Highlighted by great back-to-back pitching performances from senior Jered Liebeck and freshman Erik Averill, the No. 8 Sun Devils were able to overcome a loss Friday night to win the final two games over No. 13 Long Beach State over the weekend.
Sunday, Averill got his third win of the season pitching beautifully into the seventh inning to lead ASU (11-1) to a 4-2 victory. Two unearned runs in the frame chased him from the ballgame, but Averill only gave up six hits on the day. He has yet to give up an earned run in 18 innings of work this season.
Offensively, senior third baseman Dennis Wyrick came through with a bases-loaded single up the middle to put the Sun Devils ahead 2-0 in the second inning. Junior second baseman Steve Garrabrants added a run-scoring single in the inning and sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia's fielders choice made it 4-0 before the two unearned runs came in the seventh.
Saturday, the Sun Devils didn't need much offense thanks to a magnificent performance by Liebeck. He threw a complete game shutout, scattering just three hits in a 3-0 win.
Liebeck, who didn't allow a hit after the fifth inning, pitched the best game of his Sun Devil career. In his previous best came against USC last year, he threw seven shutout innings and struck out eight. Although he collected just two strikeouts Saturday, he kept runners off base.
"That was just a gutsy team effort to battle back from last nights tough loss and an unbelievable pitching performance by Jered," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said. "You don't see many 88-pitch, complete-game shutouts in college baseball. He pitched strikes and we played great defense around him."
Friday night the Sun Devils got an early lead on Long Beach State junior Abe Alvarez. ASU scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning on a bases-loaded double down the left field line by Wyrick.
But the Dirtbags came back with a vengeance, scoring 11 straight runs to ruin ASU's lead and nine game winning streak to start the season. The 11-5 romp was led by Dirtbag junior first baseman Mike Hofius. With three hits in five plate appearances, Hofius scored two runs and drove home another three.
Alvarez, a pre-season All-American, settled down and pitched an effective 5.2 innings, allowing just six hits and the two runs for his first win of the season.
This week the Sun Devils will host a three game series against Brigham Young University, starting Thursday night at Packard Stadium.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
