TEMPE, Ariz. -- The ninth-ranked Arizona State baseball team scored a season-best 16 runs and tied a season high with 19 hits en route to a 16-3 win over Valparaiso on Friday night at Packard Stadium.
Third baseman Michael Benjamin, who went 3-for-4, and catcher Max Rossiter each drove in a season-high three runs as nine different Sun Devils (23-11-1) recorded an RBI.
ASU took a four-run advantage into the eighth inning before tallying nine runs on eight hits in 14 at-bats to jump out to a commanding 16-3 lead. Right fielder Trever Allen led off the frame with a solo home run to left field, Benjamin and Rossiter each added two-run doubles, and pinch hitters Rouric Bridgewater and Johnny Sewald hit two-run singles to highlight the inning.
Starting right-hander Trevor Williams (5-3) earned his fifth win of the season after scattering nine hits and three runs over six innings.
ASU fell behind, 2-0, after Valparaiso scored a pair of runs in the top of the third inning, but the Sun Devils responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead, 3-2. Designated hitter RJ Ybarra led off the third with a double and then shortstop Drew Stankiewicz followed with an RBI triple before scoring himself on the throw from by the Crusaders shortstop. ASU took the lead for good on a sacrifice fly by Benjamin.
The Crusaders (14-22) loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth and cut its deficit to one, 4-3, with a sacrifice fly, but Williams struck out the next batter before left fielder Jake Peevyhouse fielded a two-out base hit in left field and threw out the lead runner at home to preserve the Devils' one-run lead.
ASU added one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth before its nine-run eighth inning.
Right-hander Darin Gillies threw a perfect seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts, left-hander Matt Dunbar struck out two in the eighth and right-hander Josh McAlister punctuated the ninth with a game-ending strikeout.
ASU and Valparaiso continue their series at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Packard Stadium.
