On the heels of suffering its first back-to-back losses since the 2010 College World Series, the ASU baseball team made sure a third consecutive defeat wouldn’t happen.
With sophomore pitcher Alex Blackford leading the charge, the No. 8 Sun Devils (16-5) defeated Cal State Fullerton 10-1 Wednesday afternoon to split the midweek set.
Blackford (2-0) held the No. 18 Titans (12-8) to just one run on three hits in six innings.
“He did a great job of not ever allowing Fullerton to feel like they were in this thing,” ASU coach Tim Esmay told The Fan AM 1060. “He let us keep coming back to the dugout and keep the momentum. It’s a true testament to him and how well he pitched today.”
CSF pushed across two runs in the first inning on Tuesday, but Wednesday was the Sun Devils’ turn to take an early lead.
Junior outfielder Johnny Ruettiger led off the game by getting hit by a pitch. After Ruettiger stole second base, junior third baseman Riccio Torrez singled to left field.
Sophomore designated hitter Joey DeMichele then doubled down the right-field line, scoring Ruettiger, and junior first baseman Zach Wilson drove in the second ASU run of the inning with an RBI groundout.
In the second, Ruettiger struck again, this time on an RBI single to right field scoring senior catcher Xorge Carrillo and giving the Sun Devils a 3-0 lead.
The Titans struck back in their half of the inning with a leadoff solo home run to right field from freshman outfielder Michael Lorenzen.
Just a few outs and minutes later in the ASU third, Wilson took a 2-1 pitch and drove it over the heads of the CSF outfielders for a three-run homer, knocking Titan starting pitcher Colin O’Connell out of the game. Torrez and DeMichele singled to begin the inning and scored on the long ball.
The middle of the lineup came up again in the fourth, adding two more runs to extend the Sun Devil lead to seven.
The score remained at 8-1 until the ninth inning, when ASU added on two more for good measure. ASU football and baseball player Brandon Magee got the frame started with his first hit of the season.
After Blackford exited, relievers Joseph Lopez, Trevor Williams and Mitchell Lambson threw an inning apiece to complete the game.
Wilson finished the day leading the team with four RBIs and Torrez knocked three hits.
“It was a very good win for us,” Esmay said. “We needed to see a response to [Tuesday’s] loss and I got exactly what I was looking for. We put them on their heels, which is something we hadn’t done in the last couple games. The rain was coming in and it’s a good thing we got this one in.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
