The No. 4 ASU baseball team took the first game of the Bob Schaefer Memorial Baseball Classic, pounding out 15 hits to score in double figures for the eighth-straight game in a 10-2 win over Cal-State Northridge on Thursday.
The Sun Devils wasted little time grabbing the lead, tallying three times in the first inning off Cal-State Northridge (4-15) starter Leo Rosales. Sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia singled up the middle to start the frame, giving him at least one hit in 25 of 26 games this year. Two batters later, sophomore first baseman Jeff Larish tripled into the right field corner to bring home Pedroia.
"I'm just trying to get on base," said Pedroia, who had his second four-hit game of the year and raised his average to a robust .436. "Usually when I lead innings off I just try to help the team by getting on base and letting our lefties in the (third and fourth batting positions) get us in."
After an error allowed Larish to score, junior second baseman Steve Garrabrants doubled off the glove of a diving Dominick Phillips at short, allowing Jeremy West to come around for the third run of the inning.
ASU (25-1) added single runs in each of the next four innings, increasing the lead to 7-1. Both Pedroia and West had RBI doubles while sophomore catcher Joel Bocchi singled in one and Ryan Bosch drove home another with a sacrifice fly.
Bocchi also had an RBI double in the seventh as ASU added three runs late to cap its scoring.
"We're just trying to stay on it every inning, trying to win every inning,"
Pedroia said. "We did that tonight and we're playing real well right now."
Sun Devil starter Erik Averill threw six solid innings in his first start since facing Gonzaga on the Feb. 17. He scattered seven hits while allowing only two runs and striking out five for his fifth win of the season. His five victories are the most on the staff this year.
"It's just numbers," Averill said. "We don't really pay attention to our numbers, the only number we pay attention to is how many wins we have as a team and playing each game into the next."
Averill allowed a solo homerun to right fielder Rudy Simpson in the fifth and started the seventh before he was pulled in favor of Javy Lopez after the first two base runners reached.
Both Lopez and senior right-hander Robbie McClellan cleaned up for ASU in the final three innings, not allowing a single run.
Today, the Sun Devils continue the tournament when they face Southern Utah at 7 p.m.
"We're just going out and setting our tempo and playing hard offensively and defensively," Pedroia said. "Our pitching is awesome so it's going great right now."
Notes: Pedroia collected four hits for his 17th multi-hit game of the season. Three of those were doubles, giving him 15 on the year. It was also the first time a Sun Devil had three doubles in a game since Mike Lopez did it against Creighton on Feb. 18, 2000...The Sun Devils scored a run in every inning but the sixth. It was the most innings ASU has scored in during a full nine-inning game this season.
Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
