The ASU baseball team racked up a season-high 19 hits Saturday afternoon, but fell 12-10 in 10 innings to No. 7 UCLA in the final game of its three-game series Saturday afternoon.
The Sun Devils (15-8-1, 4-5 Pac-12) still won the series but fell short of the sweep as the pitching staff faltered all game.
Sophomore starter Adam McCreery struggled again, lasting only four batters and recording no outs before being pulled in the first inning.
“It’s a reoccurring theme,” ASU coach Tim Esmay said. “We have to get that figured out. Your starter on Sunday has to get out of the first inning. It puts us behind the eight ball.”
The Bruins (18-6, 6-3 Pac-12) were able to capitalize on McCreery’s struggles, plating two in the first off sophomore reliever Mark Lambson to grab the early lead.
The Sun Devils, like they did all series, were able to respond in the bottom half of the inning as RBI singles from junior second baseman James McDonald and sophomore outfielder Jake Peevyhouse brought the Sun Devils even.
UCLA struck back quickly in the second, putting four more on the board, including a three-run home run from sophomore third baseman Kevin Kramer, his first of the season.
Kramer initially grounded out to second base, but the umpire ruled Lambson balked and on the very next pitch hit the blast to right.
The Sun Devils responded again in the bottom of the third thanks to seven straight hits to start the inning to tie the game at six.
The Devils took their first lead of the game in the fourth after senior catcher Max Rossiter's sacrifice fly, then both teams exchanged runs in the fifth as the Sun Devils took an 8-7 lead into the seventh.
Esmay said although it wasn’t as clean as it could have been, his team was in a good position to win heading to the seventh.
“No matter how we got there, we got to where we wanted to be,” Esmay said.
Senior Alex Blackford came in but was unable to hold the lead, allowing the Bruins to score twice to take a 9-8 lead.
The Bruins then added an RBI single from shortstop Pat Valaika in the eighth to extend the lead to 10-8.
The Sun Devils didn’t quit and tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on freshman first baseman Dalton DiNatale’s first career homerun off Bruin closer David Berg.
DiNatale, who entered the game in the fifth inning as a pinch-hitter, said he wasn’t looking for the home run ball.
“I was just trying to get a good pitch I could drive in the zone, and he just threw one right down the middle,” DiNatale said. “I was ready for it. I just didn’t think, I just saw and reacted, and it worked out well.”
The Sun Devil pitching staff couldn’t maintain the momentum of the DiNatale homer as the freshman pitching duo of Eric Melbostad and Ryan Burr gave up two combined runs to the Bruins in the top of the 10th.
Esmay said the pitching struggles all game really cost the Sun Devils, who had seven batters record multi-hit games.
“We didn’t pitch well late today,” Esmay said.
The Sun Devils weren’t able to manage another rally in the tenth off Berg, who pitched the final four innings to move to 3-0 on the season.
“David Berg … he’s really good,” Esmay said. “He’s their closer, he was fresh and they went to him early.”
The Sun Devils return to action for a two-game midweek series at Wichita State before resuming Pac-12 play at Packard Stadium for a weekend series vs. Oregon.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
