ASU baseball drops season opener to Baylor
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The 18th-ranked Arizona State baseball team surrendered seven runs in the final two innings and lost to Baylor 9-7 in front of 2,437 fans at Packard Stadium's final season opener.
ASU tallied four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend its lead to 7-2, but Baylor (1-0) scored three runs off reliever Josh McAlister in the eighth inning to cut the margin to 7-5. Redshirt freshman left-hander Nick Diamond then gave up a two-run homer in the ninth to tie the game, and a fielding error and an RBI single in the next two at-bats put the Bears ahead.
Redshirt junior outfielder Trever Allen hit a home run on the first pitch he saw and fell a triple short of the cycle, and sophomore third baseman Dalton DiNatale added a pair of RBI to lead the Sun Devils (0-1) offensively.
Diamond (0-1) took the loss in his first career appearance for ASU after conceding three runs, including two earned, on one hit in an inning. Baylor left-hander Daniel Castano (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless eighth inning, and right-hander Josh Michalec (1) secured the save.
ASU right-hander Ryan Burr, in his first career start, struck out five and gave up one run on two hits and three walks in four innings.
Allen knocked the first pitch he saw over the left-field fence with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to give the Sun Devils an early 1-0 lead.
Burr hit a batter with the bases loaded in the top of the third to force in a run and tie the score at 1.
Junior right-hander Darin Gillies took the mound in the top of the fifth and allowed just one run on one hit and struck out two in three innings.
Baylor took its first lead of the game in the top of the sixth on a wild pitch by Gillies that scored Bears third baseman Duncan Wendel from third. ASU regained the lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the frame with a pair of runs on a fielding error and an RBI single by redshirt junior second baseman Tucker Esmay.