The Sun Devils (14-22, 6-9 Pac-12) were swept by No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto this weekend and have lost six games in a row. The Sun Devils were outscored 24-9 over the course of the weekend.
Friday
Sophomore right-hander Alec Marsh delivered a quality start for the second week in a row, but a timely hit eluded ASU in a 3-1 loss.
ASU did score a run in the eighth, but the Sun Devils struggled against the Cardinal starter junior right-hander Tristian Beck. Beck tossed 7 shutout innings, striking out five while allowing five hits.
Marsh allowed three earned runs on seven hits in six innings of work. He walked three, struck out three and threw 89 pitches. The Milwaukee native lowered his ERA to 2.79.
Stanford sophomore outfielder Kyle Stowers broke the scoreless tie with a solo home run in the second. An RBI triple in the third made it 2-0, and the Cardinal tacked on one more in the seventh on a wild pitch by senior right-hander Jake Godfrey, a run that was charged to Marsh.
Saturday
Junior starter Sam Romero pitched well, but a nine-run eighth inning gave Stanford an 11-6 win and ASU's fifth loss in a row.
Romero allowed three runs on two hits in 7.1 innings of work. He struck out eight, walked two and threw 93 pitches. The right-hander induced plenty of swings and misses with a curveball that dropped off the table. He complemented that with a well located low-90s fastball.
Romero took a no-hitter into the sixth, but a leadoff double and an RBI triple by the eight and nine hitters and a sacrifice ground out cut ASU's lead to 3-2 after six innings.
Freshman first baseman Spencer Torkelson hit his 17th home run of the season to deep left field, giving Romero a 1-0 lead to work with before he toed the rubber.
Torkelson hit his second home run of the game and 18th of the year, deeper than his previous blast to left field, and ASU led 4-2 in the eighth.
Sophomore left-hander Chaz Montoya entered in the eighth, walked the first batter he faced and a single plated a run to make it 4-3. Montoya departed for Godfrey. With runners at the corners and one out, Gage Workman booted a ground ball for an error to tie the game up, 4-4.
After an intentional walk to the third hole hitter, sophomore Andrew Daschbach made ASU pay with a grand slam to center, giving the Cardinal a 8-4 lead. Stanford tacked on three more runs.
ASU scored two runs in the ninth on a Workman two-run homer, but the damage had already been done.
Sunday
ASU took an early 2-0 lead on a 2-RBI double in the third inning by junior outfielder Gage Canning, but the Cardinal scored 10 unanswered runs and won the series finale.
Senior Eli Lingos gave up five earned runs in six innings of work, but the Sun Devils committed three more errors and all of those runners scored, two of them coming on a home run by Daschbach in the third.
The Cardinal tacked on two more runs in the eighth. A wild pitch by Raish made it 9-2 and a sacrifice fly made the score 10-2.
ASU scored a run in the top of the eighth on an RBI ground out by Torkelson.
Up next for the Sun Devils:
ASU will host a three-game series against the University of Utah. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 20.
Reach the reporter at jpjacqu1@asu.edu or follow @joejacquezaz on Twitter.
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