ASU baseball unable to climb out of early hole, facing win-or-go home game Sunday

ASU baseball was rocked by UCLA for a seven-run second inning on Saturday in an 11-5 loss at the Los Angeles Regional, triggering a do-or-die rematch with UC Irvine on Sunday.

Right-handed starter Jack Martinez had a quick first inning that included two strikeouts before running into trouble in the second.

UCLA’s Payton Brennan scored on a triple thanks to a throwing error, and a single and two hit-by-pitches followed. A bases-loaded walk brought in one more run before Roman Martin unloaded on a grand slam.

Josh Butler came in to end the inning in place of Martinez, whose night was over after 1.2 innings.

Third-seeded ASU had chances to respond in the bottom of the second as Jacob Tobias, Kien Vu and Isaiah Jackson represented loaded bases with no outs. However, the Sun Devils only made up one run in the inning, coming via a Brandon Compton sacrifice fly.

The following Sun Devil runs scored in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively, came in similar situations with multiple men on. Each scoring play ASU enjoyed included an out suffered.

Two more Sun Devils scored on a Brody Briggs double in the bottom of the ninth before Jackson flied out to end it.

ASU baseball’s do-or-die game

ASU will face second-seeded UC Irvine at 3 p.m. MST on Sunday after taking the matchup in the regional opener, 4-2. The Anteaters eliminated fourth-seeded Fresno State with an 8-3 win on Saturday.

The winner of that game will move on to face UCLA for the region Sunday night at a TBD time.

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