Junior outfielder Casey Coffman finishes his swing against a UCLA pitcher on March 30. Coffman left two balls over the wall in the Sun Devils 7-4 win over the Bruins on Friday March 29. (Photo by Erin Patrick O'Connor)Junior outfielder Kasey Coffman is the leadoff hitter for the ASU baseball team, but that doesn’t mean he lacks power.
Coffman proved his mashing ability Friday night, taking No. 7 UCLA deep twice as the Sun Devils (15-7-1, 4-4 Pac-12) knocked off the Bruins (17-6, 5-3 Pac-12) 7-4 in the second game of their three-game set.
“I just stuck with the plan Esmay was talking about and hunted the fastball, and that’s what I did, and I put good swings on it,” Coffman said.
Coffman’s five RBIs singlehandedly beat the Bruins, but it was the away team that struck first in the second inning off ASU freshman starter Ryan Kellogg. UCLA had an RBI single from sophomore catcher Shane Zeile.
The Sun Devils took no time to respond, as they struck for four in the bottom of the inning. They finished it off with a three-run bomb from Coffman off Bruin junior starter Nick Vander Tuig.
“He didn’t make a pitch to Coff and, fortunately for Coff, he was ready to do it and took a good swing on it,” ASU coach Tim Esmay said.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth, when Zeile hit a solo home run over the left field fence to cut the lead to 4-2, which was only the second one surrendered by the Sun Devil pitching staff all season.
It was the first career home run Kellogg has given up in his college career, and he said it was purely just a mistake.
“It was a fastball that was supposed to be away, and it ended up belt-high down the middle,” Kellogg said. “Eighty-five down the middle in college isn’t going to get the job done so he did what he was supposed to do with that pitch and hit it a long ways.”
The Bruins tied the game in the sixth thanks to three straight two-out hits, including the game-tying single from junior designated hitter Kevin Williams.
The Sun Devils again had a response to the Bruins charge in the bottom of the sixth, which Coffman spearheaded once more.
Freshman first baseman Dalton DiNatale hit a sacrifice fly to give the Sun Devils the lead, then Coffman homered his second of the game to right to extend the lead to 7-4.
Coffman said his game-sealing hit was just one in steady rotation for his baseball team.
“We all pick each other up,” Coffman said. “He picked us up at OSU and we have a bunch of different guys pick us up every game.”
Kellogg (6-0) took control from there, breezing through the Bruin lineup in the seventh and eighth to cement the Sun Devil lead.
The freshman was solid in his first start since his no-hitter, throwing 117 pitches over his eight innings while allowing eight hits, four runs and striking out five batters.
Esmay said he was more impressed with Kellogg’s UCLA performance than his no-hitter due to his poise given the extra pressure he had to face.
“He never let it get away from him,” Esmay said. “Let’s not kid ourselves, after last week, in the game of baseball, it’s a tough thing to do again.”
Fellow freshman Ryan Burr shut the door in the ninth, striking out two to earn his fifth save of the season and second in as many days.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
