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Baseball sweeps midweek series from Oklahoma


March 17, 2011

A second consecutive sell out crowd of 4,371 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark saw the Arizona State Sun Devils sweep a two-game midweek series with the Oklahoma Sooners with a 6-4 win on Wednesday night. Three Sun Devil pitchers fanned 14 OU hitters, helping the Devils improve to 13-3 on the year.

Starter Jake Barrett (1-1) was dominant at times, striking out a career high 11 in his six innings of work. He allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits to earn his first victory of the season. Joseph Lopez threw two innings of perfect baseball, fanning two, before giving way to Mitchell Lambson, who worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his first save of the year.

The Sooners struck first, scoring a run in the second inning off Barrett. After walking the leadoff hitter, giving up a double and striking out a man, Barrett had runners on first and second with one down. Chris Ellison bunted the ball back towards Barrett, whose throw home was not in time to get the runner. Barrett struck out the next to hitters to get out of the jam with no further damage.

The Devils answered the Sooners in the bottom of the inning, taking a two run lead. After a leadoff single by Deven Marrero and a walk to Austin Barnes, Andy Workman singled up the middle to bring home Marrero and even things at 1-1. After ASU loaded the bases with one away, Johnny Ruettiger hit a tapper back to the mound. Oklahoma pitcher Jordan John, attempting to cut down the runner at home, could not field it cleanly, allowing the run to score and make it 2-1 Devils. That would be the last hitter John faced, as he was lifted for reliever Jack Mayfield. Mayfield would walk Zack MacPhee to force in a run and make it 3-1.

The Sooners responded in the third against Barrett, tying the game with two runs. With one out, Barrett allowed a double and a walk then Tyler Ogle doubled off the wall in left center, tying things at three apiece. They grabbed the lead in the fourth on an unearned run that made it 4-3.

The Devils clawed back in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three times with two outs. With the bases loaded and two away, OU's Jack Mayfield uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Xorge Carrillo to score the tying run. Riccio Torrez then singled to the shortstop, scoring Ruettiger to make it 5-4. With Torrez on first and MacPhee on third, Torrez intentionally got caught in a rundown, allowing MacPhee to score before the third out was recorded. That made it 6-4 ASU heading to the seventh. From there the bullpen would shut down the Sooners, allowing only one runner to reach base over the final three innings.

Zack MacPhee collected two hits in the win while also drawing two walks. MacPhee drew four walks in the two-game series.

The Devils continue their home stand on Friday night when they open a three-game series with Oral Roberts. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.