Mike Marjama had three hits, scoring once and driving in two runs for the Long Beach State baseball team, but four runs in the sixth and seventh innings allowed No. 6 Arizona State to pull away for a 6-3 win on Friday at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
Andrew Gagnon (4-7) pitched six 2/3 innings for LBSU (23-20), but allowed all six runs, including five earned.
Meanwhile, Brady Rodgers (7-2) allowed three runs on eight hits in seven 1/3 innings to pick up the victory for the Sun Devils (33-11)
The real trouble for the Dirtbags came in the sixth inning. Gagnon, who allowed just two runs for the first five innings, gave up a leadoff single to Zack McPhee before Joey DeMichele cracked a triple to the wall to give ASU a two-run lead.
From there, DeMichele scored on a sacrifice fly, extending the Sun Devils’ lead to 4-1.
ASU then added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and runners on the corners, Ryan Donohue came on in relief for Gagnon before DeMichele ripped another bases-clearing triple to give ASU its largest lead of the game, 6-1.
LBSU answered with two runs in the top of the eighth inning. Rodgers struck out the first batter of the inning, but Royce Murai hit a comebacker to prompt a rally, and after hitting Matt Hibbert, a single by Jeff McNeil loaded the bases for Marjama.
Marjama then came through for his third hit of the game to score a pair of runs before but ASU turned to its setup and closer tandem of Trevor Williams and Mitchell Lambson who finished the rest of the game without allowing a hit.
ASU struck first, scoring an unearned run as Johnny Ruettiger came around to score on a failed pickoff move from Gagnon.
The Dirtbags answered back in the fourth inning as Marjama singled to start the inning. Ino Patron followed with another single on a hit-and-run play to put runners on the corners before a sacrifice fly from Matt Duffy tied the game.
ASU regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, however, when a leadoff walk came around to score without a hit in the inning, giving the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead.
The teams will return to Packard Stadium on Saturday for game two of the three-game series at 6:30 p.m.
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