PHOENIX – Three Utes had multi-hit performances, but it was not enough to overcome a hot start for the Arizona State bats as Utah dropped the series finale, 13-6, on Sunday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Utah (25-20-1, 10-14 Pac-12) returns to game action on Wednesday, May 11 with a game at in-state foe Dixie State. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. MT at Bruce Hurst Field in St. George, Utah.
Third baseman
Chase Anderson was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, a pair of runs scored and an RBI. Catcher
Davis Cop went-2-for-5 and scored once, while nine-hole hitter and center fielder
Dakota Duffalo was 2-for-4. Duffalo—who hit safely for the fifth straight game—had one of four doubles for Utah. Anderson, designated hitter
Jayden Kiernan and right fielder
Kai Roberts also contributed two-baggers on the day.
Second baseman
Landon Frei recorded a pair of RBI with two sacrifice flies in the ballgame.
Arizona State's bats were hot early, putting up six runs in the first inning on seven hits. The Sun Devils added two more runs in their half of the third for an 8-0 lead.
Utah got on the board in the top of the fourth. Anderson led off the frame lacing a double past the outstretched glove of third baseman Cam Magee and down the left field line, cruising into second base standing up. He took third on a groundout by left fielder
TJ Clarkson and came in to score Utah's first run on a sacrifice fly from Kiernan.
The sides exchanged runs throughout the middle innings before the Utes put up three in the seventh frame. Sending eight batters to the plate, Utah tallied runs on Frei's second sac fly of the day, a base hit by Anderson and a double thanks to Kiernan.
Anderson's run came thanks in part to alert baserunning earlier in the inning. He was on first base when Clarkson drew a walk, but ball four got away to the backstop allowing Anderson to sprint to third and slide in safely. Kiernan's double brought Anderson home, moving the score to 12-5 at the time.
Following a run for the Sun Devils in the seventh, Utah posted one in the eighth to wrap the scoring for the day. An ASU error put
Davis Cop on second base to begin the inning, later scoring when Roberts doubled deep in the left-center gap.
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