Friday night’s Pac-12 opener against Oregon State didn’t come out the way ASU baseball was hoping as their eight-game win streaked was snapped by the Beavers in a 3-2 loss.
Junior right-hander Seth Martinez held on early, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first with help from freshman right fielder Gage Canning, who caught a line drive.
Martinez then kept the score at zero through three, until Oregon State first-baseman KJ Harrison hit a two-run homer over the left field wall in the fourth.
The next two innings, Martinez managed to hold the Beavers scoreless, but Oregon State was able to put another run on the board in the seventh, and that would be all the home team needed to pull out the win.
Martinez came out with a final line of 6.2 innings pitched with six hits, three runs, three walks and six strikeouts with 112 total pitches.
Senior right-hander Eric Melbostad came in to relieve Martinez, but was only in for 2/3 of an inning before freshman left-hander Zach Dixon replaced him.
Dixon made his first appearance on Tuesday against Meji University of Tokyo, where he was one of ten pitchers, impressing head coach Tracy Smith. Friday night, Dixon pitched 2/3 of an inning, recording one strikeout in his first official outing.
Offensively, the Sun Devils just couldn’t get it going.
Junior shortstop Colby Woodmansee would score the only two runs for ASU. Sophomore left fielder Ryan Lillard drove him in with a single in the seventh inning, and then Woodmansee hit a solo home run over the left field wall in the ninth.
It was his third home run of the season, He also hit his ninth double in a 2-4 day against the Beavers.
The Sun Devils will be back out at Goss Stadium at 1:35 p.m. on Saturday for game two against Oregon State.
Reach the reporter at haley.stesiak@asu.edu or follow @haley_stesiak on Twitter.
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