Sometimes one mistake ruins everything, and for ASU baseball, one bad inning spelled defeat.
The Sun Devils (6-5) fell to Loyola Marymount 8-5 on Sunday. The Lions (6-6) scored six of their eight runs in the fourth inning, putting ASU in an early deficit that it couldn't escape.
ASU junior pitcher Jake Godfrey was shelled the worst by the Lions. Godfrey pitched 3.2 innings with five hits, five earned runs and three walks.
"I thought he wore down a bit there when he got around the 50 pitch limit," Head coach Tracy Smith said. "Trying to find out what his role is going to be for us, I think you can kind of go on what you see. I'm sure he wasn't happy with it."
This was Godfrey's first start of the season after serving as a reliever. Smith said he's still figuring out how to use him.
"Is that the best role for him? I don't know," Smith said. "But I'm not worried about him, he's going to be a big part of what we're doing this year."
LMU showed no mercy to Godfrey when its bats erupted in the fourth inning, starting with an RBI single from senior left fielder Jimmy Hill and from there it turned into an avalanch.
The Lions piled on with a pair of two RBI doubles from senior second baseman Phil Caulfield and junior center fielder Billy Wilson.
Even with sophomore reliever James Ryan on the hill, LMU kept its bats busy with junior first baseman Jamey Smart knocking in an RBI single that put ASU into a 6-2 hole.
But the Sun Devils showed some life in the seventh, and even cut LMU's lead to one with consecutive RBIs from Lyle Lin and Tyler Williams.
B7 | #Linsanity strikes again @lin_lyle singles and cashes in Lillard.#Devils down 6-4. pic.twitter.com/YtorjRhuwk
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) March 5, 2017
However, the Lions would tack on two more runs, one of which was a home run off senior reliever Eder Erives and eventually defeated the Sun Devils 8-5.
"If you don't pitch with an edge, it's very tough to do," Smith said. "If we're going to have success this year, we're going to need him pitching with a little bit more of an edge, little bit more sense of purpose. Right now it's not for a lack of trying, but he's going to have to get back to old form for us to be good."
Erives battled an injury to start the year and made his second appearance of the season on Sunday.
The Sun Devils will stay at Phoenix Municipal Stadium to play Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at mpharri7@asu.edu or follow @Harris_Mark7 on Twitter.
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