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23-0: ASU sweeps Cal to extend school-record start

HOME FREE: Senior Raoul Torrez slides across the plate as the game-winning run in ASU’s 3-2 win on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Pentis)
HOME FREE: Senior Raoul Torrez slides across the plate as the game-winning run in ASU’s 3-2 win on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Pentis)

On Saturday, the No. 1 ASU baseball team defeated Cal to set a school record for best start by moving to a 22-0 record.

But with their places in the history books confirmed, the Sun Devils saved the best theatrics of the season thus far for Sunday afternoon.

A game-winning RBI single by sophomore Drew Maggi in the bottom of the ninth to score senior Raoul Torrez gave ASU a 3-2 win, extending the team’s program-record start to 23-0 in front of 4,371 at Packard Stadium.

“I was just trying to win a game,” Maggi said of the clutch base knock. “[With a] base open, I figured, ‘Look for a strike.’ The [pitcher] put it over and I put it up the middle.”

After freshman Andrew Aplin and sophomore Jordan Swagerty were retired to begin the bottom of the ninth, Torrez knocked a single to left field.

Then, with a great jump, Torrez stole second to put himself into scoring position for Maggi to win the game.

“We had a senior out at first base who knows how to run, who knows how to steal,” said ASU coach Tim Esmay of the decision to call for the steal with two outs. “What was great about him was there was no doubt. He took it on the first pitch and ran. That’s the quality of him.”

ASU received a superb outing from sophomore Jake Borup, who tossed 7.2 innings of two-hit, one-run ball, ASU received a superb outing from sophomore Jake Borup, who tossed 7.2 innings of two-hit, one-run ball, keeping the Sun Devil offense, which was dormant through the game’s first seven innings, in the contest.

After giving up a double to Cal leadoff hitter junior Brian Guinn followed by a walk by sophomore Danny Oh to start the first inning (Cal later scored on a groundout), Borup retired 22 straight Golden Bear batters. He finished the game with 13 strikeouts, besting his previous career high of six.

“The first inning I was trying to be too spotty,” Borup said. “I just settled in and trusted my stuff. The slider was working pretty well today. I just tried to keep going and try to stay ahead of hitters.”

The slider, which Esmay said Borup was locating better on Sunday than in any of his previous outings, forced a bevy of half-hearted swings by Cal hitters, as the tall right-hander struck out the side in both the third and fifth innings. During one stretch, he fanned 8-of-9 hitters.

“I don’t even think I struck out 13 [batters] in high school,” Borup said.

While Borup was in control on the mound, the Sun Devils had difficulty getting anything going against Cal sophomore starter Dixon Anderson, who pitched seven scoreless innings before ASU struck back in the eighth.

The Sun Devils got the leadoff batter on in five of those seven innings but were unable to do any damage.

But in the eighth, Maggi, who tallied three hits on the day, led off with a single, and after sophomore second baseman Zack MacPhee struck out, senior Kole Calhoun came up with a clutch double to the left-field fence to push Maggi across and tie the score.

With the infield drawn in, sophomore Riccio Torrez knocked his third hit of the game to plate Calhoun, who had moved to third on a throwing error, giving the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead.

“You look at the big [at-bat] by Kole Calhoun and the big at-bat by Raoul Torrez in the ninth — those are the guys who have been through it,” said Esmay, who also applauded the performance turned in by Maggi. “Those are the guys who are in a state of competition they know how to put themselves in.”

Cal didn’t go away quietly in the ninth. Facing Swagerty, who spent the first eight innings behind the plate, the Bears capitalized on ASU’s lone error of the series — a ball through the legs of MacPhee — to even the score on an RBI double by Oh.

But in the bottom of the ninth, the first time this season ASU has been forced to take its final at-bats in the ninth frame at Packard Stadium, the Sun Devils did just enough to keep the win streak alive.

Swagerty (1-0) earned the win despite his first blown save of the season.

Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu


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