Junior infielder Michael Benjamin takes a hack at a pitch against Arkansas on March 2. The No. 24 ASU baseball team took care of Pacific on March 1 offensively by putting up eight runs on the Tigers. (Photo by Hector Almeida)After No. 25 ASU baseball’s 3-2 victory over No. 2 Arkansas Thursday night, it was only natural to wonder if there would be a hangover heading into Friday’s game against Pacific.
Junior pitcher Trevor Williams made sure there was none.
Williams threw a complete game with only five hits to propel the Sun Devils (6-2) to an 8-1 victory over the Pacific Tigers (3-5).
The lead off batter for the Tigers reached, but Williams set down the next 16 of the 17 batters.
“Trevor was Trevor,” coach Tim Esmay said. “He was outstanding tonight.”
The preseason All-American said the lead off hit motivated him a little but said he also felt good the entire night.
“I felt really efficient tonight,” Williams said. “The whole week up through warm-ups I felt great. A great team win for us for sure.”
Williams tied his career high in strikeouts for the second time this season with nine K's.
Williams struck out only 59 in 109.2 innings of work last season and the junior said his development as a pitcher has allowed for more strikeouts.
“I’ve been working really hard this offseason to develop my off speed pitches,” Williams said. “I’ve just tried really hard to get sharper with all my pitches.”
Williams also received early run support from his hitters, who scored in the first and the second.
Sophomore outfielder Jake Peevyhouse was batting .181 coming into the game, but he racked up two hits and an RBI to break out of his early season slump.
“It felt good to finally have some good at-bats under my belt and relax,” Peevyhouse said.
Peevyhouse drove in the run in the second lining with a single through the right side to score junior Michael Benjamin.
“I knew he was leaving a lot of stuff into lefties, and I just tried to stay above it and hit it hard and it happened,” Peevhouse said.
The Sun Devils added five more runs in the fourth to remove Tiger starter sophomore John Haberman from the game.
Peevyhouse and crew racked up six straight hits and seven straight baserunners to lead off the fourth.
“Hits are contagious,” Peevyhouse said. “Once you see everyone else do it, you get a little more relaxed.”
Esmay was impressed with his hitters approach at the plate all night.
“What I liked about it was that we weren’t making a lot of fly ball outs,” Esmay said. “We were staying on top of the ball and hitting some balls hard.”
The victory was Esmay’s 350th as a manager and Williams was proud to be a part of his coach’s milestone.
“I didn’t know that, so it’s pretty cool,” Williams said. “I mean, he’s a great coach and a great human being. I can definitely call him my second father, so it’s awesome for him to get that accomplishment.”
The Sun Devils return to action tomorrow for a rematch with Arkansas, who lost to Gonzaga 3-0 Friday night.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
