Sun Devils take series from UA baseball team
The outlook was positive after the No. 25 Arizona baseball team (15-6) defeated No. 9 Arizona State (18-5) by a score of 9-8 Friday night at Frank Sancet Field.
Optimism was still in the air even after the Wildcats fought hard but lost Saturday afternoon 11-9 in a game that saw UA head coach Jerry Stitt get thrown out in the eighth inning for arguing a call at second base.
The positives then turned to negatives in the rubber game of the series as the bottom fell out on the Wildcats yesterday, as they lost to the Sun Devils 18-3.
"I don't know what knocked the wind out of us if we had any wind today," Stitt said.
ASU's starting pitcher, senior Chuck Crumpton, who pitched three innings of relief Friday evening, decided that wasn't enough and went out and threw all nine innings, striking out 11 while only walking one en route to his third win of the season.
"Chuck is a senior so he should be able to do that," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said. "If you put limitations on guys, they have those limitations also. You can't do that."
The same did not hold true for Arizona's pitching staff yesterday. They used six pitchers, of which five threw a wild pitch, and junior Tony Milo (2-1) picked up his first loss of the season and his first loss ever in non-conference play.
The Wildcats were still in the game down only 7-3 entering the eighth inning, but after the Sun Devils sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on four hits, including a two-run pinch hit home run by Jeff Phelps, the game was put out of reach with the rest left to formalities.
"We just didn't make the pitches today to anybody. They're good hitters but it doesn't matter how good they are because if you make the pitches, you get the outs," Stitt said.
ASU also stole eight bases yesterday leaving them just one shy of tying the school record of nine.
"There have been some Cal teams that have been that aggressive, but they are very aggressive also," Stitt said. "They get you going and keep running."
The Wildcats don't have much time to rest after this series as they make a pilgrimage to Tucson Electric Park Wednesday afternoon at 1 to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. This will mark the opening of preseason competition for the Diamondbacks.
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