(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
USC starter Kyle Davis came into Friday’s match-up only allowing one home run in his 38 innings this season. ASU didn’t get the memo.
Thanks in large part to back-to-back home runs in the first inning by Colby Woodmansee and Joey Bielek, Arizona State (34-19, 18-10) kept things interesting before pulling away in an 11-3 victory over Southern California (35-19, 16-12).
“Close games don’t scare us because that’s all we’ve done and known,” head coach Tracy Smith said. The game was as close as 5-3 in the sixth inning. “I thought we were stringing together pretty good at-bats and I still felt good about our ‘pen.”
USC starter Kyle Davis had been red-hot coming into Friday’s start. After battling injuries before and during the season, he had only allowed three runs in his last 17 innings as a starter. He also came into the night only allowing one home run all season.
The game nearly got off to a completely different start with Timmy Robinson attempting to dive and rob Johnny Sewald of a leadoff single. His attempt ended up booting the ball into right field and allowed Sewald to wheel his way to third. A sac fly would bring him in before the taters were served.
After Trever Allen worked a one-out walk before Woodmansee stepped in. “He wasn’t in the zone on Trever. So on deck I was thinking ‘Man, he’s gonna give me a fastball,'” the sophomore said. “So he did and I took the pitch and hit it hard.” Bielek would follow with a towering blast to left. It was the first time ASU hit back-to-back home runs since May 21st, 2013 when Drew Stankiewicz and Dalton DiNatale accomplished the feat.
On the other side, Brett Lilek allowed a solo homer to Timmy Robinson in the second and battled through most of the evening. He lost his command in the 4th inning. The junior got his first out quickly on a Garrett Stubbs fly out, but Lilek would walk the bases loaded and throw a first pitch ball to Blake Lacey. That was the end of the road for him after stringing together two brilliant performances in his previous two starts.
“I think when [Lilek] locked in from the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he toes the rubber he’s a different guy. Well, maybe not so much today.” the skipper said. Darin Gillies came into a huge spot and allowed a sac fly but nothing else. It would not be the end of his stressful outing.
Meanwhile, Davis was settling in. The junior was putting away Sun Devils at will with his slider and there were no extra base hits after the first in his six innings of work.
“His slider was working better and we were chasing and I think that’s what helped him,” Woodmansee said. In his first game at Dedeaux Field, he collected three hits and four RBIs on the night.
In the fifth, Gillies got off to a quick start with back-to-back strikeouts. Stubbs would hit an infield single and Jeremy Martinez would walk to bring up Robinson again as the tying run. But Gillies would strike him out looking on three pitches, all sliders, to end the threat again.
“With that inning there I just told myself ‘I have to execute pitches in here. I’m coming in, it’s tight, I just gotta execute,” Gillies said. “That’s what we talk about all the time as far as relief pitching roles go.”
A solo homer by Dante Flores in the sixth was just a blip on Gillies radar en route to a new career-high in innings from the bullpen with five. “There’s a saying in baseball,” Smith said. “Solo home runs don’t beat you. And our guys were throwing strikes and I still felt comfortable before we extended it.”
ASU struggled to “extend it” until the seventh with Davis out of the game. David Greer barreled a hanging breaking ball on a 1-2 count to left-center field. Peevyhouse was on first, took off on contact and scored with a slide the Sun Devils first run since the first inning.
Sewald would add a bases loaded sac fly in the eighth to make it 7-3, but the floodgates would open with a two-out, two-run double by Jake Peevyhouse to extend the lead to 9-3.
The significance of the outburst in the 8th was the opportunity to save a few bullets in the revolver that is Ryan Burr this weekend. Heading into the inning, it appeared Burr would be used for a six-out save.
“Once we got past three or four [innings] with [Gillies], we’re still thinking about more baseball to come. But it was good not to use Burr in a win, it’s kind of rare around these parts,” Smith said.
ASU poured salt into USC’s wounds with a pair in the ninth, and brought Eric Melbostad in relief to hang another zero on the board and end the night in Los Angeles.
Ryan Kellogg takes the hill Saturday with a chance to bring postseason baseball to Phoenix Muni next weekend. In regards to the statement made Friday, Smith said “to me it’s a ‘W’ on the road against a really good opponent and I think it helps us, whether we won by eight runs or by a run. It’s good to get the first one.”
You can follow Dominic Cotroneo on Twitter @Dom_Cotroneo
