The No. 6 ASU baseball team broke away from a log jam of teams in the middle of the conference with a sweep of California last weekend.
The Sun Devils (38-7, 6-3 Pac-10) moved into second place in the Pac-10 standings, just one game behind idle Stanford. The weekend also marked the first time ASU put together a string of two or more victories in a row since defeating Oklahoma March 14-15.
Arizona
The Wildcats (26-13, 5-4) roared back after a series-opening loss to Washington to take two-of-three. UA sophomore Jeff Van Houten followed up his Pac-10 Player of the Week honors of last week with a 3-for-4 performance
Sunday, missing the cycle by just a double.
California
The Golden Bears (20-18, 6-6) scored just four runs in three games against ASU last weekend. California did not hold a lead in any inning and trailed for 25 of the 27 innings. Their three starting pitchers lasted an average of 2.0 innings in the series.
Oregon State
The Beavers (16-17, 3-6) lost their third-straight conference series by falling in the rubber match to Washington State 11-7. Senior first baseman Andy Jarvis blasted the 30th home run of his career, becoming only the second player in Oregon State history to accomplish the feat.
Stanford
Conference leading Stanford (23-10, 7-2) picked up a 9-1 non-conference victory over Sacramento State on Friday, but was rained out Saturday.
UCLA
In three closely contested games against USC, the Bruins (17-22,3-6) were swept by the Trojans and fell into a last-place tie in the conference. A wild pitch in the ninth inning allowed the Trojans to plate the winning run Friday after UCLA had held a 6-0 lead.
USC
Beating up on cross town rival UCLA put the Trojans (18-17, 5-4) back into the conference hunt. USC is tied for third with UA and is just two games behind Stanford, whom they have yet to play.
Washington
It wasn't a pretty win Friday against UA, but considering it was the only one for the Huskies (22-12, 4-5) over the weekend, they'll take it. In the top of the 11th, junior Justin Drake was hit by a pitch and scored on an errant pick off throw to complete the comeback.
Washington State
The Cougars (11-24, 3-6) scored 10 runs in the final six innings against Oregon State to overcome an early four-run deficit in an 11-7 victory Sunday.
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Reach the reporter at casey.pritchard@asu.edu.
