PHOENIX, Ariz. – One night after watching host Arizona State come through with a big ninth inning hit to win a game,
Tanner Dodson got his chance to exact a little revenge when an intentional walk brought him to the plate in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded and the score tied at 4.
He was ready for the opportunity.
A single through the left side of the infield by Cal's center fielder brought home two runs and ultimately made the difference as the Bears pulled out a 6-4 victory to even their series with the Sun Devils at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Dodson got his chance to play the hero after a patient inning put the Bears in good position to strike. One-out walks by
Cameron Eden and
Ripken Reyes put two men on base and, after a ground out moved both up a base,
Andrew Vaughn drew an intentional walk to load the bases.
After falling behind in the count 1-2, Dodson took what ASU pitcher Boyd Vander Kooi gave him, shooting an outside pitch between the shortstop and third baseman for a base hit. Eden and Reyes came in to score and Cal had the lead.
"I'm not going to sugar coat it, I was having a pretty rough weekend at the plate and I came up with a chance to win a game for the team and that's what I was trying to do," Dodson said. "Just find a hole or any way on to get those runs in and that's what I did."
Senior
Erik Martinez, who entered in the seventh inning, got the chance to close the Sun Devils out and cut right through the heart of the order to get it done. He allowed a walk but a fly out to right field ended the game, evening the series at one win apiece.
A run in the first inning put Arizona State ahead but Cal (31-22, 15-14 Pac-12) took the lead with an eventful third.
Andrew Vaughn got the inning started with a single to left field and, after he moved to second on a ground out,
Jonah Davis drew an intentional walk and
Sam Wezniak got hit by a pitch to load the bases.
That brought
Korey Lee to the plate and Cal's designated hitter put the ball in play to put the Bears ahead. A chopper to shortstop gave Lee an infield single and brought in the tying run but an errant throw on the play added two more runs as Vaughn, Davis and Wezniak all crossed home to put Cal ahead 3-1.
A spate of wildness helped Arizona State (23-31, 13-16) tie the score with two runs in the bottom of the third. It also forced Cal to go to its bullpen early as
Arman Sabouri relieved starter
Jared Horn and ended the inning with a big strikeout.
The Sun Devils re-took the lead in the fourth inning on a bunt by Drew Swift and that's where the score stayed until the seventh inning thanks to another strong outing by Sabouri. The left-hander tossed 3 1/3 innings and allowed just one run, striking out four while allowing two hits and one walk as he got the Bears to the seventh inning still in range for the comeback.
"(Martinez and Sabouri) have been unbelievable probably the last four or five weeks," head coach
Mike Neu said. "Our starting pitching has been up and down. We've had some great performances but when we haven't had a good performance, those two guys along with a couple other guys have picked us up. That was a huge reason we won the game today, their ability to come in, throw strikes and make big pitches."
Before Sabouri departed, Cal brought the game back to even. A one-out double into the right field corner by
Tyrus Greene got the Bears started and, after he moved to third on a wild pitch, Vaughn brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center field that tied the score at 4.
Cal and Arizona State conclude their three-game series on Saturday with a 6 p.m. contest.
Aaron Shortridge will get the call for the Bears while Eli Lingos is scheduled to start for the Sun Devils.
"We still feel like we have a winning record in league," Neu said. "We've won a good amount of series and we feel like we can still be in the conversation with a win tomorrow. We obviously wanted to sweep if we could but hey, we are where we are and all we can control is trying to get one more win and give ourselves at least a chance to get in there."
