It took Utah 55 years to accomplish something they'd failed to do in their previous 27 meetings with ASU — they won a baseball game.
The No. 6 Sun Devils (20-7, 8-3 Pac-12) fell 6-3 to the Utes in Salt Lake City Friday night, and if anything the result validated head coach Tracy Smith's concerns about his team playing down to its opponents.
Trailing by four runs in the ninth, ASU put together three straight hits and had the tying run 90 feet away, but couldn't extend the game for more extra-inning magic, falling 6-5.
Of more immediate interest to the Sun Devils was a rather dismal performance at the plate in prior innings – eight runners were left on base across nine innings.
With runners in scoring position, including a bases-loaded opportunity with one out in the first inning, ASU hit 1-for-9 overall and managed to plate just one run, good for its only lead of the game.
In addition to the anxiety built by late rallies after failing to capitalize in the early innings, the tension was evident in two costly errors that sparked a three-run seventh inning from Utah with the game tied at two that ultimately changed the course of the game for the home team.
Despite a 3-for-5, multi-hit effort from resurgent junior center fielder Johnny Sewald, the Sun Devil lineup was mostly quiet, scattering nine hits and was held scoreless from the second inning through the fifth — a streak interrupted by a home run from sophomore catcher Brian Serven.
The solo shot was Serven's fourth, which slotted him into a tie with junior designated hitter RJ Ybarra as team co-leaders.
The program winning streak wasn't the only mark snapped Friday — junior left-hander Ryan Kellogg (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing four earned runs in six innings pitched and and 11 hits on 100 total pitches.
Kellogg departed in the seventh after allowing a solo home run to Utah's Kody Davis, the junior second baseman's first of the year.
For the Utes, junior left-hander Brett Helton (2-4) pitched three innings in relief to and struck out three ASU hitters to earn a decision.
Junior left-hander Brett Lilek (2-2, 4.40 ERA) will square off with Pac-12 Player of the Week, freshman right-hander Jayson Rose (2-2, 4.00 ERA) in the series finale.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
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