The Sun Devils missed good opportunities Sunday afternoon.
The No. 20 ASU baseball team dropped a heartbreaker to No. 3 Oregon State 4-3 in the rubber match of their three game series.
The Sun Devils (13-7-1, 2-4 Pac-12) struggled with men on bases all day, leaving 12 on base, including nine in the final five innings.
The only time in the last five innings that the Sun Devils didn’t leave runners on base was the ninth when freshman outfielder Johnny Sewald was thrown out at third on a steal attempt to end the game.
The Beavers (21-2, 5-1 Pac-12) had similar problems, leaving 11 runners on base and didn’t record a hit after the fourth inning.
Sophomore starter Adam McCreery gave up all four hits and struggled in his 3 and one third innings, walking three, hitting three more and gave up four runs.
Beaver sophomore outfielder Dylan Davis gave his team the lead in the first, smacking an RBI single to center off McCreery.
The Sun Devils clawed back in the second thanks to an RBI groundout from sophomore shortstop Drew Stankiewicz.
The Beavers took back the lead for good in the fourth with three runs, capped off by a sacrifice fly by sophomore outfielder Michael Conforto.
Stankiewicz again tried to bring the Sun Devils back, leading off the top of the fifth with a single and they managed to cut the Beaver lead to 4-3.
The Sun Devils just couldn’t bring the game even and left runners in scoring position in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings before Sewald was thrown out to end the game.
Other top performers for the Sun Devils in the loss were redshirt sophomore outfielder Trever Allen, who was 3-4 and the bullpen, which didn’t allow a hit in 4.2 innings of work.
The Sun Devils return to action next Thursday, when they start a three-game home series against UCLA.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
