Baseball takes series from Arizona
Thanks to a fantastic start by Jake Barrett and some clutch hitting by Austin Barnes, Arizona State beat the Arizona Wildcats 8-1 on Sunday afternoon to take the weekend series two games to one. Barrett (2-2) was magnificent for 7.1 innings, allowing five hits and a run, to earn the win and help ASU improve to 18-6 on the year, 2-1 in pac-10 play in front of a sell out crowd for the third consecutive day.
The Devils would strike first in the second inning when Deven Marrero singled up the middle to score Joey DeMichele and give ASU an early 1-0 lead. The Wildcats would even the game up in the top of the third on a Joey Rickard double to left that scored Alex Mejia.
The game would turn into a pitcher's duel from that point on, as Barrett and Arizona's Tyler Hale would trade zeros until the bottom of the seventh inning. In the bottom of the seventh, with a man on and one out, Austin Barnes drove a ball over the left field wall for his first home run of the year and a 3-1 Sun Devil lead.
The lead would increase to 8-1 in the bottom of the eighth. Riccio Torrez hit a ball past the diving short stop for what appeared to be a base hit. But Torrez never stopped running until he hit second base, giving him a double and putting a man in scoring position for ASU. He would come around to score on a Zach Wilson single to center field. The Devils would add four more runs in the inning, thanks to two Arizona errors.
The story of the game for ASU was their pitching, as Barrett struck out six and scattered five hits before giving way to Trevor Williams and Mitchell Lambson. Williams was perfect for .2 innings then Lambson struck out two in his inning of work to secure the victory.
Austin Barnes was 2-3 with three RBI and a run scored, while Riccio Torrez was 2-3 with one run scored. Deven Marrero drove in two runs in the win.
The Sun Devils will continue Pac-10 play Friday, April 1 against the Oregon Ducks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Winkles Field- Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.