TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona Wildcats scored three runs in the seventh inning to erase a one-run deficit and topped Arizona State 6-4 Thursday night in front of 3,481 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
 
The Cats have now won five straight games against Arizona State dating back to last season. Arizona improved to 31-20 on the season and 11-14 in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils dropped to 21-29 and 11-14 in league play with the loss.
 
The Wildcats will go for the series win Friday night at 7 p.m., when they send junior right-hander Michael Flynn to the mound.
 
On Thursday, the Cats saw starter Cody Deason dominate the ASU lineup for the first three innings. Deason faced the minimum through three, striking out a pair and getting three groundouts and four fly outs.
 
In the fourth, Arizona State finally got to Arizona's top starter. Designated hitter Hunter Jump started the inning with a double to centerfield to put a man into scoring position right away. After Deason struck out Spencer Torkelson, the Cats intentionally walked Gage Canning to put two on. Lyle Lin then coaxed a walk off Deason to load the bases for Carter Aldrete.
 
Aldrete singled through the middle to plate two and give ASU an early 2-0 lead. Deason recovered, though, striking out the next two batters to get out of the inning without any further damage.
 
The Wildcats didn't waste any time responding, however, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Catcher Cesar Salazar started the inning with a double down the right field line. Nick Quintana then hit a fly ball to right that was misjudged by Aldrete and fell for a double to move Salazar up to third.
 
Matt Fraizer followed with a double of his own to score Salazar and Quintana and tie the game at two. Fraizer was thrown out at second after an aggressive turn for the first out of the inning.
 
But the Cats started a new rally when Tate Soderstrom singled and Donta Williams doubled to move Soderstrom over to third. After a walk to Jacob Blas, Cal Stevenson hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Soderstrom and give Arizona a 3-2 lead.
 
However, Torkelson and Arizona State responded right away off Deason in the fifth. Deason got the first batter of the inning to fly out to Fraizer, but then walked ninth-place hitter Drew Swift to put a man on. After getting Jump to line out, Torkelson hit a two-run home run to left to give the Sun Devils a 4-3 lead. It was Torkelson's league-leading 23^rd home run of the season.
 
Deason put up a zero in the sixth, and then got Torkelson to foul out to first base with a man on for the second out in the seventh with the Sun Devils still leading 4-3. Avery Weems came on to relieve Deason and face Gage Canning with one on and two outs. Weems got Canning looking for the final out of the inning and got the Cats back to the plate down one.
 
In the seventh, Blas led off the inning with a single to left and Stevenson followed with a single to put two men on. Alfonso Rivas then reached on a fielder's choice and Blas moved to third, while Stevenson was thrown out at second.
 
Cameron Cannon then came up with runners on the corners and dropped down a sacrifice bunt that scored Blas and tied the game at four. Cannon was able to reach when pitcher Boyd Vander Kooi threw the ball away. Cannon moved to second, while Rivas moved over to third.
 
Salazar then came up and lifted a shallow fly ball to right field. Aldrete came up firing, but Lin couldn't hold on to the ball at the plate, and Rivas was able to slide in to give Arizona a 5-4 lead. Quintana then walked and Fraizer came through again with an RBI single to score Cannon and make it 6-4.
 
Zach Sherman started the eighth for Arizona, and after giving up a leadoff hit to Lin, he struck out Aldrete for the first out of the inning. Gil Luna then came on and struck out Gage Workman and Hunter Bishop to complete the inning and strand Lin.
 
Senior right-hander Zach Stone came on in the ninth to close it out and struck out the first two batters he faced. Stone then got Jump to ground out to Blas for the final out to secure the win and earn his second save of the season.
 
Stevenson finished 3 for 4 with an RBI and a stolen base, while Fraizer was 2 for 4 with three RBI. Salazar was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Weems earned the win to improve to 2-3 on the season. Chaz Montoya took the loss to fall to 1-7.