ASU baseball shocks Washington State

Facing a five run deficit entering the ninth, the second ranked Sun Devils rallied to homer three times in the inning, scoring eight runs and shocking the Washington State Cougars 16-13 in Pullman. The win moves ASU to 30-4, 6-3 in Pac-10 play. It is the 46th straight season with at least 30 victories for Arizona State.

Trailing 13-8 heading to the top of the ninth, Marcel Champagnie started the rally with a three-run shot to left, his third of the year, to cut the lead to 13-11. With two away, Raoul Torrez singled off the pitcher to extend the game and send Ryan Sontag to the plate representing the tying run. Tie he did, sending a blast to right field for his second home run of the season and even the score at 13-13. After a Brett Wallace single and a walk to Jason Kipnis, Ike Davis stepped to the plate. Having already hit a grand slam, a double and a single, Davis sent a rocket over the right field wall to put the Devils up 16-13. It was the fifth multi-homer game of the year for Davis and his 14th round-tripper of the year.

Davis pitched the bottom of the ninth to seal the win. He improves to 4-0 on the season after throwing 2.2 innings, spread out among the final three.

Arizona State came back to win after trailing by three after one, leading by five in the fifth, then trailing by five in the ninth. The Devils scored six runs in the third and eight in the ninth, adding single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. They totaled 17 hits, six of the extra base variety.

The Cougars jumped on Stephen Sauer in the first, scoring three times to take a 3-0 lead. Sauer lasted only one third of an inning, allowing three hits and three runs before he was relieved by Tommy Rafferty.

Ike Davis put the Devils on top in the third, sending a grand slam to right field to make it 4-3. It was the 13th homer of the year for Davis and his fourth career grand slam. Matt Newman made it 5-3 with an infield single that scored Petey Paramore then Raoul Torrez laid down a bunt that scored Champagnie from third. Torrez was safe on the play when the WSU pitcher was unable to apply the tag. The first ten Sun Devils reached safely in the inning as ASU took a 6-3 lead.

Arizona State would manufacture a run in the fourth, scoring without recording a hit. Jason Kipnis led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch, then a wild pitch advanced him to second. Ike Davis flew out to deep right, allowing Kipnis to tag up and go to third. A Petey ParamoreRyan Sontag added another in the fifth with a sac fly to left that scored Marcel Champagnie to put the Devils up 8-3. ground out allowed Kipnis to score and make it 7-3.

Washington State would rally back in the fifth, scoring four times to slice the lead to 8-7. Rafferty exited with two outs and a runner on second, giving way to Reyes Dorado. Dorado walked two and allowed an RBI double before getting out of the inning.

The Cougars would get back even in the sixth when Alex Burg homered to right center to make it 8-8. Washington State pulled back ahead in the seventh, scoring four runs off Dorado, Seth Blair and Ike Davis. After a sac fly put the Cougars up 9-8, a three run double by Shea Vucinich gave the Cougars a 12-8 advantage. They would add to that in the eighth with a solo homer by Paul Gran off Davis.

Ike Davis led the Devil offense with four hits and seven RBI, tying his career high. Marcel Champagnie and Ryan Sontag each had three hits, while Kiel Roling added two hits of his own. Sontag and Champagnie each had three RBI.

The Sun Devils return home next weekend to host the Oregon State Beavers in a three-game Pac-10 series beginning Friday night at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.