ASU baseball takes down Titans in ten innings

April 23, 2008

A night after a walk-off loss to #15 Cal State Fullerton, #4 Arizona State turned the tables on the Titans, rallying with two outs in the top of the tenth to score a 10-8 victory at Goodwin Field. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/torrez_raoul00.html">R… Torrez's</a> two-run single gave the Devils the lead, and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/rafferty_tommy00.html"… Rafferty's</a> perfect tenth sealed win. ASU improves to 32-7 on the season.<separator></separator>For the second straight night Arizona State jumped ahead in the first only to surrender the lead. Tonight however the Devils were able to rally back from a four run deficit to score the victory.<separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/wallace_brett00.html">… Wallace</a> put ASU up 2-0 in the first, homering over the batter's eye in center field with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/paramore_petey00.html"… Paramore</a> aboard. It was the 11th homer of the season for Wallace. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/roling_kiel00.html">Ki… Roling</a> made it 3-0 with a solo bomb to center, his sixth of the year. The Titans got all three back in the bottom of the inning of starter <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/blair_seth00.html">Seth Blair</a>. He allowed back-to-back hits and an RBI groundout that made it 3-1. With two outs and one on, Blair induced a pop up to second base, but <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/torrez_raoul00.html">R… Torrez</a> lost it in the sun allowing the inning to continue. The next batter tripled to tie the game.<separator></separator>The Titans would take the lead in the second on a Josh Fellhauer two-run homer to right field. They added an unearned run in the third to up their lead to 6-3. An RBI single by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/kipnis_jason00.html">J… Kipnis</a> in the fourth cut the lead to 6-4.<separator></separator> Cal State Fullerton scored two more in the fourth off <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/newman_matt00.html">Ma… Newman</a>, thanks to two Sun Devil errors. That put the Titans up 8-4. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/roling_kiel00.html">Ki… Roling</a><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/sontag_ryan00.html">Ry… Sontag's</a> single up the middle scored two more to cut the lead to 8-7. Roling tied the game in the sixth with a blooper to center that scored <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/bordes_greg00.html">Gr… Bordes</a> from third. made it 8-5 with an RBI double that brought home Wallace, then<separator></separator>The Devils threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with one out, but were unable to score. Last night, ASU loaded the bases twice but were unable to get a run across. They loaded the bases again in the tenth with two away, only this time they were able to capitalize. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/torrez_raoul00.html">R… Torrez</a>, who had struck out four times in the game, laced the first pitch he saw from Titan reliever Ryan Ackland into center, scoring <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/elmore_jake00.html">Ja… Elmore</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/laguna_rocky00.html">R… Laguna</a> to put the Devils up 10-8.<separator></separator>Rafferty earned the win, improving him to 7-0. He went 2.2 innings, allowing only one man to reach base. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/dorado_reyes00.html">R… Dorado</a> was also stellar out of the bullpen, throwing 3.1 innings of scoreless ball, allowing the ASU offense to rally back.<separator></separator>The Devils pounded out 14 hits, led by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/roling_kiel00.html">Ki… Roling's</a> four. He added three RBI to go with the four hits. Wallace, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/champagnie_marcel00.ht… Champagnie</a> and Torrez each had two hits, while <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/sontag_ryan00.html">Ry… Sontag</a>, Wallace and Torrez also knocked in two.<separator></separator>The Devils return home on Friday night to host the California Golden Bears in a three-game Pac-10 series. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.<separator></separator>