Arizona State baseball beats Clemson in regionals opener – azcentral.com

FULLERTON, Calif. — Arizona State survived its first game in the NCAA baseball regionals Friday by overcoming one of the nation’s best pitchers.

The Sun Devils rallied for six runs in the seventh and eighth innings, then had to defuse its opponent’s potential recovery to earn a 7-4 victory over Clemson in front of 1,478 at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field.

Second-seeded ASU (35-21), ranked 19th nationally by Baseball America, will face top-seeded Cal State Fullerton Saturday at 8 p.m.

“We were lucky to come out with the win,” Sun Devils coach Tracy Smith said. “We knew it would be one of those tough, grinder games that could go either way.”

Standing in ASU’s path was Clemson left-hander Matthew Crownover, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s pitcher of the year and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award. The junior brought a 10-2 record, a 1.59 ERA and a .183 opposition batting average into the game.

Box score: ASU baseball 7, Clemson 4

“When I saw the media guide and saw this 6-foot left-hander that was 200 pounds, I knew instantly that guy was a bulldog,” Smith said. “But what he did exceptionally well was locate each pitch where he wants. He was very effective inside and outside and changing speeds, but his control was his best quality.”

Crownover and the Sun Devils’ Ryan Kellogg practically matched each other through the first four innings. After Clemson’s Eli White began the same with a single, Kellogg retired the next nine Tigers before allowing another hit.

“I was just trying to win with what I had today,” said Kellogg, who threw 111 pitches in his seven innings and allowed two runs, four walks and six hits while collecting six strikeouts. “I think the slider was good and change-up was there, sometimes.”

Meanwhile, Crownover retired the first 10 batters he faced, five by strikeout, and 12 of the first 13.

“I thought Matthew was fun to watch,” Smith said. “I was excited to see him and he lived up to his reputation.”

Related: ASU baseball faces urgency to win this postseason

Andrew Cox’s two-run single in the top of the fifth inning gave the fourth-seeded Tigers (32-28) a 2-0 lead. Trever Allen responded in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run down the left-field line.

“I actually tried bunting first,” Allen said, “because nobody could get anything going against him.”

Smith viewed Allen’s home run as a turning point.

“Trevor’s home run was big for the team,” he said. “The way Crownover was throwing, I was concerned. The team felt Crownover was almost Superman. But after the home run, we felt we could get to him.”

The Sun Devils accomplished that in the seventh. After Allen received Crownover’s first walk of the game, Joe Bielek propelled a fastball over the left-field fence to put ASU ahead, 3-2. Brian Serven, the next batter, pounded the first pitch he saw for a solo home run.

More: Complete ASU baseball coverage

“It was a huge turnaround for the team,” Kellogg said about that rally’s emotional impact. “The guys in the dugout felt they could get to Crownover. Hitting is contagious and the guys in the dugout kept fighting for the win.”

Until Friday, Crownover had conceded just four home runs all season.

“I made two bad pitches all day,” Crownover said, “and they made me pay for it.”

Allen’s two-run triple in the eighth led a three-run rally that expanded the advantage to 7-2. But Clemson brought the potential tying run to the plate with two out in the ninth against reliever Darin Gillies.

White’s two-run single drew the Tigers within three runs. White then took second base on defensive indifference and advanced to third on Steven Duggar’s single. But right-hander Ryan Burr replaced Gillies and threw a slider past Tyler Krieger for a called third strike that gave Burr his 14th save.

“Crownover is a good pitcher and kept our guys off-balance for a long time,” Kellogg said. “To see the offense come through was great. I’ll never complain about getting too much run support.”

Photos: Arizonans in 2015 NCAA baseball tournament

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