pick up the win and improve to 2-1 on the season.

Chris Micheles (1-5) entered the game in the fifth and pitched 2 1/3 innings of solid relief, but he was charged with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and saddled with the loss.

The Huskies notched 11 hits and had three players collect at least two hits. Meggs was 3-for-5 with two doubles, while Hubbs and Kahle each went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

The series wraps up Sunday with a 1 p.m. scheduled first pitch. Joe DeMers (5-3, 3.05) will take the hill against ASU lefty Spencer Van Scoyoc (0-1, 3.71).