On March 16 against Washington, ASU baseball was able to rally and tie the game in the ninth, only to lose in the 11th.
It was a similar start with a better ending for the Sun Devils on Saturday. They rallied and tied the game in the ninth, and were able to complete the comeback with a 3-2 victory in 10 innings against No. 4 Oregon State.
The game was only extended to extra innings because of ASU’s (11-10, 2-3 Pac-12) effort in the ninth. There were two outs, nobody on and the Sun Devils trailed 2-1. Junior left fielder Jake Peevyhouse doubled to give the team hope. Then sophomore third baseman Dalton DiNatale singled home Peevyhouse to tie the game.
In the 10th inning, sophomore center fielder Johnny Sewald led off the inning against Oregon State (19-4, 4-1 Pac-12) with a single and was bunted to second.
Sophomore catcher RJ Ybarra came to the plate a batter later, and doubled home Sewald to give ASU a 3-2 lead. Ybarra’s double was redemption of sorts, after popping up to second with the tying run on second in the eighth inning.
Sophomore right-hander Ryan Burr came in to close the door in the bottom of the 10th, and slammed it shut by striking out a pair to put ASU back over .500 on the year.
ASU sophomore left-hander Ryan Kellogg started the game and was superb Saturday afternoon. He gave up only two runs through nine innings of work and did not walk a man, a stark contrast to Friday’s starter, sophomore Brett Lilek, who walked five.
Kellogg was one out better than Oregon State’s Andrew Moore. The sophomore righty went 8 2/3 innings and also allowed two runs. He was one out away from a complete game victory before Peevyhouse and DiNatale tied it.
Saturday had to have been satisfying for Peevyhouse, who made only his second start since Feb. 28. He had three hits on the afternoon, one shy of his total for the entire season prior to Saturday. He scored the tying run in the ninth, and also opened the scoring for his team in the fifth.
Junior first baseman Nate Causey also had himself quite an afternoon. He went 4-for-4 with an intentional walk, raising his batting average to a team-high .375.
The rubber game of the series is scheduled for noon Sunday, where ASU junior right-hander Darin Gillies will oppose Oregon State junior left-hander Jace Fry.
Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @J15Emerson
