#1 baseball hangs on for 6-5 win Oover #2 Arizona in front of sellout crowd

Top ranked Arizona State knocked off rival Arizona and remained unbeaten with a 6-5 victory Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 4,235 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The Sun Devils improve to 18-0 on the season with the win.

Junior Ike Davis drove in the first two runs on a double to left center in the first inning and then he finished off the victory by pitching a scoreless ninth to earn his first save of the season.

Junior Stephen Sauer pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen to get the win and improve to 3-0 on the season. Senior Josh Satow started, going four innings and allowing six hits and four earned runs while striking out five, but he did not factor in the decision.

ASU got the scoring started with three runs in the first. Davis' 2-run double drove in sophomore Jason Kipnis and junior Brett Wallace and Davis then scored from third before senior Rocky Laguna was caught stealing to end the inning.

Arizona scored two runs in the second, but the Sun Devils answered with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning when Wallace singled to drive in junior Kiel Roling and sophomore Raoul Torrez.

The Wildcats tied the game in the fourth with an RBI single by second baseman Mike Weldon and a two-run double by catcher Dwight Childs, but ASU again responded with a perfectly manufactured run in the bottom of the inning. Roling singled and Torrez walked to begin the inning, and after Kipnis moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt, junior Marcel Champagnie's sacrifice fly scored Roling for what proved to be the game-winning run.

The ASU bullpen then took over, as Sauer, junior Reyes Dorado and Davis combined to shut out the Wildcats over the final five innings to seal the one-run victory. Dorado struck out five of the six batters he faced.

Wallace led the ASU offense with two hits and two walks in his four plate appearances, and Davis and Wallace each had two RBI in the victory.

The Sun Devils return to action Thursday when they host Northern Colorado at 6:30 p.m. in the opening game of the Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament.