June 11, 2007

ASU rallies in ninth to win opener

Jeff Metcalfe

It requires some magic to win a national championship.

The Arizona State baseball team came up with some Saturday night, producing a three-run ninth inning to beat Mississippi 4-3 in the opener of a best-of-three super regional at sold-out Packard Stadium.

The Sun Devils (47-13) are one win from their 20th berth in the College World Series, with Game 2 at 4 p.m. today. Ole Miss (40-24) must win two in a row to make it to Omaha, Neb., for the first time since 1972.

Shoving progressed down the line to home, and both coaches had to be restrained by umpires, who restored order without ejections.

"Things get said," Murphy said. "All I remember is someone said something to me I thought was improper. I probably reacted too much. The umpires did a good job. You've got to stick up for your team."

Murphy said someone from Mississippi grabbed Davis' bat from his hand, and he compared that to "an act of aggression," like breaking a bottle in a bar fight.

Roling made it to third during the rundown, but Davis could not bring him home.

The atmosphere remained charged in the top of the seventh, as ASU starter Mike Leake struck out Kliman for the first out.

Then Jordan Henry beat out an infield single on a close play, Zach Miller singled to left and, with two out, Leake hit Cody Overbeck with a pitch to load the bases.

On an 0-1 pitch, Zack Cozart floated a two-run single to center. That was not quite enough offense for Ole Miss starter Will Kline (7-3), who gave up an eighth-inning solo home run to Sogard. Kline threw 116 pitches.

"He (Kline) pitched his guts out," Rebels coach Mike Bianco said. "You have to tip your hat to Arizona State. They were able to put together a big inning like that, especially the way he was throwing. He just controlled the game on the mound."

Hard-throwing Lance Lynn (8-4, 2.55 ERA) will try to pull Mississippi in the CWS even today. ASU likely will start Josh Satow (12-3, 2.56), because Brian Flores (11-1) pitched two innings of relief after Leake, who threw 117 pitches, exited.

"Give Flores credit, he was locked in," Murphy said.

Flores was pitching in relief for the first time.

ASU got its first hit off Kline in the fourth, a two-out grounder by Roling, but could not add to it.

The Sun Devils caught two bad breaks in the fifth. Retherford's double down the left field line was touched by a fan reaching over a low fence so Spencer could not try to score.

Kline's next pitch sailed over the catcher but quickly rebounded to Kliman so neither runner could advance. Andrew Romine, leading off for ASU, flied out to short left on a 2-0 pitch and Wallace dove but failed to beat a throw from third.

Leake turned into a double-play machine to keep the deficit at 1-0. He started his second and third twin killings in the fifth and sixth innings.

Rice, seeded second nationally, and Mississippi State became the first two of eight College World Series qualifiers on Saturday by sweeping super regionals against Clemson and Texas A&M. Both are on the opposite side of the CWS bracket from the ASU-Mississippi winner.

UC Irvine beat Wichita State, 1-0, in the first game of their super regional. That winner faces the ASU-Mississippi winner in the first game in Omaha.

Cal State Fullerton dominated UCLA, 12-2, while the Oregon State-Michigan opener was rained out. Those winners are in the same CWS bracket with the ASU-Mississippi winner. Oklahoma State won to even its series against Louisville. South Carolina, trying to do the same against third-seeded North Carolina, led 8-5 in the seventh of a game suspended due to lightning.

"It's a credit to these guys that they take the word relentlessly seriously," ASU coach Pat Murphy said. "We still have a long ways to go. This doesn't guarantee anything."

ASU and Mississippi players and coaches were separated in the sixth inning of the tense game. Both teams kept shoving in the final three innings, with the Sun Devils standing at the end.

Ike Davis started ASU's ninth-inning rally with a leadoff single. Matt Spencer singled, and Tim Smith loaded the bases by grounding a single to right.

CJ Retherford grounded out to third, driving in pinch-runner Rocky Laguna to make the score 3-2. Pinch-hitter Jason Jarvis brought in the tying run with a sacrifice fly. Brett Wallace, who was 0 for 4, singled to score pinch-runner Ryan Sontag for the winning run.

Murphy credited Davis for coming through despite in spite of a bad week of practice.

“He was low on confidence and didn't have a good self image,.” Murphy said.

The game took an ugly turn in the bottom of the sixth. ASU's Kiel Roling singled to left and was trapped off first with Eric Sogard on third. Sogard tried to score and took offense to being roughed up on a tag by Alex Kliman near third.