ASU baseball got off to a slow start offensively Friday night against Long Beach State, but once the bats got hot, the Sun Devils quickly got ahead to beat the Dirtbags 9-2.
Head coach Tracy Smith said after opening night that the designated hitter would be a spot the team was “going to get something out of” this season.
That showed on Friday, as designated hitter Sebastian Zawada hit a three-run homer in the fourth to get ASU on the board.
Junior infielder David Greer and junior catcher Brian Serven each singled before Zawada came to the plate, putting him in the perfect spot to make something happen with one out.
Then in the fifth, junior shortstop Colby Woodmansee stepped up and put one over the left field wall to bring in junior outfielder Daniel Williams and sophomore outfielder Andrew Shaps, extending the Sun Devils’ lead to 6-0.
Sophomore infielder Andrew Snow was on again offensively Friday, as he went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the top of the ninth after a single to right. Gage Canning also had an RBI in the ninth after a ground out to short.
Serven had the night at the plate that he’s been waiting for, going 3-for-5 and scoring two runs.
The offense seemed to keep its consistency from last weekend and Tuesday’s game, but it was Seth Martinez on the mound that helped out the Sun Devils defensively after the mid-week struggle.
Martinez had a solid outing pitching six innings, not allowing a hit until the fifth, and striking out five in his second win of the season.
A double in the sixth by Long Beach left fielder Brock Lundquist put runners in scoring position, but Martinez kept his composure and struck out the next hitter to get out of the jam.
Freshman James Ryan came in for Martinez in the seventh and held Long Beach at zero until the ninth, when pinch hitter Garrett Nelson hit a two-run homer to get on the board for the Dirtbags.
Ryan pitched three innings, allowed three hits, two runs and had three strikeouts in his first career save.
The Sun Devils will be back on Blair Field in Long Beach at 3:00 p.m. Saturday for game two of the series.
Reach the reporter at haley.stesiak@asu.edu or follow @haley_stesiak on Twitter.
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