Any good story has a beginning, middle, and an end. Lately, the Arizona State University Sun Devils (19-11, 8-7 Pac-12) have struggled with middles.

On Saturday, while leading 7-0 entering the 4th inning, the Stanford University Cardinal (22-7, 8-4 Pac-12) scored six runs in the middle innings, outscoring the Sun Devils 8-1 between the 4th and 6th.

Sunday’s story was similar: between the 4th and 6th inning, the Cardinal outscored its opponent 4-1 to take a lead the team would not relinquish en route to a 13-5 win.

Redshirt sophomore righty Tyler Thornton (1-2) was handed the loss, allowing six hits and four earned runs in the opening four innings. Thornton struck out one and walked three more.

Thornton showed promise with a three up, three down performance to open the 1st inning, but couldn’t find his stroke in the 2nd.

Hearts of Sun Devil fans skipped a beat in the 2nd inning when Cardinal senior Christian Robinson lit and launched his second bomb of the series, a solo shot to right-center field. Thornton walked the following batter, but redshirt freshman Kai Murphy cauterized the wound with a difficult grab in right field to hold the one-run deficit entering the bottom of the 2nd.

Redshirt junior Drew Swift blasted off toward second base on what looked like a base hit for redshirt freshman Joe Lampe. Freshman outfielder Tommy Troy left his feet for the ball, trapping it under his body while doing so. Swift rounded second and third, scoring while Lampe reached second to break the tie on an RBI double.

Five additional Sun Devil pitchers made relief appearances in Sunday’s game: freshmen Graham Osman, Jared Glenn, and Brock Peery; redshirt junior Brady Corrigan and redshirt sophomore Dom Cacchione.

“We've asked a lot of these guys… we didn't have a starter that went five innings this weekend and the pen was already kind of exhausted,” Head Coach Tracy Smith said postgame.

A back-and-forth affair followed the middle innings, as Stanford entered the top of the 8th inning with just a 6-5 lead.

Corrigan entered the game in the 8th, inheriting one runner on third. He built momentum for his offense, leaping off the rubber to make a catch that would hold the one-run deficit going into the inning break.

Freshman righty Joey Dixon had conflicting plans. It took him fewer than ten pitches in the bottom of the 8th to retire the Sun Devils with three straight flyouts. Any momentum was squandered.

“We were only down one, so we were hoping for a quick inning (in the 9th),” freshman third baseman Hunter Haas said. “We didn’t lose belief in ourselves, but it becomes a tougher task to handle.”

The dagger (or series of daggers) came in the ninth inning. Redshirt junior righty Brady Corrigan entered the game in the 8th inning for a single out, followed by a leadoff strikeout to Christian Robinson. Just as the air smelled of a Sun Devil rally, Drew Bowser hit a solo home run, giving Stanford a two-run lead.

Of the next six batters Corrigan faced: he walked two batters and saw two base hits before Tim Tawa crushed a grand slam over the head of Kai Murphy in right field. The Cardinal exploded into a seven-run, 9th inning. Neither team scored more than two runs in one frame prior to the final inning.

“It’s not the home run that beats you,” the Sun Devils’ skipper said. “It’s the other stuff… the walks or the errors… we didn’t do a good job of that.”

The Arizona State bullpen walked eleven batters while striking out five. Swift and Cheema both collected one fielding error apiece.

Hunter Haas collected three-straight singles but finished 3-5 from the plate, flying out in the 7th and striking out in the 9th, the final out of the game.

“We still know we can hang with them,” Haas told the media postgame. “A couple of different bounces, I think we win the series.”

Up next is the boiling-hot Grand Canyon University. The Lopes have won eight straight, following an 11-3 victory versus New Mexico State on Sunday. Tuesday and Wednesday will mark the first meetings between the two cross-town schools since 2010, and just the second meeting since 2003.

ASU will play at home on Tuesday before making the quick crosstown trip to GCU for Wednesday’s matchup.