Franzblau's leads baseball to shutout victory over Winthrop

May 09, 2009

<a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/franzblau_jason00.html…; mce_href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/franzblau_jason00.html… Franzblau</a> threw a complete game shutout to lead the No. 4 Arizona State University baseball team to a 5-0 win over Winthrop on Sunday in front of a crowd of 2,282 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The Sun Devils improved to 38-11 on the season after completing the sweep of the three-game series with the Eagles.<separator></separator>Franzblau scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out five to earn the win against his former team. Franzblau was at Winthrop from 2006-2007 before transferring to ASU last year. It was his fifth career complete game and second shutout, but this was his first of either kind as a Sun Devil, as he moved to 2-2 on the season.<separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/ramirez_carlos00.html&…; mce_href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/ramirez_carlos00.html"… Ramirez</a> led the ASU offense, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and hitting his team-leading 15th home run of the season.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils scored in the first inning in all three games of this series, and for the second straight game, Ramirez and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/calhoun_kole00.html&qu…; mce_href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/calhoun_kole00.html">K… Calhoun</a> hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning that put ASU in front 2-0.<separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/wilson_zach00.html" mce_href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/wilson_zach00.html">Za… Wilson</a> would come through with a two-out RBI single in the fourth to extend the ASU lead, and the Devils would score two more in the seventh when <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/maggi_drew00.html" mce_href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/maggi_drew00.html">Drew Maggi</a> came home on a throwing error and Ramirez doubled to drive in <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/kipnis_jason00.html&qu…; mce_href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/kipnis_jason00.html">J… Kipnis</a>.<separator></separator>That was more than enough support for Franzblau, who allowed just three Winthrop base runners to get into scoring position, with none of them ever reaching third base.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils will now return to Pac-10 Conference action next week, beginning a three-game series with Oregon on Friday at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. This is Oregon's first year of baseball since 1981, and it will be the first meeting between the Sun Devils and Ducks since 1974.