It wasn't pretty, but nevertheless the No. 8 Sun Devils took the first of a three-game series from Brigham Young University by a final of 6-5 in front of 2,580 fans at Packard Stadium.
With nobody out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, sophomore third baseman Frank Mesa walked to bring home the game-winning run.
ASU (12-1) had led 5-1 earlier in the contest, but BYU (1-3) crawled back, capitalizing on its opportunities to tie the game in the eighth.
"BYU's a good team, and we're lucky to win," Murphy said. "We did everything wrong at the wrong time."
With the score 3-0 in the fifth, BYU got on the board when junior right fielder Rob Itri connected for his first homerun of the season. The run yielded by sophomore Mark Sopko was the first earned run given up by Sun Devil pitching in 22.2 innings.
Sopko created his own jams in the first four innings, but managed to sneak out of them stranding four BYU runners including one at third base in each of the first two innings. He was pulled from the game after Itri's homerun, the fourth hit he allowed in the game.
"He didn't pitch with his second pitch," Murphy said. "He was a one-pitch guy today, and he's got to pitch with more than that."
The Sun Devils tacked on two more in the bottom of the fifth including one off the bat of sophomore first baseman Jeff Larish. His double to plate freshman left fielder Travis Buck was one of three hits on the day.
At 5-1, the Cougars began to cut into ASU's lead in the sixth off of senior reliever Robbie Mclellan. After a walk and a single put runners on the corners with nobody out, junior center fielder Brock Jacobsen made it 5-2 when he grounded out to second, bringing home sophomore right fielder Ryan Chambers.
A sacrifice fly by senior left fielder Doug Jackson in the seventh made it 5-3, then the Cougars tied it in the eighth with a pair of runs. After an error by Garrabrants plated Jacobsen from third, junior catcher Adam Wilkes drove home the game-tying run with a line drive single to center. The errant throw would have ended the inning with the Sun Devils still on top.
"It wouldn't have been as close if we played good defense," Murphy said. "We played good defense for the first six innings, then the last three we didn't turn two double plays we could have turned and we didn't make a play at second base."
The Cougars threatened in their half of the ninth but were turned aside when senior closer Ryan Schroyer enticed Jacobsen to pop out to shortstop.
In the bottom half it was Larish's double to straight away center field that started the Sun Devils rally. Junior right fielder Andre Ethier then singled to right and pinch hitter Jeremy West walked to set the table for Mesa's game-winning walk.
In the first inning the Sun Devils jumped on Mountain West Conference pitcher of the week Jeff Mousser early, as Buck took one deep to right to put the Sun Devils ahead 1-0. Buck became the 10th different player this year to park one over the fence, and the Sun Devils have hit 17 as a team in just 13 games.
In the second inning with a runner on board, junior second baseman Steve Garrabrants blasted one 375 feet over the left field wall to increase ASU's lead to 3-0.
The series with BYU continues tonight and tomorrow with 7 p.m. and 1 p.m. starts respectively.
"You try to get better every day," Murphy said. "You don't make any drastic changes, you just try to get better."
Game Notes: Starting in just his fourth game of the year, freshman outfielder Ryan Bosch had two singles for his first collegiate multi-hit game...After snapping a career high 22-game hitting streak against Long Beach State on Sunday, sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia had two singles to increase his team lead in hits to 22.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
