No. 5 ASU baseball exploded for seven runs in the first two innings on Sunday en route to a 13-run offensive output , which proved to be enough to earn a second-straight win over rival Arizona in the first ever Territorial Cup series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Sunday's 13-7 victory improved the Sun Devils to 5-2 in their last seven against Arizona and also became the third time they have scored 10 or more runs this season.
ASU head coach Tracy Smith emphasized capturing the sweep after the game.
"It's time to mature and grow up and close out a weekend," he said. "UCLA is playing really, really well and there's not going to be much margin of error if you want to win a Pac-12 Championship."
ASU chased Arizona junior left-hander Xavier Borde, who gave up four runs while failing to record a single out in his fifth start of the year.
Junior Johnny Sewald continued his fulfillment of the catalyst role, leading off the game by getting hit with a pitch on a 3-1 count. After senior Jake Peevyhouse singled to nearly the identical spot of his walk-off hit Saturday night, sophomore Colby Woodmansee's two-run double put ASU on the board.
Woodmansee said it was good to avoid a second-straight nail-biter.
"It's always nice to get seven runs ahead of someone and play with a little less stress," he said.
David Greer (1-for-3, 3 RBI), who entered the game batting .363 overall and .333 in Pac-12 play, hit ASU's second two-run double of the inning to give the Sun Devils a 4-0 lead and officially end Borde's day on the mound.
After Borde gave up four runs on 16 pitches, sophomore righty Austin Schnabel took over and retired thee-straight batters to end the inning. However, he gave up three more runs in two innings of work.
In the second inning, Woodmansee's (3-for-4, 4 RBI) RBI single, Brian Serven's RBI double and Greer's third RBI on a sacrifice fly extended ASU's lead to 7-1.
After Woodmansee had a tough series in Utah, Smith said ASU will need Woodmansee's consistency down the stretch.
"He was pretty tentative last weekend and he just got back to being aggressive and not thinking so much," he said. "He really worked so hard this week prior to the weekend trying to not be so technical. Hopefully he's back."
Woodmansee also mentioned his focus on going back to the basics in preparation for this series.
"Going into this weekend, I was just trying to simplify," he said. "Staying back, getting my foot down, I think it helped yesterday and today so I'll stick with it."
As per usual with ASU baseball this season, the lead shrunk with the Wildcats cutting the deficit to two runs at one point.
Junior starter Ryan Kellogg entered Sunday's game with a 3.56 ERA, but gave up four earned runs, including two home runs. Fortunately, a potential third homer given up was robbed at the wall by a leaping Sewald.
Hey @SportsCenter - here's a #SCTop10 for you! @johnnysewald http://t.co/iq3rlfrxgm
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) April 13, 2015
ASU quelled the threat with its own answer—a two-run fifth inning.
The Sun Devils had the last word as well, posting a four-run eighth inning to stamp a second-straight win against the Wildcats—the inning was capped-off with Chris Beall hitting ASU's fourth RBI double of the night.
Smith said the team executed situational plays well all game, like the hit-and-run.
"I thought our baserunning was good, we took extra bases which I thought helped us extend the lead as well," he said.
Out of the seven pitchers Arizona used, four lasted less than an inning on the mound.
With three games left against Arizona, two of them in Tucson, ASU will go for the sweep, the season series win and the Territorial Cup against the Wildcats on Monday.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter.
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