The 10th-ranked Arizona State baseball team closed out its three-game series against Long Beach State with a 6-1 win Sunday at Blair Field. Right-hander Trevor Williams (4-0) recorded his team-leading fourth win of the season by going a career-long eight innings.
Williams allowed just one earned run on eight hits while striking out four, and he did not give up a run after the first inning. Right-hander Jake Barrett closed out the ninth with a pair of strikeouts, including one for the final out.
The Sun Devils (10-4) scored two runs in the first, one in the third, one in the fifth and two in the ninth, with Abe Ruiz and Trever Allen each recording a pair of RBIs. Allen and Kasey Coffman led ASU offensively over the weekend with three RBIs and four hits apiece in the series.
Allen put the Devils on top 2-0 in the first inning with a two-out, two-run single that scored Andrew Aplin and Coffman, who reached base on a walk and a hit by pitch, respectively.
The Dirtbags (5-10) cut ASU’s lead in half in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by Ino Patron.
ASU extended its lead to two in the third frame when Deven Marrero recorded a double, his second hit of the game, and stole third before a sacrifice fly by Ruiz brought him home to make it 3-1.
Joey DeMichele then hit a stand-up triple to deep right field to lead off the fifth inning and scored the Devils’ fourth run of the game on Ruiz’s second RBI sacrifice fly, giving ASU a three-run advantage.
Marrero flashed his glove in the field in the bottom of the fifth, throwing out Matt Duffy at home with runners on second and third and one out to help the Devils escape a jam.
ASU tacked on a pair of insurance run in the top of the ninth on a triple by Aplin that brought pinch runner Tucker Esmay home from first and an RBI single by Coffman that scored Aplin.
The Devils knocked out Long Beach State starter left-hander Ryan Strufing (2-1) in the top of the third inning after he loaded the bases with two outs. He took his first loss of the season and finished with three earned runs on a trio of hits to go along with four strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.
