After ASU’s thrilling walk-off victory Thursday night, manager Tracy Smith noted that the Sun Devils (37-16, 16-12 Pac-12) finally got the bounces they needed in the four-run ninth.

Tonight’s final inning surge was too little too late though, as No. 4 Stanford (40-11, 21-7) bounced back behind an impressive two-way performance from junior Will Matthiessen in a 6-4 victory.

“I didn’t think we were real competitive offensively early in the game,” ASU manager Tracy Smith said. “When you’re going against a good pitcher, good opponent you can’t give at-bats away.”

ASU’s sophomore righty Brady Corrigan, in only his second start of the season, matched Matthiessen’s effort on the mound through four innings. Neither team got a runner on base in that span and the two hurlers combined to strike out 11 batters.

“I kind of said in the dugout, ‘he’s good, but he’s not that good to be mowing through our lineup the way that he was,’ and I’m talking probably more about the strikeout piece of it,” Smith said.

Ironically, it was Matthiessen, batting cleanup for the Cardinal, who got the offensive action started.

On the third pitch of the fifth inning, he hit a high fly ball that looked like it would be a routine out based on junior right fielder Carter Aldrete’s initial jump. But he just kept backing up from there, as the ball found ASU’s bullpen for Matthiessen’s 10th home run.

From there, the Cardinal found their swing, getting another three hits off Corrigan before he was pulled two outs into the sixth.

“Obviously that sixth inning didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” Corrigan said, “but I filled up the strike zone, thought it was a pretty good performance for me.”

The sophomore ended up being responsible for two more runs, as sophomore righty, RJ Dabovich gave up a two-run double to Matthiessen that center fielder Hunter Bishop almost came up with crashing into the center field wall.

It would prove a key missed opportunity, as junior first baseman Andrew Daschbach followed with an RBI ground-rule double to put Stanford ahead 4-0, a deficit which proved too great for the Sun Devils to climb out of.

“If you can go back to early in the game, it’s different pitching I understand, but we struck out- we were pretty easy outs early on,” Smith said. “We can’t just dial in in the late innings.”

Even though the game seemed more out of reach for ASU throughout the night than the score reflected, there was no lack of close calls off of the Sun Devil bats.

Sophomore first baseman Spencer Torkelson filed out to the warning track in the half-inning preceding Matthiessen’s home run and junior designated hitter Lyle Lin did the same on a fly ball to left field in the half-inning after- both of which could’ve turned the tides of the game.

Instead, Stanford kept its lead between three and four runs for the entirety of the last three-and-a-half innings, save for a two-run homer by sophomore third baseman Gage Workman with two outs in the ninth, immediately followed by Aldrete’s game-ending flyout.

“I thought, outside of a couple of things w played good baseball,” Smith said. “That’s a really good opponent, they’re at 40 wins- that’s not an accident with that team- so we’re right there we just got to find a way to get over that hump.”

Workman’s dinger was ASU’s third of the night, as Aldrete hit one in the sixth and Lin got one in the seventh. But once again, the Sun Devils failed to come up with the timely hits with runners on base once their bats heated up, as both Aldrete and Lin’s home runs were solo shots that came within the first two batters of their respective innings.

Aldrete’s home run made for a memorable moment in the game, as it was initially ruled a double but the umpire used their discretion after meeting to overturn it to a home run.

“There’s a procedure, they’re not going to automatically discuss that play unless you request that they talk it over,” Smith said.

Things didn’t stay good-natured between Smith and the umpires though, as he argued two close calls that went against the Sun Devils at first base in consecutive half-innings, prompting an ejection in the eighth.

“I guess I said something that I’m not allowed to say, so he threw me out,” Smith said. “I respect his authority in that situation, so he threw me out appropriately.”

The first of the two plays Smith argued was key, as Aldrete got picked off by junior Stanford catcher Maverick Handley at first with Hauver at second, one out and the team trailing by three in the seventh.

Although the call could’ve gone either way, Smith emphasized the point that the team can’t put itself in that position in what turned out to be ASU’s best chance to tie the game with one swing of the bat over the final innings.

“My point with the team is there can’t be a play there,” Smith said. “We got the tying run at the plate, we got to be smarter than that.”

“If we learn from that, then we’ll take it, but I guess I’m disappointed- not that we would’ve got those runs in- but I say this all the time, you want to put yourself at least in a position to see if you can. We took ourselves out of that potentially threatening inning.”

The play that Smith would get thrown out for a half-inning later was a potential inning-ending double play in which Daschbach was ruled safe at first. The unfavorable call would eventually prove inconsequential, but it was the last straw for Smith.

“He’s always fired up,” Workman said. “He has our backs as players.”

In the end, the Sun Devils finished with four runs on five hits, while the Cardinal got six runs on 10 hits to even this three-game series with the Sun Devils, the penultimate regular season game for both sides.

“(Corrigan) was unreal tonight, they weren’t touching him,” Workman said. “The offense didn’t do our side tonight. It’s kind of low percentages to win if you’re down by four or five in the ninth.”

First pitch for the rubber match of this series is set for Saturday at noon.