Uncompetitive from a pitching and defense perspective
PHOENIX – Arizona State (6-5) was swept for the first time this season after UC Irvine (10-1) won Sunday’s game 7-2 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The Anteaters finished the series with five innings with four-or-more runs scored. One of those came in the first inning Sunday when Irvine tagged Sun Devil starter Timmy Manning for four first-inning runs and a rapid 4-0 lead. Manning recorded just one out in his start, walking two, allowing three hits, and also hitting a batter. His ERA now sits at 10.00.
Irvine tacked-on singular runs in the second and fifth innings while the ASU bats went silent. The Sun Devils recorded just two hits in the first seven innings, with both of them being singles off the bats of Luke Hill and Ryan Campos.
Irvine starter Nick Pinto pitched five innings of one-hit ball. He struck out seven Sun Devils and walked nobody.
ASU righty Jonah Giblin threw 4.2 innings of relief-work, and allowed two earned runs. Bullpen-pitchers Blake Pivaroff, Brock Peery, Dylan Gardner and Jesse Wainscott combined for four innings of scoreless relief.
ASU generated a mini-comeback in the final two innings when the Sun Devils scored a run the eighth and ninth innings each. Designated-hitter Jacob Tobias drove in both runs via solo homer and RBI-single.
The Sun Devils head to Stillwater for two midweek games against Oklahoma State (8-3) on Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting UC Davis (5-4) next weekend in Tempe.
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House of Sparky will release a recap and takeaways Monday from ASU Softball’s performance at the Sun Devil Classic.