TEMPE, Ariz. – The 11th-ranked Arizona State baseball team, behind four strong innings from starting left-hander Adam McCreery and a pair of first-inning home runs, shut out Utah Valley 9-0 on Tuesday night at Packard Stadium.
McCreery (1-0) earned his first collegiate win, giving up no runs on two hits and striking out five. After walking the first batter in the top of the fourth, McCreery struck out the next three batters to end the inning.
The Sun Devils (11-4) jumped out to an early three-run lead in the first inning on a pair of home runs by Deven Marrero and Abe Ruiz. Andrew Aplin led off the inning with a single through the right side and Marrero brought him around with a homer to left field that was initially ruled foul, but was overturned after the umpires met. Ruiz hit a solo home run two batters later to put the Devils up, 3-0.
Marrero and Ruiz each finished with two hits and pair of RBI, while Marrero added three runs scored and Ruiz crossed the plate twice. James McDonald led the team with three RBI on two hits.
Four Sun Devil pitchers combined to pitch the final five innings. Alex Blackford allowed no runs on one hit and collected five strikeouts in two innings. Right-hander Robert Ravago threw a perfect seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts, left-hander Matt Dunbar gave up one hit in the eighth, and right-hander Joseph Lopez closed out the ninth.
The Sun Devils close out their two-game series against Utah Valley (5-9) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Packard Stadium.
