Courtesy Sun Devil Athletics
A couple of upsets marked the night for Pac 12 Baseball after the conference emerged unscathed in last Tuesday’s mayhem outbreak. However, the lone College Baseball Central Top 25 squad in action, the No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils, managed to avoid another cardiac ending in their match-up with New Mexico State.
Two struggling teams were on the docket as the Oregon Ducks and Stanford Cardinal both faced challenging midweek opponents in Portland and San Fransisco while the Washington State Cougars played Gonzaga. All the teams either faced in-state or cross-border schools in out-of-conference matchups. Let’s see how the conference fared in midweek action on Tuesday.
No. 8 Arizona State Extends Winning Streak To Four
Colby Woodmansee and Trever Allen each homered as the No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils (19-7) extended their win streak to four games in a 7-3 win over the New Mexico State Aggies (4-21-1) on Tuesday night. The Sun Devils put together a four-run, sixth-inning rally sparked by Allen’s three-run blast, his first long ball of the season as Arizona State built a 7-2 lead.
Allen’s shot was the first homer by an Arizona State outfielder this season.
Woodmansee opened the game with a two-run homer, his third of season, as the Sun Devils opened with a 2-0 lead. The 6’3” 195-pound sophomore has been gold for ASU with a .340/.505/.363 slash and the team lead with 20 RBI.
Arizona State keeps chugging out the wins with 14 in its last 17 contests which is why the Sun Devils have found a place in our mid-season College Baseball National Seeds Projections.
Oregon’s Stuggles Continue In Loss To Portland
The Oregon Ducks (17-12) managed only four hits in a 6-4 loss to the Portland Pilots (6-24) on Tuesday night as the squad continues to struggle at the plate and has now dropped four consecutive games. Two of the Ducks’ hits on the night were a pair of homers that led to three runs scored.
Shaun Chase hit a two-run homer to cut Portland’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning, but the Pilots added three runs in the next half inning to extend their lead to 6-2.
In the home half of the fifth, Scott Heineman would launch a solo blast to pull within 6-3 with all the Ducks’ runs being scored via the long ball at that point in the game. The Ducks would score on a throwing error in the seventh to pull within two but would get no closer in the game.
The Ducks scored 22 runs in midweek two-game sweep of UC Riverside last midweek and appeared on the mend offensively. However, the Ducks have sandwiched that surge with anemic run scoring efforts averaging just 2.8 runs per game in their last six losses.
“If a team isn’t hitting well it can lead to confidence issues that can plague them throughout the season if things aren’t corrected quickly.” – Realist Ray, College Baseball RPI Analyst
Pac 12 Baseball Scores:
Stanford 5, San Fransisco 3
Gonzaga 5, Washington State 4
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