Devils Drop Heartbreaker in Extras to Cats

Mike Leake didn’t start Friday night’s game in Tucson, but he still ended up factoring in the decision. Pat Murphy opted to give the ball to little used Matt Newman, but as the game went into the late and extra innings, Leake was forced to pitch. Light hitting Rafael Valenzuela singled up the middle off of Leake with two outs in the 11th to drive in the winning run in Arizona’s 4-3 victory.

ASU jumped on the board first in the second off of UA starter David Coulon. Kiel Roling started things by leading off with a double to right center and Ryan Sontag reached on an error by Coulon on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Raoul Torrez followed with another bunt that was booted by Coulon and Roling scored to make it 1-0 Devils.

The Wildcats took the lead off of Newman in the third. Bryce Ortega singled to right and was sacrificed to second. After Newman got Colt Sedbrook to hit into a fielder’s choice, Brad Glenn connected for his 14th home run of the season to give Arizona a 2-1 lead.

ASU went back in front in the fourth, thanks to some more, bad Arizona defense. Raoul Torrez reached on an error by Ortega to start the frame and advanced to third on a single by Greg Bordes. Both runners would come around to score on a triple to right center by Jason Kipnis, giving ASU a 3-2 lead.

Reyes Dorado took over for Newman after five and the Wildcats tied it off of him in the sixth. Colt Sedbrook led off with a double and scored on an RBI double by Jon Gaston to even things up at 3-3.

The score would stay tied at 3-3 all the way to the 11th, thanks to the pitching of Mike Leake and the ability of Arizona pitchers to work out of trouble.

The Devils had runners in scoring position in three different innings from the seventh on and failed to score each time.

Gaston started the winning rally in the 11th with an infield single to short and then stole second. Leake got Daniel Butler to strike out, but then threw a pickoff throw away sending Gaston to third. Murphy decided to intentionally walk T.J. Steele to face Rafael Valenzuela who came to the plate just 6-30 (.200) on the season. Valenzuela sent a single to center field that scored Gaston and Arizona walked off with a 4-3 victory.

Leake allowed just that one run in his 4 2/3 innings of work out of the bullpen. The sophomore right hander suffered just his second loss of the season and will likely finish the regular season at 9-2.

Matt Newman was sharp in just his third start on the mound this season. The freshman lefty allowed just two runs in five innings of work and walked just one. Reyes Dorado allowed one run in his only inning of work on Friday.

Jason Kipnis continued to his hot stretch by collecting two more hits and adding 2RBI. Kiel Roling was the only other Devil with multiple hits, as ASU only had nine, just one day after belting out 21.

The Devils and Wildcats will both conclude their regular season on Saturday with a 12PM game.