The No. 1 ASU baseball team finished the first two weeks of its season perfectly.
But the latter of its seven consecutive wins no longer showed margins indicative of football scores. The Sun Devils beat Portland, 5-2, Sunday to conclude the Coca-Cola Classic. Coupled with the recent results from the weekend, ASU's blistering offense has returned to earth.
After the Sun Devils (7-0) outscored their first four opponents 51-10, ASU modestly topped Hawaii 3-0 on Friday and No. 18 Michigan 8-4 on Saturday at Surprise Stadium.
"It's good to have close games," junior first baseman and pitcher Ike Davis said. "It's even good to lose once in a while."
ASU coach Pat Murphy said the offensive falloff may just be resultant of the spacious confines of Surprise Stadium.
"[And] we're not swinging the way we would like," he added.
The Sun Devils biggest struggle to score runs came Friday against Hawaii.
The Rainbows' junior Jared Alexander allowed just one run through 6 1/3 innings while striking out five.
But Alexander was met evenly on the mound by a committee of Sun Devil pitchers. After ASU's starter, junior Jason Franzblau, left unscathed after three innings, four relievers entered in his stead to combine for a five-hit shutout.
The Sun Devil offense broke through with insurance runs in late innings with triples from sophomore Raoul Torrez and junior Marcel Champagnie.
There was a cost of success, however, as sophomore outfielder Jason Kipnis was hit in the arm with a pitch Friday.
Despite his staying in the lineup throughout the weekend, Kipnis had trouble regaining feeling in his fingers, Murphy said.
Even with the injury, Kipnis was named the Coca-Cola Classic Most Valuable Player, most notably for his two home runs and five RBIs in Thursday's contest.
The Sun Devils trailed for the first time all season Saturday after senior Josh Satow yielded a two-RBI double to UM junior Zach Putnam in the first frame.
"Being behind … that's kind of good for our team," Murphy said. "[Satow] battled back; that's typical Josh fashion."
Then Putnam, who also started on the mound, began giving it right back, allowing two hits and two walks, giving ASU its first run. With the bases loaded, and still in the first frame, Putnam's 35th pitch was a wild one, allowing Kipnis to scamper home and bring the score even.
Putnam exited after three innings, though he stayed in the game at designated hitter.
With the bases chock-full in the fourth inning, Kipnis hit the first pitch he saw off the bat's handle. But the ball traveled deep enough to score junior Mike Jones on a sacrifice fly and give ASU the lead.
Satow threw 96 pitches spread over 5 1/3 innings.
Murphy turned to Davis in the seventh frame, though his first offering was grounded slowly through the left side for Putnam's third RBI as Michigan regained the lead.
"Everyone knows what I throw," Davis said of his simple, but effective fastball, slider repertoire. "It's not like I'm going to trick anybody."
In his season debut from the rubber, Davis would pitch the final 2 1/3 innings, earning his first win of the season.
"I haven't been doing too much with the bat," he said. "So I had to get on the mound and help them out."
Davis' teammates took the offensive burden off him, scoring five runs on three hits in the seventh frame for an 8-4 lead and eventual win.
When ASU returned to Packard Stadium Sunday, strong winds were carrying the ball out to right field.
True freshman Seth Blair threw just 49 pitches to cover five innings Sunday as he earned his second career win, but fell victim to Portland senior right fielder Danny Meier, who took Blair deep in the fifth frame for one of his team's two dingers.
Juniors Kiel Roling and Jones both hit their first home runs of the season off Portland's senior pitcher Ari Ronick.
ASU rallied for three runs in the fifth to close the deal.
Reach the reporter at: apentis@asu.edu.
