Monstrous fourth inning earns Sun Devils fifth straight win

If a team scores enough runs in one inning of a baseball game, it can practically render each of the other eight innings mute.

That was just the case on Friday night, as the No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils (7-3) defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-6) by a 13-5 score, thanks to an eight-run fourth inning.

“I thought our guys put together some good (at-bats),” coach Tracy Smith said, “and were patient and took the walks that we needed to take. It was good to stretch one out because we wanted to get some of those other guys in there, so I was glad to see that.”

Not only were the 13 total runs a new season-high for the Sun Devils, but that fourth inning doubled their previous season-high for most runs in a single inning. ASU has now scored 45 total runs over the current five-game win streak, a significant jump from the 12 runs over the opening five games, in which they went 2-3.

Safe to say the Sun Devils gave freshman starting pitcher Cooper Benson plenty of offense to work with too, as ASU also put up three runs in the second.

“For them to get some hits like that today, it was awesome,” Benson said. “It definitely gave me a lot more confidence on the mound than maybe throwing with a tie game, or down a run or something like that, so definitely felt good.”

The lefty earned his first collegiate victory, going six innings and only allowing one earned run on three hits and a walk, while striking out six. He only threw one wild pitch the whole night too, throwing 57 of his 87 total pitches for strikes.

“That was the biggest thing last week, was walks really hurt him,” Smith said. “I thought just the improvement of pitching aggressively in the zone was probably the biggest thing for him tonight.”

Leading the Sun Devils explosive night on offense was junior infielder Drew Swift, who had four hits—all singles—on five at-bats with two runs and an RBI.

Juniors in designated hitter Hunter Jump and third baseman Gage Workman joined Swift with multi-hit nights. Jump hit a single, double, drew a walk and scored two runs, while Workman hit two doubles, a single drew a walk and scored a run. These two were the only ones with multiple RBI’s, earning two each, and along with Swift combined for nine of ASU’s 11 hits.

“(Swift’s) really concentrating on his approach, staying with who he is,” Smith said. “Everybody can’t be Spencer Torkelson, and I think he’s doing a really really good job of staying on top of the ball and staying within himself. So, it’s good to see him get results when he’s really worked at it too.”

Even though the Sun Devils put up double-digit hits, they got on-base more commonly from free passes. ASU would draw 10 walks but set a new season-high in drawing five hit-by-pitches.

“If we can keep on tacking into their bullpen and wasting some arms for tomorrow and Sunday, that’s another challenge that we want to accept, so it worked out,” Swift said.

The Sun Devils scored several unconventional runs, not hitting any home runs or triples in the 13-run effort.

After freshman outfielder Seth Nager ripped an RBI single, his first college RBI, to get the scoring started for both sides in the second inning, sophomore outfielder Dusty Garcia would strikeout swinging.

However, the third strike was a wild pitch, not only allowing him to reach first but bringing home Swift for the second run. On the next at-bat, it was practically the same scenario that brought home a third run except that it was a wild pitch on a ball four to junior shortstop Alika Williams, bringing home Nager.

“Seth, where I was very proud of him—and I told him that after his practice simulated game—was he treated that like it was important, because it is,” Smith said. “He earned that right to get out there tonight, and it was good to see him have some success, because when you do that and you stack those on top of each other it earns more opportunities.”

The Cornhuskers showed some fight in the early innings, as the final out in the top of the third, was a flyout to right field by sophomore designated hitter Cam Chick that Nager caught barely in front of the warning track. Just a little more on that fly ball would’ve cut ASU’s early lead to 3-2.

Then on the first pitch in the fourth, sophomore shortstop Spencer Schwellenbach flied out to deep left field, as junior Trevor Hauver caught it with his back against the wall. Two pitches later, junior right fielder Aaron Palensky hit the game’s only home run, a high fly ball a bit inside the left field foul pole.

That 3-1 deficit was short-lived for Nebraska, as ASU’s eight-run fourth extended the lead to double digits and the Sun Devils 11 total runs at that point already guaranteed they would set a new season-high.

“A lot of it was they were struggling with the strike zone,” Smith said. “I’ve been on the other side of that, so I feel the pain on that.”

The inning started with ASU stringing hits together, as Workman and Jump hit back-to-back doubles to get the scoring started in the inning, followed by an RBI single by Swift. Workman hit a ground-rule double to right that sliced over the side wall, bringing in the frame’s first run, while Jump ripped one down the left field line to score two.

But then it was the Cornhuskers who allowed the frame to get out of hand, as a walk to Garcia then hitting Williams and junior first baseman Spencer Torkelson—all with the bases loaded—brought home the next three runs. A sacrifice fly by Hauver would bring home Garcia for the final run of the inning, in which the Sun Devils batted around the order about 1.5 times.

Nebraska went through two pitching changes in that inning alone after already taking out starting pitcher in junior Max Schreiber after three innings (allowed five hits, three earned runs, two walks and struck out four in the losing effort).

“They scratched their projected starter, I don’t know what happened there,” Smith said. “It is not going to be that easy, we got to put it away and now refocus and get ready for what I will anticipate will be a much sharper performance by them on the mound.

“Once you get to a certain point, you hold back your better guys too, so we haven’t seen their best arms yet and I’m sure we will tomorrow.”

The Sun Devils added two more runs, as Torkelson scored on a wild pitch in the sixth and Workman hit an RBI double to center field in the eighth following a double by Hauver. The Cornhuskers strung together four runs over the final two innings, two off sophomore righty Blake Burzell and two more off junior Brady Corrigan, respectively, but it was far too little too late.

The two teams will face each other again Saturday night for game two of this three-game series. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. and the game can be viewed on ASU’s live stream.