Baseball knocks off Arizona 4-3 in Tucson

The No. 6 Arizona State University baseball team defeated No. 28 Arizona 4-3 in a non-conference meeting at Sancet Stadium in Tucson on Tuesday. The Sun Devils improve to 29-9 on the season with the win, and finish 4-1 against the Wildcats this season.

The win was highlighted by excellent relief pitching, as Alex Blackford, Trevor Williams and Mitchell Lambson combined to go 4.1 shutout innings, allowing just one base runner in that span. Blackford got the win, going 2.2 perfect innings out of the bullpen to move to 4-0 on the season. Williams retired all four batters he faced, and Lambson got the game's final out to earn his sixth save. Kyle Ottoson started on the mound, allowing six hits and three runs in 4.2 innings.

Arizona's usual Friday night starter, Kurt Heyer, took the loss. He allowed nine hits and four runs in six innings.

ASU jumped on Arizona in the second inning. Joey DeMichele and Zach Wilson began the inning with consecutive singles, and they both came home on a double by Xorge Carrillo. Andy Workman then followed up with an RBI single to score Carrillo and put the Sun Devils on top 3-0.

Arizona would cut into the deficit with two runs in the bottom of the second. The score remained 3-2 until the fifth, when Zack MacPhee led off with a triple and then scored on a groundout by Riccio Torrez. The Wildcats scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Blackford came on to get the final out of the inning and keep ASU in front.

Arizona did not get another base runner until the bottom of the ninth, when Bobby Rinard got a pinch-hit double with two outs against Lambson, but Lambson then got Alex Mejia to ground out to secure the win.

Carrillo, MacPhee and Workman all had two hits in the win.

The Sun Devils now return to Pac-10 play, coming home to face No. 21 Stanford for a three-game series beginning on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.