PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Arizona Wildcats completed their first sweep of Arizona State since 1992 on Saturday night, topping the Sun Devils 9-5 in front of 4,037 fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The Cats took all three games of a series from the Sun Devils on the road for the first time since a 1989 sweep at Packard Stadium on the campus of Arizona State. The sweep improved Arizona to 36-17 on the season and 15-12 in Pac-12 play. Arizona State fell to 23-29 and 8-19 in the conference.
Arizona will now head home for its final three regular season games, beginning Friday versus California.
But on Saturday, it was all about Arizona completing its third conference sweep of the season and improving to 11-11 on the road this season.
After two tight games Thursday and Friday, the Cats wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in Saturday's series finale. In the first inning,
JJ Matijevic started it off with a one-out single, and scored one batter later on an RBI triple from
Ryan Haug.
Arizona was just getting started. Alfonso Rivas followed Haug with a double to left field to plate the junior catcher and give the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead. Following a strikeout,
Kyle Lewis came through with a two-out single to right to score Rivas and make it a three-run inning for the Cats.
It marked the first time since April 15 that the Wildcats scored more than one run in the first inning. Arizona scored four runs in the first against Oregon in an 18-4 win over the Ducks. Arizona hadn't scored in the first inning at all since April 27.
Starter
Cody Deason took the mound with a three-run cushion and never looked back in his eighth start of the season. Deason threw up zeroes in his first two innings of work, before his offense got him some more run support in the third. Haug started the inning, by reaching on an error and moved to second on a balk and third on a wild pitch. Following a walk by Rivas, a double play ball scored Haug to make it 4-0.
The Sun Devils got their only run off Deason in the bottom half of the inning. Gage Canning doubled with one out to put runners on second and third. Lyle Lin then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Andrew Snow and make it 4-1.
The Wildcats responded right away, plating another run in the fourth. With
Cal Stevenson on first and one out, Matijevic roped a double to right field to score Stevenson and make it 5-1. The double was Matijevic's 27
th of the season, tying him with Todd Trafton for the second-most doubles in a single season. Matijevic is now three behind Dave Stegman, who had a program-record 30 in 1976.
Arizona added another run in the seventh when Stevenson drew a bases loaded walk to score Rivas. The Cats then added even more insurance in the ninth with three more runs.
Sawyer Gieseke had an RBI single to right to score Lewis to make it 7-1. Later in the inning,
Cesar Salazar singled through the right side to score Stevenson and
Louis Boyd to make it 9-1.
Arizona State added four runs in the ninth to close the gap, but wouldn't get any closer as
Tylor Megill shut the door on the Sun Devils to lock down the win.
Deason went six innings, allowing one run on eight hits. He struck out four and walked one, lowering his ERA to 2.93. Rivas went 3 for 5 to lead the way offensively, scoring twice and driving in one. Stevenson reached base five times, going 2 for 2 with three walks, two runs and an RBI. Matijevic went 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run to keep his average right at .400 on the season. Salazar also added a two-hit night, going 2 for 3 with two RBI, after entering the game midway to replace Haug.
