Brady Rodgers was just itching to get back out onto the mound.
After taking the loss on Friday night against Oregon in extra innings, the freshman right-hander wanted another shot.
He made the most of it.
Rodgers worked seven shutout innings while striking out six to pick up his second win of the season in the Sun Devils’ 15-0 victory against San Diego on Monday night at Packard Stadium.
“That was real difficult on me, I took it real hard,” Rodgers said of taking the loss last weekend. “Today I had a little fire in me because I was so mad about that. I used that on the mound to compete.”
With the wind howling out to right field, Rodgers kept the ball down and on the ground. He only allowed four hits, with two of them being infield singles.
“I had command of all my pitches the whole game and I was hitting my spots,” Rodgers said. “We had great defense, too. That was key to the win.”
ASU coach Tim Esmay said he saw immediately following the loss on Friday that Rodgers was going to respond with his next chance.
“I saw his face after the game on Friday, and it was the face of a competitor,” Esmay said. “You could just tell that he felt the world of our team on the shoulders. He is a competitive kid, he is used to winning. Tonight was nice to get him on the mound. He is a good one.”
The Sun Devils put on a complete effort with clutch hitting, outstanding pitching and flashing the leather in the infield and the outfield.
It all added up to a lopsided win.
“To come back out on a Monday and play after getting back yesterday, you don’t know mentally where they will be at,” Esmay said. “That was a sign of a team that knows how to play.”
The Sun Devils (26-1) were helped onto the scoreboard by the Toreros’ defense in the first inning when sophomore Drew Maggi reached on an error by USD shortstop Bryan Haar. Maggi would eventually steal second base and scored on a base hit by sophomore Riccio Torrez.
Sophomore Zach Wilson would add an RBI single that scored senior Kole Calhoun, who walked, and ASU quickly led 2-0.
The Sun Devils tacked on three more runs in the second inning on RBI singles by Maggi and Calhoun. Two runs scored on the ball hit by Calhoun that went through the legs of USD sophomore left fielder Austin Green.
The lead later blossomed out to 9-0, as ASU added one run in each of the next four innings. In the third inning, ASU got an RBI single from senior Raoul Torrez.
Wilson also connected for an RBI single in the fourth, Maggi brought home a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth and sophomore Johnny Ruettiger added an RBI single in the sixth.
ASU blew the game wide open in the seventh inning, scoring six times. Maggi led off the frame with a triple and scored on a base hit by sophomore Zack MacPhee.
Junior Jimmy Patterson collected a pinch hit RBI double to score Maggi, and sophomore Jordan Swagerty plated two more with a double to left-center field.
The Sun Devils didn’t have an extra base hit in the first six innings of the game, but they added three in the seventh alone.
Swagerty finished 3-for-6 with two RBI, while Maggi finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. In all, five Sun Devils finished with multiple hits.
“We struggled with making some adjustments, and [Monday] our guys made the adjustments that they needed to make,” Esmay said. “It was nice to see that our guys responded to it.”
Spence update
ASU senior pitcher Josh Spence continues to make progress in recovering from an arm injury and threw again this past weekend in Eugene.
“That is twice now [he’s thrown] in a week, so he is starting to throw to some hitters,” Esmay said. “He is really starting to get in that situation before he is ready to do something.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
