Cowboys Drop Game, Series To Arizona State

Saturday, February 14

Phoenix, Ariz.

2:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

0-2

Arizona State

2-0

Oklahoma State

Arizona State

February 14, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 14, 2015

Box Score

PHOENIX -- Oklahoma State dropped its season opening series Saturday with a 5-3 loss to 18th-ranked Arizona State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Despite outhitting ASU by an 11-8 margin, the No. 5 Cowboys left 10 runners stranded on the base paths and fell to 0-2 on the season.

"We had opportunities throughout the game to make it tighter and push them, but if you don't play cleaner baseball than we did it's probably not reasonable to think you'll beat a quality ballclub," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "(ASU) is certainly a quality ballclub, and we made too many pitch-by-pitch mistakes throughout the course of the game that opened up opportunities for them to score five runs.

"I'm disappointed in the outcome. As a group, we have to play better, and as a coach, I have to coach better and see to it that our team plays from pitch one through the very end at a higher level. That simply did not happen good enough today to win. We have to regroup and come out together and fight to get game three, and we'll take that challenge."

ASU took an early lead against OSU senior right-hander Jon Perrin in its first at bat by capitalizing on a pair of errors by the Cowboys. The first of those came when leadoff hitter Johnny Sewald reached safely after first baseman Conor Costello failed to field his grounder cleanly.

Following a bloop single by Jordan Aboites to put runners on first and third, Jake Peevyhouse delivered the Sun Devils' first run with a sacrifice fly. ASU threatened to add to its lead after loading the bases before Perrin got Dalton Dinatale to fly out to end the inning.

OSU did not trail long, striking for a pair of runs in the top of the second. Jon Littell led off the inning with a single up the middle, the freshman's first-career hit, and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and fly out. After a walk to Kevin Bradley put Cowboys on first and third with two outs, Bryan Case smacked a two-RBI double into the left-center field gap to put the visitors up, 2-1.

The lead was short lived, however, as ASU struck for three runs in the bottom of the inning, getting a two-RBI triple from Aboites and a sacrifice fly from R.J. Ybarra to take a 4-2 advantage.

"The rhythm of the game early was not ideal for us," Holliday said. "It was one of those days where the beginning of the game had an awkward feel to it - a bad hop, a bloop and some uncharacteristic mistakes. It wasn't crisp and didn't have a high level of execution in any capacity."

ASU tacked on its final run in the third against Cowboy reliever Tyler Buffett when Dinatale followed a double by Trever Allen with an RBI single to put the Sun Devils up by a 5-2 count.

The Cowboys tallied their final run in the fourth. Tim Arakawa, who was 3-for-3 on the day, led off the frame with a bunt single, and Ryan Sluder followed with a double into the left field corner. Up next, Bradley brought Arakawa home with a sacrifice fly to cut OSU's deficit to 5-3.

But that would be all OSU would get as it left a pair of runners on base, a trend that continued the rest of the way as the Cowboys stranded six runners combined in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

In the sixth, Arakawa and Sluder both reached with no outs, but Aboites came to the mound and retired three-straight Cowboys to end the threat.

After stranding another runner in the seventh, the Cowboys would leave the bases full in the eighth. Singles by Arakawa and Case and a walk to Andrew Rosa loaded the bases with two outs, but ASU first baseman Christopher Beall robbed Gage Green of a hit when he dove to his right to snag a sharp grounder and record the inning-ending putout.

ASU closer Ryan Burr set the Cowboys down in order in the ninth to record his first save of the year.

Along with Arakawa's three-hit day, Corey Hassel, Littell and Case all had two hits apiece for OSU.

Perrin took the loss on the mound, allowing four runs, three of them earned, in 1 1/3 innings. Buffett surrendered just one run in 3 2/3 frames, while Remey Reed worked three scoreless innings in his OSU debut.

Sunday's series finale is set for a 1:30 p.m. (CST) first pitch.