PHOENIX – After Arizona State retook the lead with a three-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth on Friday night, Sun Devils’ coach Tracy Smith turned to his pitching coach Mike Cather, seeking out his assistant’s advice while deciding which pitcher to send to the mound to finish the game off in the ninth.

It was a unanimous choice. They rolled out the guy with the “magic” fastball.

Dellan Raish strutted out of the dugout and across the patterned infield grass for his fifth and final inning of work in the top of the ninth on Friday night.

The redshirt freshman ascended the mound, stomped further into the carved up dirt to find his footing in front of the rubber and put the finishing touches on his own dazzling performance, earning the win in ASU’s 7-4 win over Utah at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, the Sun Devils first victory in seven games.

“I thought he was really effective in continuing to throw the ball down in the zone,” Smith said. “It was his baseball game.”

In his five scoreless innings of relief, Raish retired 15 of the 17 batters he faced. He set eight of them down on strikes. He gave ASU the sharp final six outs that coach Tracy Smith has been desperately searching for all year.

“For Raish to come in and shut that thing down and take over the baseball game, that was a huge lift for our team,” Smith said. “Huge.”

Raish was called into action early on Friday night after sophomore starter Alec Marsh tweaked his back and allowed a pair of runs to score in both the third and fourth innings, erasing ASU’s early 4-0 lead. Though Raish entered in the midst of a personal slump – he had allowed a combined four earned runs in his previous four appearances – Smith was hopeful the southpaw could supply at least three innings and keep ASU within striking distance of a first win in two weeks.

He delivered so much more.

Raish set career-highs in innings pitched and strikeouts on his way to earning credit for his second-ever win. He closed the game down too, a task that’s proven difficult for the Sun Devils this season. Earlier in the week, Smith bemoaned his team’s inability to get the last six outs of games. The coach speculated that with a couple more reliable arms in the bullpen, ASU might be competing for a postseason berth right now instead of clawing to reach last season’s historically-low win total of 23.

On Friday, Raish’s left arm was requisite enough to pull out a rare close win.

In addition to what Smith described as a “magic fastball”, Raish kept Utes hitters off-balance and out of rhythm, pumping strikes over the plate with both the heater and his slider at a blistering pace.

“He’s always got a little bit of deception in his delivery,” Smith said.

Following his best outing as a Sun Devil, Raish was unavailable for postgame comment. Instead, his teammates filled in the details of his dominant display. After sophomore right fielder Carter Aldrete raced all the way to the foul line to make a sliding grab in the eighth, Raish met him in the dugout with a high five and chest-bump.

“He was like, ‘Let’s go!’” Aldrete said, who went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe I caught it, man.’”

Added junior Gage Canning, who delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the eighth: “He’s been pretty good the whole year. Just having a guy that can come in and shut the team down and give us a chance to go ahead, it’s huge for us.”

Fittingly, Raish used his enchanted fastball for the last pitch of the game, freezing Utah pinch-hitter Braden DeBenedictis on a called third-strike and the night’s final out. As infielders Spencer Torkelson and Gage Workman bumped shoulders in a celebratory jump behind him, Raish victoriously strolled off the mound and into the arms of catcher Lyle Lin.

He found himself at the center of the type of storybook postgame scene he could only watch from a distance last season when he was forced to sit out while taking a redshirt. When Smith was asked what’s been most impressive about Raish – who lowered his season ERA to 3.30 – this year, the Sun Devils skipper ran through a list of clichés to appropriately describe Raish’s persistent attitude: He was promised nothing. He didn’t take anything for granted. He pitches with the right type of attitude.

It was all deserved praise.

“There’s maybe guys on our staff who throw the ball harder, [have a] bigger body or more experience, whatever you want to call it,” Smith continued, “but (Raish) has been one of the most reliable and consistent guys because of how he prepares and his mindset. He’s going to take advantage of his opportunities. He’s going to give you the best he has every single time.”

While setting a new high-mark for his young career, Raish displayed the swagger of a confident veteran while guiding ASU to victory. It was easy to forget he’s just a redshirt freshman.

“As he grows and continues to develop his offspeed pitches, I think he’s going to get better.”