The No. 16 ASU baseball team looked a little sluggish as it started its 2006 campaign, losing 13-2 to Cal State Northridge at Packard Stadium on Friday night.
The Sun Devils struggled during the fifth inning, in which they paraded four pitchers to the mound as the Matadors scored eight runs to take an 8-1 lead.
"I'm disappointed overall in the play of the weekend," ASU coach Pat Murphy said.
The game marked the first time Cal State Northridge (1-2) defeated a ranked opponent since March 2004, when it beat No. 7 Long Beach State.
When ASU (2-1) came out for game two of the series on Saturday afternoon, sophomore first baseman Willy Fox righted the ship early on by blasting a solo home run in the second inning. For an encore, Fox came up the next inning and hit a changeup from freshman pitcher Edwin Quirarte over the fence for a three-run home run, giving ASU a 4-0 lead.
"I think all we could have done was respond. We had no choice," Fox said. "It was pretty bad [Friday] night."
Despite Fox's effort, the Matadors came within one run of the Sun Devils before sophomore outfielder Ryan Sontag scored on a sacrifice fly in the fifth and sophomore infielder Eric Sogard scored on an RBI groundout in the sixth.
However, the highlight of the game would come in the top of the eighth, when Matador junior infielder Todd Shelton hit a line drive to Sogard at second base. With runners on second and third, Sogard caught the ball and threw it to junior infielder Joe Persichina, who tagged second base and then threw to junior CJ Retherford at third base before either runner could return to the bags. The result was ASU's first triple play since April 16, 2004 at UCLA.
"I caught it and I knew we could get him at second, and all of a sudden [Persichina] turns and throws to third for three," Sogard said.
ASU went on to win the game 9-4.
The rubber game pitted ASU junior pitcher Pat Bresnehan against Cal State Northridge's pitcher Chuckie Fick.
Bresnehan pitched a masterful 7 2/3 innings, giving up only one run on four hits. The offense supplied him with eight runs, and was spearheaded by home runs from freshmen Matt Hall and Brett Wallace. Sogard went 4 for 4 with a home run in the contest.
The Sun Devils went on to win 8-1.
Reach the reporter at thomas.j.kelley@asu.edu.
