Junior left fielder Jake Peevyhouse homered and hit a walk-off single with the bases loaded as No. 5 ASU baseball topped Arizona 5-4 Saturday night in front of a record 6,247 fans for the first Territorial Cup matchup of the season at Phoenix Muni.
The Sun Devils (22-9, 10-3 Pac-12) improved to 11-5 in one-run games, their fifth ending in walk-off fashion.
Video by Stefan Modrich | Sports Reporter
"I was looking for something I could get in the air," Peevyhouse said. "He had to throw something over the dish, so I was just looking for something up... I couldn't have wanted a better atmosphere for this game."
After manufacturing a run without the ball leaving the infield for three straight hits in the fourth, four runs after the fifth inning powered ASU to its tenth conference victory and sixth in a series opener.
Sophomore right-hander Seth Martinez, the starter for ASU Saturday and in the last game against Arizona at Packard Stadium, tossed five innings – the most he's thrown since he went eight innings in a 1-0 loss to Oregon State on March 13 – and allowed three earned runs on four hits, issuing three walks and striking out two Wildcat hitters on 97 pitches.
Martinez's struggles with control weren't much of an issue until the fourth, when he allowed a walk to third baseman Bobby Dalbec on a full count after senior catcher Riley Moore singled to lead off the inning.
Arizona sophomore designated hitter Michael Hoard labeled the first he saw from Martinez into the right center gap for an RBI double and junior left fielder Cody Ramer followed with a single to left to jump to a 3-0 lead.
"We're never worried when we're down," Peevyhouse said. "Coming back as much as we have this year, it's really easy to never get nervous. We're always in the game no matter what the score is."
Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, senior first baseman Joey Bielek singled and freshman second baseman Andrew Snow doubled down the line in left off Arizona's starter, junior right-hander Cody Hamlin.
Then, on a 1-1 count, junior left fielder Jake Peevyhouse launched a three-run home run to right, his first since April 30, 2013 at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, when ASU topped Arizona 7-5.
"I'm glad (right-fielder Zach Gibbons) didn't rob it, because it was close," Peevyhouse said. "It's always nice, especially against (Arizona)... But I'll trade home runs for hits all day."
Peevyhouse said the biggest difference in his approach then and now was his pull-happy swing, which he's since refined which has led him to "spray the ball all over."
Smith handed the ball off to sophomore right-hander Eder Erives in relief in the top of the sixth and Erives struck out two after Martinez allowed a leadoff double to keep the one-run lead intact.
Arizona, the nation's leader in batting average, mustered just seven hits against Sun Devil pitchers, but two critical ones were surrendered by Erives in the eighth that brought home the tying run off the bat of junior second baseman Scott Kingery.
Video by Fabian Ardaya | Assistant Sports Editor
College baseball's individual batting average leader, Kingery was 0-for-3 prior to at-bat and popped up meekly to junior closer Ryan Burr to end the top half of the ninth with a runner on second.
Facing freshman left-hander Cameron Ming, the Sun Devils tacked on a pair of singles and junior center fielder Johnny Sewald walked to load the bases for Peevyhouse, who hit a line drive to right field on a 3-2 count to seal the win.
"We'll savor it until about midnight," said head coach Tracy Smith. "Then we'll start thinking about first pitch tomorrow."
Junior left-hander Ryan Kellogg (5-1, 3.56 ERA) will face Arizona junior left-hander Xavier Borde, (2-0, 1.69 ERA) on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
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