Against No. 23 Oregon State (32-17, 14-10 Pac-12), Arizona State (30-15, 14-10 Pac-12) scored nine runs in an incredible walk-off affair on Friday night and blitzed the Beavers on Saturday night, scoring 11 runs, dominating in all aspects. Cruising high with confidence, the Sun Devils entered the Sunday matchup yearning for a sweep of their conference foe, as the two sides jostled for fourth place in the Pac-12 standings.

Instead, ASU was met with a cold, hard look in the mirror, as Oregon State jumped out to a massive lead early and never looked back, nabbing third place in the Pac-12 via an 11-4 victory.

The onslaught began in the second, as the Beavers started the game much like the Sun Devils did on Saturday, with explosive waves of offense and extra-base hits while also capitalizing on defensive miscues.

OSU catcher Troy Claunch opened the scoring with a solo leadoff homer to center. With two outs, Beavers really put their foot down. Greg Fuchs was hit by a pitch for a free base before Kyle Fromke drove him home with an RBI double. Matthew Gretler cleared the bases with a two-run bomb to left field to give OSU a four-run advantage.

Next, second baseman Andy Armstrong fired a ball to left field that ASU left fielder Hunter Jump misplayed, as it sailed over his head for two bases. Armstrong then scored after Sun Devil right fielder Kade Higgins lost the ball in the Sunday sunshine, lipping out of his glove.

The tribulations continued in the third, as Claunch led off the frame with a double. Right fielder Justin Boyd added another run with an RBI single to the gap in right center. Fromke put the icing on the cake with a no-doubt four-bagger to extend the lead to eight runs, ASU left fielder Hunter Jump didn’t even move from his spot in the outfield.

The Sun Devils almost seemed to be looking into a mirror; a reflection of Saturday night’s 11-5 rout.

“(OSU) just had it rolling,” freshman third baseman Hunter Haas said. “They had the long ball; it was a reverse from what happened yesterday, where we hit a bunch of home runs. Today was just their day.”

With the roles flipped, Oregon State racked up another three runs in the fourth via a two-run opposite-field knock from Ryan Ober.

The second defensive error came shortly afterward, as freshman reliever Joe Hauser threw the ball away at first base. Two singles, one a bunt where Hauser and first baseman Jack Moss converged, leaving first base uncovered across the next three batters drove in the 11th run of the day in just three and two-thirds innings.

“Oregon State’s early offense was certainly the difference today,” ASU manager Tracy Smith said after the contest. “That allowed Oregon State to take the pressure off themselves in the batter's box, and we left several pitches up in the zone... That's one of the top teams in the country, and they just put it on us early."

The Sun Devil bats attempted to answer in the second, fourth, and fifth innings, but the initial deficit proved to be too much to overcome. Haas knocked a leadoff double in the second, before scoring on an RBI infield single from Joe Lampe, who beat the throw to first.

In the fourth, Haas lead off the home half with another hit, this time a single. Redshirt freshman catcher/first baseman Nate Baez followed up with a double to the left field corner and Haas got on his horse to score from first.

The final run for the maroon and gold came via an opposite-field solo shot over the right field wall from redshirt senior catcher Sam Ferri, his fourth homer of the season.

The hottest of ASU’s bats, freshmen Ethan Long and Sean McLain, logged 1-for-4 and 0-for-3 performances in the batter’s box, respectively. Long finished the three-game slate with six hits, three home runs, and seven RBI in 12 at-bats. His only hit on Sunday was a single through the gap on the left side in the seventh. In the bottom of the ninth, the freshman phenom was hit in the face with a pitch but walked it off, and both Haas and Smith assured he was okay after the game.

The performance on the mound matched the offensive inefficiencies, as redshirt freshman lefty Kai Murphy, usually known for his play in the field for the Sun Devils, started on the bump for his fourth pitching appearance this year. Last Sunday in the series finale against Cal, Murphy threw seven innings of one-hit ball, striking out three.

Murphy hadn’t allowed more than one hit in each of his appearances this season, but that streak ended on Sunday, as the local product from Mesa was in for a long afternoon against the Beavers. The redshirt freshman was pulled after just two and a third innings and 54 pitches, in which he allowed five hits (two homers, three doubles), six runs – five of them earned, and one strikeout.

“He left a couple of pitches elevated, and they got some good swings on him,” Smith said of his starter. “He’s going to be important for us going forward, though, so we aren’t going to make too much out of his performance today. It just wasn’t a good day for him on the mound, and that happens sometimes.”

Freshman reliever Jared Glenn and Hauser each pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief of Murphy in succession, but like their predecessor, they couldn’t dodge the OSU bats. Both righties were responsible for two earned runs, with Hauser giving up three runs (one unearned) to Glenn’s two.

A bright spot on the day was the performance of a quartet of relievers who halted the Beavers’ offensive efforts. Relievers Christian Bodlovich, Graham Osman, Blake Burzell, and Brady Corrigan combined to finish the contest without allowing another Beaver to cross home plate. Osman, who grabbed the final out of the seventh and first two outs of the eighth, was the only member of the quartet to allow a hit.

“For the most part all year, (the bullpen) has done an excellent job,” Smith credited. “The back end is something that we’ve wanted to especially keep intact…. The backend did pretty much what they’ve done all year which is being difficult to score on; we just weren’t in striking distance to make it relevant today.”

Corrigan, who appeared in all three games of the series induced three groundouts and a strikeout from the four batters he faced. He finished the weekend with three and two-thirds innings pitched, one hit and two strikeouts, sitting down 13 of 14 batters he opposed this weekend.

“Brady did a great job all weekend, what he did across three days was huge,” Haas said of his teammate. “With (starters) like Justin Fall, who went really deep into the game (on Saturday), it gives our offense confidence if we get a lead, and we know the back end can shut it down, and we trust our defense to hold on to it.”

Sunday’s loss knotted Arizona State and Oregon State in fourth position in the Pac-12, also tying each side with the UCLA Bruins as all three teams hold an identical conference records of 14-10.

For the first time this season, the Sun Devils took the series win against a ranked opponent after dropping two games to No. 12 Stanford and No. 13 Arizona. Just two series remain for ASU, as the team is set to battle against the LA schools, starting with USC on the road next Friday. With six regular-season contests left, Smith’s goal remains the same.

“We wanted to take that next step in winning the series against a ranked opponent, which we did,” Smith said. “Like we said 10 weeks ago, to be successful, we are going to have to win weekends, and if we continue to win weekends, it’s going to give us the opportunity to extend our season.”

“That’s our goal heading into the last two series – we will do anything and everything in our power to win the weekend, and that starts on Friday night.”