ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State drops Pac-12 Baseball Tournament opener to Stanford in Scottsdale
Stanford plays against Arizona State during the first round of the Pac-12 college baseball tournament Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Pac-12 became the last of the major conferences to add a postseason baseball tournament and the inaugural version is being played in Scottsdale this week. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
SCOTTSDALE (AP) — Brock Jones and Drew Bowser each hit a two-run homer and regular-season champion Stanford beat No. 8 seed Arizona State 6-3 on Wednesday in the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament.
Stanford (38-14) takes a 13-game winning streak into a Thursday contest against fifth-seeded Arizona in the winner’s bracket.
Arizona State (25-31), which lost all three regular-season meetings with Stanford, faces Oregon in an elimination game.
Jones, the reigning national player of the week, has homered in six straight games and seven of his last eight.
His 17th homer of the season gave Stanford its first lead of the tournament in the seventh inning. Bowser smashed a shot over the center-field wall in the eighth for a three-run lead.
Arizona State had two on with no outs in the ninth inning but Conor Davis grounded into a double play and Jacob Tobias struck out, giving Quinn Mathews his sixth save of the season.
Stanford’s No. 9 hitter Adam Crampton was 3-for-4 and Bowser also had an RBI single in the sixth.
Arizona State starter Kyle Luckham struck out seven in six innings of work. He allowed just two earned runs and seven hits.
The Sun Devils will now play No. 4 Oregon at 9 a.m. MST on Thursday. The Ducks lost to the No. 5 Arizona Wildcats 8-6 on Wednesday.
