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Sun Devils walk-off against No. 4 Stanford in instant classic


The Arizona State Sun Devils (37-15, 16-11 Pac-12) trailed the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal (39-11, 20-7 Pac-12) for every at-bat of Thursday night’s game.

That is, until a sac fly by junior designated hitter Cole Austin then a sac fly by junior pinch hitter Myles Denson tied and then won the game, respectively, in the bottom of the ninth to cap a four-run final frame that gave ASU the 6-5 victory in thrilling fashion.

“Eventually the balls found the green and we just kept doing what we were doing all game, which was putting together good at-bats,” ASU manager Tracy Smith said. “We finally just got some bounces to go our way.”

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ASU was out-hitting Stanford for much of the night, but it never reflected on the scoreboard because many of these hits came with two outs. In fact, all six Sun Devil hits in the third through sixth innings came with two outs.

Only a single by sophomore second baseman Drew Swift, and then the RBI single from sophomore left fielder Trevor Hauver that brought him in two batters later got ASU any runs- cutting Stanford’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning.

“A lot of those innings we were one out, two outs and then we strung it together,” Smith said, “and although we didn’t score, we at least made (Stanford sophomore starter Brandon Beck) work to finish his innings.”

Although the Sun Devils were playing catch-up through the duration of Beck’s start, which saw him pitch 4.1 innings and allow 2 earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while recording 5 strikeouts, getting to Stanford’s bullpen early would pay dividends.

They would strand three runners and not score against sophomore Stanford lefty Jacob Palisch in 1.1 innings, and only get one hit off arguably their top reliever in junior sidearm pitcher Zach Grech over 2.1 innings.

But he couldn’t last any longer, forcing shaky Cardinal closer, junior Jack Little, into action giving way to the rally.

“If you can drive a quality starter’s pitch count up you eventually get to the point where maybe you can pick that game off in the end,” Smith said. “Fortunately, we did that tonight.”

Trailing Stanford 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, on the heels of consecutive three-batter innings, a leadoff double by junior center fielder Hunter Bishop down the right field line immediately gave the Sun Devils a spark of life.

From there, every ASU hitter made their at-bat count, with sophomore shortstop Alika Williams ripping an RBI single, junior catcher Lyle Lin chipping a single into left field out of the dirt like Vladimir Guererro (the old one), and then sophomore third baseman Gage Workman pulling a double down the left field line just past Stanford’s diving third baseman Nick Bellafronto.

After that, the beauty in how ASU closed out the game was that it came from the players one would least expect.

Austin hit the game-tying sac fly in only his seventh appearance as a Sun Devil since transferring prior to the 2018 season, which scored sophomore starting pitcher Boyd Vander Kooi- Lin’s pinch runner.

Then, Denson hit the sacrifice fly that won it as a pinch-hitter in only his 94th plate appearance of the season, after not appearing once in the previous series at California.

“That’s what I love about this team, is with the smaller roster it kind of forces you to do some of those things that maybe are a little unconventional,” Smith said. “To me, it brings your team closer together because it gets back to the essence of what you’re trying to do…just win the game, anyhow, anyway, and everybody chipped in to get that win.”

Possibly the most important turning point in the game may have come in the seventh inning, with ASU freshman righty Blake Burzell still on the hill after giving up a solo homer to junior Stanford first baseman Andrew Daschbach in the sixth.

The reliever was left in the game by Smith after loading the bases with no outs, and managed to work his way out of the jam unscathed to hold Stanford’s lead at 4-2. Although an RBI single by junior left fielder Kyle Stowers tacked on another run for the Cardinal in the eighth, Burzell’s escape-job is what gave ASU the opportunity to come back at all in the first place.

“It’s kind of funny because I had fans hollering from behind me ‘hey get him out, he doesn’t have it,’ well he has it,” Smith said. “We wanted him to grow up and work out of it, so that’s going to be one more notch in his belt in the experience thing of ‘hey, no matter what’s going on behind me I can still make quality pitches and get out of this thing unscathed.’”

On top of an already classic game, New York Yankee legends Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada were in attendance to witness it all- there to scout the prospects on both sides for their Miami Marlins ahead of the fast-approaching June draft.

“I don’t know about them, but if I were playing and Derek Jeter was watching me play I’d be a little excited myself- and Posada, you got to give him his credit too, so I think that was kind of cool for those guys,” Smith said.

“We kind of said that before the game, we’re like you know what; perfect weather, great opponent, we’re both playing for something if you can’t get amped up for this game- and oh, by the way, Jeter’s watching. If you can’t get amped up for that environment there’s something wrong with you.”

The second game of the series is set for Saturday evening with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.

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