Jan. 24, 2003
Tempe, Ariz. - Arizona State scored six times over its final two at bats to overcome a 5-1 deficit and defeat San Diego State, 7-5, at Packard Stadium in Tempe Friday night. It was the season opener for the Aztecs and marked the head coaching debut of Tony Gwynn. The 8th-ranked Sun Devils improved to 7-0 on the season with the victory.
San Diego State took the early lead in the third off Arizona State starter Mike Sopko. Catcher Josh Allen led off the inning with a double, the first of his two hits on the night, and scored three batters later on Peter Stonard's RBI single. The Aztecs increased their advantage to 4-0 with three runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Anthony Gwynn and a two-out two-run double by first baseman Jon Stephens.
The Sun Devils countered with a run in their half of the sixth, but Stephens hit his second double of the night in the next inning to drive in Stonard and restore SDSU's four-run lead.
On the mound, meanhwile, Arizona State was held in check through the first five innings by Aztec starter Mike Moat. The junior from Longmont, Colo., allowed no runs on just three hits before reaching his pitch count and ending his night at the end of the fifth.
The SDSU bullpen, however, was unable to emulate Moat's effort. In the seventh, ASU shortstop Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run homer to cut the Aztecs' lead in half at 5-3. The Sun Devils then struck four times in the last of the eighth on three hits, a pair of walks and two errors. to take the lead for the first time. The final two runs came at the expense of closer Will Miller, who suffered the loss.
Robbie McClellan, ASU's third pitcher on the night, picked up the win to improve to 3-0. McClellan went 3.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and striking out five. Sun Devils pitchers finished the night with a total of 11 strikeouts.
Junior Ryan Schroyer was called upon to close out the game in the ninth for ASU, allowing a single to Gwynn before the retiring the next three hitters to end the game and record his second save of the year.
In addition to Stephens and Allen, three other Aztecs (Gwynn, Stonard and Curt Mendoza) collected two hits apiece as San Diego State out-hit the Sun Devils 13-9 on the night.
The teams will meet in game two of their three-game series on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 1:00 p.m (MST). The game can be heard live on the internet at www.goaztecs.com with Alan Horton's pre-game show beginning at 11:50 a.m. Pacific time.
Arizona State 7, San Diego State 5SDS 001 030 100 - 5 13 2ASU 000 001 24x - 7 9 0Moat, Jenson (6), Pace (6), Esquibel (7), Miller (7) and AllenSopko, Kartler (5), McClellan (5), Schroyer (9) and Bocchi, Gosewich (8), West (9)W - McClellan (3-0)L - Miller (0-1)Sv - Schroyer (2)HR - ASU: Pedroia (7th-one on)Att. - 3,972Time - 3:27