Devils Lose Series to Pac-12 Rival Trojans

Mike Stockman
Phoenix Area Sports

PHOENIX, AZ (April 8, 2018) - The Arizona State University Sun Devils hosted Pac-12 rival, the University of Southern California Trojans for a three game series over a beautiful, warm weekend at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on April 6,7,and 8.

The Devils took game one on Friday night, April 6, 2018, by a score 5-1 led by Gage Canning's two RBI and .425 batting average.

On Saturday April 7, the Trojans scored 10 runs by the sixth inning, led by Ben Ramirez's two hits and four RBI giving the Pac-12 South rival the 10-1 win which tied up the series 1-1 going into Sunday's game.

In Sunday's game, the Trojans get on the board in the top of the first inning when Lars Nootbaar hit an RBI single scoring Brandon Perez, who got on base after hitting a triple to deep center field. In the third inning, Perez scores again on an RBI Double, giving Trojans 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Carter Aldrete hit a home run over the right field fence, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Trojans.

In the top of the fifth, the Trojans increased the lead 3-1 after an error in left field allowed a runner to get to third who scored the next swing on a sacrifice fly.

With runners on the corners in the top of the sixth, the Trojans laid down a bunt which gave runner on third base enough time to slide under the catcher's glove, putting the

Trojans up 4-1. By the end of the inning, Trojans had 8 hits, and led 5-1.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Devils put another run on the board when Gage Workman hit a home run over right field fence.

The Trojans added five hits and three runs in the eight inning before Devils could force an out.

The Devils' home run leader Spencer Torkelson hit his 15th home run of the season in the eight inning.

The Devils finished the game with nine hits - three were home runs. The Trojans had fourteen hits, no errors, and won the series with a final score in game three of 8-4.

After this series, the Trojans (16-12) travel to Tuscon next for a three game Pac-12 Conference series against Arizona Wildcats, April 13-15.

The Devils (14-18) travel to Las Vegas, NV to take on UNLV on Tuesday, April 10 at 6:05pm MST.