The old adage says lightning strikes twice, but in this series, Cal center fielder Aaron Knapp struck twice.
No. 6 ASU baseball gave up another late lead, but it proved too much to overcome, handing the Sun Devils an 8-6 defeat and their first series loss in Pac-12 play.
ASU held a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth when Knapp followed up his walk-off single on Saturday with a two-out, two-run triple to give Cal the lead.
Looking at the bigger picture, the four-run eighth inning proved enough to hand the Sun Devils their first series loss since Feb. 20-22, when they dropped two of three to then-No. 1 TCU at Phoenix Muni.
After taking over with an out and a runner on base in the inning, senior Darin Gillies (2-4) gave up three earned runs on four hits. In addition, every one of Cal's four runs in the inning came with two outs.
In the first inning, David Greer's RBI single scored Johnny Sewald, who hit a leadoff single.
Cal (29-15, 15-9 Pac-12) responded with two runs in the bottom half to take a lead, which continued a common them for the Sun Devils—allowing early runs.
However, ASU (29-15, 14-7 Pac-12) answered with a three-run inning put together with RBI singles from Jake Peevyhouse, Colby Woodmansee and Brian Serven to take a 4-1 lead.
A week after a stellar performance against Tennessee Tech, ASU Sunday starter Brett Lilek had another mediocre outing, adding to his inconsistency this season. Lilek gave up four runs on eight hits in five innings.
After last week's outing, head coach Tracy Smith said he would be looking to see whether Lilek could back the solid start up with another against Cal, but the junior did not display the same type of dominance.
In the top of the eighth with a 5-4 ASU lead, junior Jordan Aboites hit his first career home run, a solo shot to left to extend the lead to two runs.
After Lilek exited, junior Eric Melbostad recorded two outs before sophomore Eder Erives came in and provided a solid 1.2 innings of relief, including getting out of a jam to preserve the lead in the seventh inning.
ASU will look to regroup before an ever-important series against the Pac-12's first-place team, UCLA.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook or follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
