(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils won their third straight weekend series Saturday night, defeating the New Mexico Lobos 7-4 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The scoring got underway in the bottom of the third inning for ASU, with Ryan Lillard’s RBI single bringing home Andrew Snow, followed by a double steal with Lillard breaking from first and David Greer coming home on the throw to second base.
Three more runs came across in the bottom of the fourth, with Snow collecting an RBI single, scoring Andrew Shaps. Colby Woodmansee followed with a base hit that plated Daniel Williams and Gage Canning.
New Mexico finally got on the board against left-handed pitcher Eli Lingos in the seventh. Shortstop Dalton Bowers singled through the left side, scoring Jared Mang from third base to make the score 5-1 Arizona State.
In his eighth start of 2016, Lingos battled through seven innings, scattering six hits and giving up just one run while striking out four.
ASU pushed the margin back to five in the bottom half of the seventh when Andrew Shaps picked up his third base hit of the night, scoring Woodmansee.
New Mexico scored one more run in the eighth on a lead-off home run by Chris DeVito, but ASU answered with a Canning triple and a Jordan Aboites single to make the score 7-2.
Player of the Game: Andrew Shaps. The center fielder went 3-for-3 with three singles, a walk, an RBI and a stolen base.
Unsung Hero: Gage Canning. Going 3-for-4 with two singles, two runs and a stand-up triple in the eighth inning, the freshman continued his hot hitting going back to last weekend against Stanford. Having been entrenched in the bottom three spots of the lineup all season long, this kind of production enables ASU to turn the lineup over quickly.
You Knew It Was Over When: Aboites singled home Canning in the eighth inning. The game seemed to be in control for the majority of the night, but getting the lead back up to five for the ninth inning put the game well enough out of reach.
Stat of the Night: Four stolen bases for the Sun Devils, with two coming from Shaps. The team came into Saturday’s game with just 27 in 39 games this season.
Biggest Concern for ASU: Second baseman Andrew Snow left the game in the bottom of the sixth inning after appearing to foul a ball off his knee. Snow came into the game fourth on the team in RBI with 21, and was 2-for-3 with an RBI when he had to be removed.
What’s Up Next?: ASU and New Mexico will wrap up the series on Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. MT.
Bobby Kraus is a baseball beat writer for the Walter Cronkite Sports Network, you can follow him on Twitter @bobbykraus22
