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Lions Strand Eight Runners, Fall 11-3 to No. 3 Arizona State
May 11, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - LMU (22-28) scored its only three runs in the seventh inning and stranded eight runners en route to falling 11-3 to No. 3 Arizona State (40-9) on Sunday in game two of a three-game non-conference series being played at ASU's Packard Stadium. Senior Michael Glomb collected two of the Lions' six hits on the night, extending his current hitting streak to 20 straight games. The streak is the longest by a Lion since Eric Farris hit in 25 straight games from the end of the 2006 season into the beginning of 2007. Glomb batted 2-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI in the loss. A.J. LaMonda and Angelo Songco collected the other two RBI for LMU, with Songco notching his 13th double as well. Sophomore Xavier Esquivel pitched the first three and a third innings for LMU, allowing six runs on six hits and three walks before taking his fifth loss of the year. Junior Lee Roberts tossed two and two-thirds innings of relief, surrendering five runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three batters over the span. Freshman Chris Eusebio dealt a scoreless frame before Steve Connolly finished the game on the hill for LMU, retiring the side in the bottom of the eighth and striking out two hitters. Kiel Roling paced the ASU offense, batting 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Brett Wallace, Raoul Torrez and Jason Kipnis also collected multiple hits in the win, each finishing with two. Left-hander Josh Satow got the starting nod and pitched six innings, allowing one run on three hits and three walks while striking out three batters to improve to 6-3 with the victory. Jason Franzblau tossed the final three innings for the Sun Devils, giving up two unearned runs on three hits while punching out two Lion hitters to earn his first save of the season.
After a scoreless first inning by both teams, LMU threatened in the top of the second. Songco walked to start the inning, moving to third on a hit-and-run base hit off the bat of Sean Dovel on the ensuing play. Unfortunately for LMU, Satow settled down nicely to retire the next three hitters in order, stranding the runners at the corners. The Lions put a runner at third with two out in the third inning as well, failing to plate the run for the second consecutive frame. LaMonda reached on an error with two out in the inning before moving to third on a failed pickoff attempt that found its way into the Lion dugout down the first base line. Matt Koch followed with a groundout to the first baseman to strand the third Lion runner on the night just 90 feet away. Kipnis robbed LMU of its first run in the top of the fourth inning before starting things off with a double in the bottom half of the frame to guide ASU to the 6-0 lead after four complete innings. With Ryan Wheeler on at second base with a two-out double down the right field line, Justin Bunkis sent a 1-0 pitch deep to centerfield where Kipnis crashed into the wall and hauled in to retire the side. The left-handed hitter went on to take the first pitch from Esquivel in the fourth and park it off the base of the centerfield wall for a double. A Wallace single and a wild pitch left runners at second and third before back-to-back full-count walks to Petey Paramore and Matt Newman forced the first run of the game home. Mike Leake, yesterday's winning pitcher, contributed a RBI-groundout to third base on the very next play, leaving runners at second and third and the score at 2-0 in favor of Arizona State. Esquivel managed to get ahead of Roling 0-2 before Roling fought a pitch off his hands for a two-RBI single down the left field line to bring home Paramore and Newman. The inning continued as designated hitter Marcel Champagnie singled to left field to put runners at first and second. Torrez brought home another ASU run on the second pitch of the next at bat, doubling to left field to bring home Roling. After Roberts took over on the hill for LMU and got the second out of the frame, the Sun Devils successfully completed a double-steal of second and home to cap the frame at 6-0. The Lions were once again unable to plate a runner from third base with two out in the top of the sixth inning. A two-out walk to Dovel put a runner on before a third Sun Devil error put runners at the corners for Bunkis. The senior right-handed hitter was unable to put the ball in play, becoming the third strikeout victim of Satow's on the night to end the frame. ASU extended the lead to 10-0 in the bottom of the sixth, piecing together four runs on four hits. Leake doubled to get the ball rolling, moving to third on a Roling single one pitch later. A one-out ground ball forced the first run across in exchange for out number two. Ryan Sontag drew a walk to keep the inning alive and put runners at first and second before Kipnis singled to right field to bring home the second run of the frame. With the shift on toward right field, Wallace stayed with a pitch and drove it down the left field line for a two-RBI double to cap the scoring run on the first pitch of the next at bat. LMU broke through with three runs in the top of the seventh inning to cut the ASU lead to 10-3. Kyle Spraker reached with a leadoff walk to spell the end of Satow's day on the hill. After Franzblau took over for Arizona State, Jonathan Johnson reached on an error by Wallace at third base, putting runners at first and second. Glomb contributed his second hit of the day, a RBI-single to right field, on the ensuing play, bringing home Spraker and moving Johnson to third base. LaMonda followed suit with a RBI-single just three pitches later before the Lions hit into a double play with runners at first and second to leave a runner at third with two down. Songco came up clutch in the very next at bat, doubling down the left field line to bring home Glomb and the final run of the game for the Lions. Arizona State wasted no time answering back as it pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh. Newman got things going with a leadoff double before Eusebio took over on the bump for Roberts and the Lions. Back-to-back deep fly balls to the outfield moved Newman 90 feet apiece, with the second of the two going for a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Roling. LMU trailed 11-3 headed into the top of the ninth inning and was unable to post any further offense in the loss. Franzblau induced a groundout off the bat of Will Dugoni and back-to-back strikeouts of Joe Vierra and Ollie Enos to retire the side and earn the save. The Lions and Sun Devils will conclude their three-game non-conference series tomorrow at 6 p.m. Both teams are undecided on starters for the series finale. |
