The Arizona State baseball team completed its sweep of Utah this afternoon with a 4-2 victory over the Utah Utes in front of 2,205 fans at Packard Stadium.
Right-hander Alex Blackford started for the Sun Devils, giving up two runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. Right-handers Joseph Lopez and Robert Ravago allowed two hits in 3 2/3 innings in relief of Blackford, and Jake Barrett pitched a scoreless ninth innings to record his ninth save of the season.
After Utah (12-33, 6-18) scored in the top of the first inning, ASU (29-17, 14-10) countered in the bottom of the first with an Abe Ruiz RBI single. In the second inning, ASU loaded the bases with no outs for Andrew Aplin, Aplin hit a sacrifice fly to give ASU a 2-1 lead. Deven Marrero followed with an RBI groundout to extend the ASU lead to 3-1.
Utah catcher Parker Morin cut the ASU lead to 3-2 in the third inning, with his second RBI of the game, however the ASU bullpen was too strong for the Utes. Lopez, Ravago and Barrett combined for 4 2/3 innings, two hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
Arizona State has now swept three straight conference home series' and the Sun Devils improved to 12-1 at Packard Stadium this season against Pac-12 opposition.