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No. 15 Arizona State sweeps Hawaii baseball team in doubleheader

Arizona State came out ahead of two see-saw duels with the University of Hawaii baseball team to sweep today’s doubleheader in Phoenix, Ariz.

ASU’s Hunter Haas hammered a two-run inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Sun Devils held off a Hawaii rally in a 6-5 win in the first game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

In the finale, No. 15 ASU pieced together a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh in a 9-6 win to claim the series win.

Coming off UH’s 3-2 win in the opener on Friday, Arizona State (4-2) jumped ahead in today’s first game on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning. UH catcher Konnor Palmeira, a freshman out of Kamehameha-Maui, drilled a two-run homer into the UH bullpen beyond the left-field fence in his first collegiate at bat to give the Rainbows the lead.

UH sophomore Cade Halemanu escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the second with a 6-4-3 double play, but the Sun Devils tied the game in the third on Brian Kalmer’s double into the left-field corner, allowing Haas to score from first.

The Rainbows reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth on Tyler Best’s sacrifice fly to score Safea Villaruz-Mauai.

Arizona State rallied for two runs off of UH reliever Jake Hymel in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game on Joe Lampe’s sacrifice fly and taking the lead on Swift’s RBI single. Hymel managed to limit the damage with a strikeout to leave the bases loaded.

UH loaded the bases on three singles in the top of the seventh and pinch-hitter Jacob Igawa drew a four-pitch walk to drive in Alex Baeza knot the score at 4-4. UH left the bases loaded on a force out at the plate and a strikeout.

Hymel got two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth before Swift singled. Swift advanced on a wild pitch and continued to third when the throw to second eluded the UH middle infielders.

Haas then hit a drive off the centerfield wall as UH’s Adam Fogel crashed into the fence in pursuit. As Fogel tracked down the ball, Haas circled the bases and was sent home. He twisted around the attempted tag by Palmeira and touched the plate to give ASU a 6-4 lead.

UH answered with a run in the top of the ninth on Best’s RBI single to score Matt Campos, who delivered a pinch-hit double to lead off the inning. After a bunt, ASU closer Ethan Long got two flyouts to end the game.

ASU reliever Justin Fall went 1 2/3 innings and was credited with the win while Long earned a save. Hymel gave up four runs in three innings and took the loss.

Freshman Connor Harrison got the start for UH in the finale and Arizona State struck first for the third time in the series when Sean McClain drove in Jack Moss from third with a one-out single in the bottom of the second. After a flyout, Lampe pulled a home run inside the right-field foul pole and Swift made it back-to-back shots with a blast out to left field to give the Sun Devils a 4-0 lead.

The Rainbows bunched four hits in the top of the fourth and cut the deficit in half on RBI singles by Aaron Ujimori and Kole Kaler. Dallas Duarte was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Baeza, Igawa and Dustin Demeter drew three consecutive walks to push UH ahead 5-4.

Arizona State tied the game then took the lead on Kai Murphy’s sacrifice fly in the fifth and another by Lampe in the sixth.

UH tied the game again with two out in the top of the seventh when Duarte scored from second on Igawa’s infield single. McClain made a diving stop of Igawa’s soft liner in the hole and his throw to first was late. Duarte continued around third and dove into the plate ahead of the tag.

ASU put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh and reclaimed the lead then when UH left fielder Naighel Calderon couldn’t secure a running catch of Moss’s shallow flyball. McClain drove in another run with a soft single into right field. Kade Higgins looped an opposite-field single into shallow left to push ASU’s lead to 9-6.

Arizona State reliever Brady Corrigan retired all six batters he faced, four on strikeouts, to close out the win over the Sun Devils.

Jared Glenn struck out five over 3 2/3 innings of relief and earned the win and Corrigan picked up a save. Buddie Pindel took the loss for UH after giving up three runs over four innings.

UH opens its home schedule with a four-game series against Hawaii Pacific University starting Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium.

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