(Photo: Blaine McCormick/WCSN)
Following an offensive explosion from both Arizona State and the Roadrunners on Friday night, Saturday night’s matchup proved to be much more of a pitchers duel.
In the end, ASU battled and came from behind to clinch the weekend series against CSU Bakersfield by a score of 4-2.
Andrew Hansen and Eli Lingos were dueling early on the mound, with the Roadrunner starter looking sharper early on.
Lingos allowed runs to come in to score in the third and fourth innings and ASU didn’t look comfortable against Hansen through four frames. The Sun Devils had three hits on the board after four, with Hansen looking cool and confident.
In the fifth though, everything changed.
ASU put four runs on the board started by a Zach Cerbo double and followed up with three two-out runs. The big hit of the inning coming from the star of last night, Gage Canning.
Canning cranked a two-run home run to take the lead with Jeremy McCuin on first base.
The lead was all Lingos needed. The junior left-hander went seven and two-thirds innings allowing just two runs and on eight hits.
Conor Higgins was all business for ASU as he came in with runners at first and third and got a four-out save, giving him three on the season.
Player of the Game: Gage Canning. The right-fielder was the star of the night on Friday and was again in game two. He lead off ASU’s offense with a single to extend his hit streak to 11 games, which is the longest of any Sun Devil this season. In the fifth inning, he hit a two-run home run that put ASU ahead 4-2 in the fifth inning and ASU never looked back. Canning went 3-for-4 with two RBI’s.
Unsung Hero: Eli Lingos. ASU’s starter pitched very well, allowing just two runs on the evening. Lingos went seven and two-thirds on the evening and pitched so well, he gave his team a chance to come back from the 2-0 deficit
You knew it over when: This was a close one at Phoenix Muni and you didn’t know what the outcome was going to be until the final out.
Stat of the night: ASU batted 1.000 with runners in scoring position in game two. They only had two opportunities with runners in scoring position, but capitalized on both opportunities.
Biggest Concern: The Sun Devils didn’t look sharp early on offense against Bakersfield in game two. Some of the credit has to go to the starting pitcher of the Roadrunners, Andrew Hansen but head coach Tracy Smith has mentioned that mentally it catches up with you to have to come-from-behind, as ASU had to do many times in 2017.
What’s Next: After clinching their second consecutive series, the Sun Devils will look to sweep CSU Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is at 12:30 P.M. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
