The ASU baseball team captured its best start in school history Sunday, but Penn State University made sure it would not come easy.
The Sun Devils had to bounce back after a couple mid-inning rallies from the Nittany Lions (0-3) to retake control of the game in an 11-7 victory on Friday. The win gave ASU a sweep of the series and a 24-1 record, eclipsing the mark of 23-1 set by the 1972 squad.
"I wish not to compare. ...College baseball is different now," ASU head coach Pat Murphy said about the record. "I'm excited that our players are playing team baseball."
Sunday's offense came from the bats of Joel Bocchi, Jeff Larish and Dustin Pedroia. Bocchi and Pedroia had two hits and two RBI apiece while Larish blasted his 10th homerun of the season, a three-run shot in the sixth to increase the lead to 10-5 after the gap had been closed to 6-5 the inning before.
"Against Notre Dame we had to do the same thing, they get some runs, we have to answer back to tell them we're still there and make a statement," Pedroia said.
Pedroia also dazzled the crowd with his defense, making four incredible diving plays.
"I was just playing hard and trying to go after things and get some outs, help the team," he said.
The win went to senior Ben Thurmond, who improved his record to 3-0 on the year.
Saturday it didn't take long for ASU to put a win in the books, scoring six in the first and four more in the second to breeze through 12-1. Sophomore third baseman Frank Mesa drove home three runs with two hits and scored once.
Senior right hander Robbie McClellan got the win in his first start of the season, throwing five innings while allowing just one earned run.
Saturday's game also set a milestone, as the Sun Devils won for the 800th time at Packard Stadium.
Friday night, the Sun Devils endured a one-hour, five-minute rain delay before shutting out Penn State 13-0. Freshman left hander Erik Averill got the win in relief of starter Jered Liebeck who left the game after the lengthy delay.
Offensively, Larish took care of the dirty work, crushing a fourth-inning grand slam as part of a six-RBI night. He now has three grand slams this season, tying him for the single-season school record, originally set by Dave Hudgens in 1977.
"He's a good player," Murphy said. "He's locked in, he believes in himself and he's not afraid to go deep in the count. That's the sign of a good hitter."
The sweep makes it 15 straight victories for the Sun Devils who are riding high heading into this weekend's Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament at Packard Stadium.
"We're definitely more sure of ourselves, but nobody's going to walk around with their chest sticking out," said ASU junior closer Ryan Schroyer, who picked up his fifth save of the year Sunday. "That's just the type of program we've got here."
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
