With his No. 1 ASU baseball team rolling like a locomotive through the 2010 season, coach Tim Esmay wasn’t about to let a little Sunday afternoon frustration derail the ride.
ASU used 13 hits from eight different players to roll to a 14-6 victory over USC, completing a three-game sweep of the Pac-10 visitors.
Trailing by nine runs in the eighth inning, the Trojans allowed the ill feelings and a miserable game — the Trojans committed five errors on Sunday — to get the best of them.
USC pitcher Alex Sherrod threw a fastball that went behind the back of ASU sophomore Drew Maggi, prompting umpire John Bullock to eject Sherrod from the game.
Esmay and the rest of the ASU coaching staff left the dugout and had words with the Trojan coaches, believing a bean ball may have been called for from the bench.
As a result of the confrontation, ASU assistant coach Travis Jewett — who celebrated his 40th birthday on Sunday — and USC assistant Tom House were ejected.
Esmay gathered his players quickly, encouraging them to keep their emotions in check.
“The message [was] what the message is every day,” Esmay said. “We’re not going to do anything that is going to jeopardize any opportunity for these guys to be able to play. Letting it get to a point where it gets carried away … you don’t gain anything from it.”
Order was restored without further incident as the Sun Devils eased their way to another home victory, making them 22-0 at Packard Stadium this season.
Sophomore Jake Borup made the start for ASU (31-3, 9-3 Pac-10) and, as has been the case throughout the season, he put himself in an early hole.
The Trojans (15-20, 2-10) ,keyed by a two-run double by sophomore catcher Kevin Roundtree, scored four first-inning runs to grab the early lead.
But unlike his start against Washington State last week, when Borup could not recover and exited in the second inning, the tall right-hander found his groove, allowing just two hits through the next six innings to earn the win and push his record on the season to 7-1.
Borup could only shake his head when asked to explain his pattern of slow starts this season — his first inning ERA this season is just above 12.
“I wish I had an answer for it,” Borup said. “The first inning has kind of been my nemesis.”
Despite the runs given up, Borup added that he only felt he threw two bad pitches in the first frame, a leadoff single by junior shortstop Joe De Pinto and Roundtree’s double.
Esmay blamed himself for calling an infield shift on big lefty Ricky Oropesa that allowed a would-be double play to squeak through the infield.
“I guess it’s a good thing I’m not the closer, right?” Borup joked.
Borup found his rhythm after the first, and so did the Sun Devils, who scored at least one run in all but one of their eight innings.
Sophomore outfielder Johnny Ruettiger completed a stellar series with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate, including a two-run triple in the fourth that helped blow the game open.
Ruettiger was 6-for-11 (.545) in the series.
“I’m pretty locked in at the plate right now,” Ruettiger said. “I have a lot more confidence right now than I did at the beginning of the year. It’s just hard work and staying on it.”
On Saturday, junior Merrill Kelly earned his nation-leading eighth win of the season by giving up three runs in 6 1/3 innings, and the Sun Devils used a three-run first inning to pace a 5-3 victory.
ASU jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in Friday’s opener and held off a Trojan charge to earn a 5-4 win. Junior Seth Blair struck out seven and earned the win to push his record to 6-0.
The Sun Devils host UA in a non-conference game on Tuesday at Packard Stadium.
Reach the reporter at
nkosmide@asu.edu
