Baseball One-Hits Arizona to Clinch Series

See the full game recap with Box score, team stats and game leaders.

TUCSON - Sun Devil Baseball (9-9, 3-2 Pac-12) earned their first conference series win after a 4-0 effort over Arizona (7-10, 2-3 Pac-12) in the second game of its Pac-12 series on Saturday night in Tucson, the first shutout victory over Arizona since 2014. 
 
Arizona State gained the first lead of the game with an RBI groundout in the third inning, and never gave it up. Adding one insurance run in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings, sound pitching from Connor Markl and Ryan Schiefer held Arizona to just one hit. 
 
In his fourth outing of the season, Markl delivered his best performance. Through his career best 6.0 innings pitched, the Sun Devil allowed just one hit, walking three batters and striking out eight over 89 pitches.  
 
Star reliever Ryan Schiefer entered in the seventh and sealed the deal with 3.0 innings without a hit, allowing one walk and tossing four strikeouts on 53 pitches. 
 
Harris Williams, Ryan Campos, Ethan Mendoza, and Jax Ryan all had multiple hits, with Nick McLain adding two RBI's to the mix. 
 
TURNING POINT
Scoreless through two innings, Jax Ryan led off with a single through the right side to begin the third. Harris Williams followed suit with a single up the middle. An attempt at picking off Ryan at second was mishandled by the shortstop and left both runners in scoring position. Nick McLain brought Ryan home with a groundout to first, giving the Sun Devils the first lead of the game - one it would hold to the finish after having entered the contest winning 24 of its previous 29 games dating back to last season in games where it trailed at some point. 
 
BIG MOMENT
After adding one in the fifth, the Sun Devils looked for insurance runs late. In the seventh, a leadoff triple from Williams was quickly followed up by a fly out to bring him home for one. Now up 3-0, a leadoff double from Mendoza in the eighth put him in scoring position for Ondina's single. A double play ended the eighth with runners on first and second, but the Sun Devils had built a strong 4-0 lead. 
 
FINAL STRAW
In his third inning of relief in the ninth, Schiefer made things interesting with a walk to begin things. Things looked gloom as the next batter launched a ball towards the center field wall, but Jackson found his way under it. Another ball seemed to be destined to go yard in left field, but Williams took a couple turns on his way to the wall and corralled it. The runner on base advanced to second, but a second fly out to center field was caught by Jackson to seal the shutout. 
 
NOTABLES

• Ryan Campos' first inning single extended his active reached base streak to 28 games dating back to last season. He has now reached base in 98-of-107 career games (91.6 percent) with the Sun Devils.
• Campos has also thrown out a runner in five consecutive games with his first-inning caught stealing and has thrown out five of the last seven runners attempting to steal a base.
• The four total runs in the game tie for the fewest in the rivalry series since a 2-1 Arizona State win in Tucson in 2014. It was ASU's first first shutout over Arizona since that 2014 campaign. The two combined runs in consecutive games from Arizona are also the fewest since that 2014 series in Tucson (ASU won the first two games 2-1 and 7-0).
• Connor Markl tossed a career-best 6.0 innings to earn the second quality start in a row for the Sun Devil pitchers, allowing just one hit in the outing. It was just the third time he had allowed no earned runs in 5.0+ innings and first since a 6.0-inning effort against Texas State on March 5, 2023 while at GCU. He also went 5.0 innings with no earned runs allowed against Arizona as a Lope in his first appearance of the 2022 season as a sophomore.
• It was the first time Arizona had been one-hit by an opponent since May 15, 2015 vs. UCLA. It was the first time ASU had one-hit an opponent since doing so against Sacramento State during opening weekend of 2021. It had been since 2007 previously that ASU had posted a one-hitter against a Pac-10/12 team (did so against Oregon State).
• ASU is looking for its third series sweep over its rival since the 2019 season (2019 and 2023).
• Ryan Schiefer continues to be electric out of the Sun Devil bullpen, now with a 1.15 ERA over 15.2 innings and seven appearances, adding his first save for the Sun Devils tonight. Opponents are batting just .064 against him this season. The 1.15 ERA is the lowest for a Sun Devil reliever with at least 15 innings pitched through 18 games since Ryan Hingst had a 1.10 ERA in 2016.
• The game marked the 12th time this season the pitching staff had struck out 10+ batters and 11th time the team recorded 10 hits.
• The ASU bullpen has posted a 4.12 ERA over its last 10 games with just a .209 average against, striking out 53 in 48.0 innings. In the team's first eight games, the bullpen had a 10.85 ERA with 44 strikeouts and a .329 average over 37.1 innings.

 
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
On what it means to be able to shut out a team in this kind of way: 
"Well, I think it's a tribute to the way they are going and the way we're starting to take shape and start to learn who's capable of doing what and to see that we can do those types of things. I'm not suggesting we're going to shut everybody out, but we're better than what we've shown early in the year and we're starting to take form and guys are starting to settle into roles a little bit more and start to trust their stuff. So, all that equals a good outing today."
 
Junior pitcher Ryan Schiefer: 
On what allows him to have so much confidence in the back end of games like this:
"As always, I'm just trying to get the job done. Tonight, I was blessed with the opportunity to play in a big game, in a rivalry game here to win the series and we had the opportunity just two games in. So, I was ready for that opportunity."
 
INNING BY INNING 
First Inning
Ryan Campos singled to left field to continue his on-base streak. After Nick McLain worked a full count walk, Arizona collected a grounder at second to close the frame on a double play. After a walk, Connor Markl delivered a strikeout and Campos threw the runner out attempting to steal second. A flyout to left field ended the inning scoreless. 
 
Second Inning
Brandon Compton got on base via walk and stole second before a strikeout and groundout left him stranded. Markl earned his second and third strikeouts sandwiched around a walk. A groundout to second base ended the inning. 
 
Third Inning
Jax Ryan led off the inning with a strong single through the right side before Harris Williams followed with one up the middle. A pickoff attempt to second resulted in a fielding error by the shortstop and left runners on second and third for the Sun Devils. McLain batted Ryan home with a groundout to first. A strikeout brought Arizona up to bat. Markl earned two more strikeouts around a short pop out to second to rifle through the frame in ten pitches. 
 
Fourth Inning
After two strikeouts, a sure-fire fly out to right field was dropped, allowing Jackson to reach first. He would be stranded on a pop up to second. A groundout and Markl's fifth strikeout made it look like a quick inning, before a single was shot through the left side. Ryan then made a great catch at third to send it to the fifth. 
 
Fifth Inning
Beginning the inning with two strikeouts again, Campos worked a full count and doubled to right field. McLain stepped up and shot his first pitch to left field, bringing Campos home for the Devils' second run. McLain stole second, but a third strikeout left him there. Arizona got a runner on first with a one-out walk, but a fly out to Jackson at center field was followed up with a highly improbable, sprinting grab from McLain at right to end the inning. 
 
Sixth Inning
Mendoza hit a deep line drive down the right field line that sat at the wall, but stayed at second. A groundout advanced him to third and Arizona called for a pitching change before the last out. Stephen Ondina was walked and stole second to put both runners in scoring position. The new pitcher earned his first strikeout to strand the runners. Markl retired the side in his sixth inning, bringing him to eight punchouts. 
 
Seventh Inning
ASU quickly added to their lead as Williams tripled down the right field line and was brought in by a fly out from Campos. After a groundout, Tobias doubled to left field and caused a pitching change from Arizona, but a fly out would close the frame. 
 
Eighth Inning
Mendoza led off with a double to left field, and scored on an Ondina single up the middle. Ryan got his second hit of the night to put runners on first and second, but a double play ended the eighth frame for the Sun Devil offense. Schiefer added two strikeouts before a fly out to second base left just three outs for Arizona to mount a comeback. 
 
Ninth Inning
The Sun Devils were retired in order. Schiefer walked the first Wildcat before the next batter launched one towards the center field wall and Jackson found his way under it. Another ball seemed to be destined to go yard in left field, but Williams took a couple turns on his way to the wall and corralled it. The runner on base advanced to second, but another fly out to center field was caught by Jackson to seal the shutout. 
 
ON DECK: 
ASU will look to sweep the series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m. AZT. The game will be available on Pac-12 Arizona and over the airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM.