ASU Baseball: Long’s two home runs lead Sun Devils to 10-6 win

Long loves the long ball

Arizona State (22-12, 10-7 Pac-12) utility man, Ethan Long, came into this weekend’s series with just two home runs in his freshman campaign. By the end of Saturday’s 10-6 win over Utah (9-23, 4-13), Long brought his season total up to five.

Long played the hero in Friday night’s victory when he homered in the top of the ninth to give the Sun Devils the a one-run win, but who said he could not do it two games in a row?

The Sun Devils started out the game with a 4-0 lead after the first two frames. Second baseman Sean McLain accounted for three of those RBIs when he hit a two-run bomb in the top of the first and singled in the second (Drew Swift scored on both hits).

The Utes proceeded to chip away at the ASU lead, scoring runs in three consecutive innings.

With the game tied in the top of the fifth, Ethan Long decided to break the tie for the second night in a row with his first home run of the game.

In the seventh inning, Hunter Jump hit a solo shot of his own that made the score at 7-4, but Long was still not satisfied. Two batters after Jump smashed one to right, Long launched another one over the wall to make it an 8-4 game.

Utah scored two more runs on RBI hits in the bottom of seventh and ninth. Drew Swift and Sean McLain matched those hits and then some, each with an RBI single in the eighth and ninth.

The pitching for Arizona State was more stellar than in games past. Justin Fall started the game going 3.2 inning, and yielding four runs and four walks, but the bullpen picked him up.

Jared Glenn and Cam Dennie combined to give up two runs over 4.1 innings of work. As a duo, they struck out three Utes and allowed three hits.

Will Levine entered the game in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out and a runner on second. Levine set down all three batters he faced on 12 pitches without letting up a run, sealing the win for ASU.

Earlier this season, the Sun Devils swept Utah in a non-conference series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The squad will have a chance to make it a perfect 6-0 record this season against the Utes on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. local time, for the final game of this Pac-12 series.