Sophomore pitcher Adam McCreery throws a pitch during the Sun Devils' 2-0 win over No. 4 UCLA Saturday. ASU dropped the only game of its three-game series with the Bruins Saturday despite recording a season-high 19 hits. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)Early in the week, ASU baseball coach Tim Esmay said his team needed to do the little things, like play solid defense.
In the ninth inning, sophomore outfielder Jake Peevyhouse echoed his coach’s wishes, diving over the left field foul wall to make a catch that helped preserve a 4-1 victory for the Sun Devils (14-7-1, 3-4 Pac-12) over No. 4 UCLA in the opening game of their three-game series.
The Sun Devils played their first error-free game of the conference season, and Peevyhouse’s catch sealed one of their most efficient games of the season.
“We work on those, so it’s not the first time it ever happened,” Peevyhouse said. “I knew it was going to be close at the fence, but I didn’t think I was going to go over.”
Esmay said the extra attention to defense during the week really paid off against the Bruins (17-5, 5-2 Pac-12).
“I think there was a little more focus tonight,” Esmay said. “I think there was a little more commitment to that and understanding that it was important. We played some really good defense tonight.”
Trevor Williams returned to form, allowing only one run in 7.2 innings while striking out six batters.
Williams (4-2) also said the defense improvement behind him was a crucial part to his success.
“It was great,” Williams said. “It was something we had been doing in practice, paying a lot more attention to defense.”
Peevyhouse gave Williams and the Sun Devils the lead in the first with an RBI groundout off Bruin junior starter Adam Plutko.
The Sun Devils didn’t score again until the fifth as Plutko and Williams were engaged in a good old-fashioned pitcher’s duel.
Williams’ efficiency and ability to hang with other Pac-12 aces was something he had yet to do this season until tonight.
“I knew I had to make an adjustment myself,” Williams said. “I was getting away from myself the past two starts, so I was just trying to not to do much.”
Esmay agreed that Williams managed the game a lot better than he had recently.
“I thought his pace was better,” Esmay said. “He wasn’t trying to throw a complete game.”
Williams entered the eighth inning with 117 pitches and a 3-0 lead, but was unable to preserve his shutout as Bruin junior shortstop Pat Valaika hit an RBI single up the middle with two outs.
Esmay didn’t regret sending Williams out for the eighth, even though he was well over 100 pitches.
“We probably wouldn’t have done that if we had a quick turnaround on a Friday start, but by him having another extra day, it puts him in a pretty good situation,” Esmay said.
Junior third baseman Michael Benjamin restored the Sun Devil lead to three in the eighth with a leadoff homer, his second of the season.
“It was huge,” Esmay said. “That was a response. The one really good thing that we have not really deviated from our guys is we have the ability to score late.”
The extra run proved vital as freshman closer Ryan Burr put two men on base in the ninth but was able to induce a popout to end the game for his fourth save of the season.
Overall, Esmay was pleased with his team’s performance.
“It was a really good Friday night game between two really good Friday night pitchers,” Esmay said.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
