Except for one at-bat, the ASU baseball team had not led at any point during either of its first two contests of its three-game series against Florida State.
In the final game on Sunday, however, the No. 18 Sun Devils needed only three pitches to take the lead before winning 12-6, and completing a three-game sweep of the No. 22 Seminoles.
"It's a great weekend altogether, I'm proud of our young guys," head coach Pat Murphy said. "We can't get too giddy about this weekend, but at the same time we can be proud of what we accomplished."
Sophomore outfielder Travis Buck's RBI double began the onslaught Sunday. Junior Nick Cadena and freshman Colin Curtis would add RBI singles of their own to put the Devils up 3-0 in the first.
Coming into Sunday, Buck had struggled hitting behind junior Jeff Larish in the series' initial two games, stranding five runners in eight at bats.
"Hitting behind Larish was bugging him a little bit," Murphy said. "He was putting a little too much pressure on himself."
Buck exploded offensively, going 3-for-3 with four RBI, three runs, two walks and a stolen base.
Junior college transfer Jason Urquidez logged the win as he pitched out of several jams. The 'Noles had Urquidez on the ropes in the third inning with one run in, and the bases loaded with no outs.
Urquidez went on to strike out the next two batters and get the third batter to pop out to freshman first baseman Joe Persichina. Urquidez gave up only one run with nine strikeouts over five innings.
In the fourth inning, junior college transfer Josh Asanovich broke the game open, hitting a three-run double with the bases loaded to give ASU a 7-1 lead.
The 'Noles would battle back to close their deficit to 9-6 with two men on and no outs in the sixth, but ASU freshman Josh Blake killed their momentum by striking out the top of the order.
The two teams combined to hand out 26 free passes on Sunday in a walk-a-thon that rivaled Race for the Cure.
"Talk about gutsy performances by first-year players," pitching coach Chris Sinacori said. "To stay persistent and keep working the zone was special."
In their season opener on Friday, the Devils were held scoreless for over eight innings and were one strike away from being shutout for the first time since 1995 (501 games).
Down 1-0 with the bases loaded and two strikes, junior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch hit a line drive to right-center field that flew inches over diving right fielder Eddy Martinez-Esteve's glove to give ASU the 2-1 victory.
"I was running to first base thinking 'he's going to catch it,' " Gosewisch said. "I saw it miss the glove, and I was pretty happy."
The two-run double capped off a pitcher's dual between ASU senior transfer Jeff Mousser and a trio of FSU pitchers.
Mousser gave up only one run and three hits over seven innings. Freshman Zechry Zinicola shut out the 'Noles for the remaining two frames to give the Devils a chance in the ninth.
On Saturday, ASU got off to a sluggish start with sophomore left-hander Brett Bordes giving up six runs in the first inning. FSU shortstop Stephen Drew would give FSU a 7-0 lead in the second as he hit the third of FSU's four homeruns in the game.
Sophomore Erik Averill kept the Sun Devils in the contest and gave up only one run over five innings, as ASU cut the score to 9-7 entering the bottom of the ninth.
In the final frame, it would be the new Devils that fueled ASU's two-out comeback.
Curtis tied the game with a two-run double down the third-base line - part of a 3-for-5 performance that included a home run, four RBI and three runs. Persichina capped off the rally with a line-drive single that bounced just a few feet in front of centerfielder Shane Robinson.
Reach the reporter at matthew.Schubert@asu.edu.
