May 16, 2007
TEMPE, Arizona - #6 Arizona State put an early end to Utah Valley's upset bid with four runs in the first inning and two more in the second to take an early 6-0 lead in an 11-3 win over the Wolverines on Wednesday in the desert.
Eli Slesk extended his hitting streak to 16 for the Wolverines with a two-hit day while Derrick Thomas and Austin Heaps both had two hits as well.
Arizona State, who came into the game hitting .357 as a team, second in the nation, got a perfect 4-for-4 day from Eric Sogard and two hits each from Brett Wallace, Petey Paramore and Andrew Romine, slugging out 16 hits on the day.
In the four-run first, Sogard singled home a run and Ike Davis followed hit two batters later with a three-run blast, his sixth of the season, putting the Sun Devils up 4-0 after four batters.
They kept the pressure on in the second, plating two more runs on a Wallace double and Sogard's second run scoring single of the day.
Utah Valley got on the board in the third when Austin Heaps hit a bases loaded single, scoring Tyler Garretson, but that run was answered when a wild pitch allowed Matt Spencer to score in the bottom of the third.
After a rough start to the evening, Utah Valley starter Marcus Moore settled down, allowing just two earned runs over his final 5 2/3 innings of work. Moore struck out 10 on the night, the fourth time he has reached double figures in strikeouts this season, in dropping to 6-4 on the year.
The Wolverines crept within four runs at 7-3 when Thomas hit his 12th home run of the season, a two-run homer to right, in the fifth inning.
But Arizona State was too tough, scoring a single run in the bottom of the fifth and capping a three-run eighth with a two-run blast by Petey Paramore. All three eighth inning runs were unearned.
Brian Flores threw four innings and struck out six to improve to 8-1 on the year. CJ Retherford retired the final 14 Wolverines of the game to earn his first save.
Utah Valley will host the Division I Independent Championship next week (May 23-26) beginning with a game against North Dakota State on Wednesday at 7pm.
