After more than 300 games, ASU baseball gets blanked
Art Preuss May 23, 2011
Arizona State dropped the third game in the weekend baseball series with Washington, 3-0, which was somewhat perplexing since ASU put up 18 runs in the first two games, while the Huskies couldn't score even one.
But that was only half the story, it turns out.
A press release from the ASU Sports Information guys made note of the fact that this was the first time the Sun Devils had been blanked since April 7 of 2006.
Now, that caught our attention. In fact, we had to do our own search through the archives to confirm that it has, indeed, been more than five years since a team has held ASU scoreless.
Sure enough. It was true. And, even more unbelievable, the last time it happened was against the same team – the Washington Huskies, who pulled off the 8-0 win back then.
Last time was in Tempe, in front of 2,429 disappointed Sun Devils fans. And ASU was ranked No. 12 at the time.
ASU (38-14) has played 330 games since then, always scoring at least one run. How crazy is that?!
This time, the Sun Devils were the No. 8 team in the country. The game was played in Seattle, as the Sun Devils wrapped up their final road trip of the regular season.
In the first game on Friday, Brady Rodgers (8-3) threw his first career complete-game shutout, scattering five hits and striking out nine to lead the Devils to the 6-0 win. The sophomore right-hander got a big inning of support in the third when the team took a 5-0 lead, fueled by a lead-off double by Deven Marrero and a home run by Joey DeMichele.
Kramer Chamlin (8-2) went the distance on the mound in the second game, posting his second complete-game shutout of the season in a 12-0 victory that included 15 total hits and another third-inning surge when they went up 3-0 and never looked back after that.
Xorge Carillo had a career day with three hits, and Johnny Ruettiger added two more and four RBIs.
But in yesterday's finale, a pair of walks and a pair of doubles by the Huskies in the bottom of the fifth contributed to putting ASU in a 3-0 hole. The Devils made a charge in the seventh, loading the bases with three straight singles before Washington starter, Jacob Clem, could record the first out. But a forced out at the plate and a double play ended the threat.
Zack Wilson continued his contributions at the plate, with three hits in the losing effort. He doubled in the opener and had a pair of hits in the Saturday game.
ASU will welcome UCLA to Packard Stadium this weekend for three games that will be their final Pac-10 series of the season.
(Photo: ASU Athletics/Jason Wise)
Arizona StateASU baseballBrady RodgersKramer ChamlinWashington
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