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Arizona State’s Kai Murphy was brilliant in his collegiate starting pitching debut Sunday.

The redshirt freshman left-hander allowed just one hit over seven innings in a series-deciding 7-2 win at California. He struck out three and needed just 71 pitches for the day.

Will Levine finished up on the mound for the final two innings.

Murphy (1-0), ASU’s right fielder, made two relief appearances (1 2/3 innings total) this season before Sunday. He also made four relief appearances in 2020 while at Oregon State.

Nate Baez hit a solo homer in the second for ASU when Hunter Jump also had an RBI hit. Sean McLain drove in two runs in the fourth and Drew Swift hit a two-run homer in the eighth in Berkeley.

Murphy also was 1-of-4 at the plate. Two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week Ethan Long covered right field, going 2-of-3 with a double that just missed being his 13th home run.

ASU won the series and its fifth game out of the last six. The Sun Devils are 27-15 (highest over .500 for the season), 12-9 Pac-12. Cal fell to 24-21, 10-11.

ASU is at Nevada (18-16) on Tuesday then hosts Oregon State for a series starting Friday.

Long, Fall lead ASU baseball to series-evening win at Cal

Ethan Long hit a pair of two-run homers and Justin Fall pitched a complete game Saturday in Arizona State baseball’s 6-3 win at California.

Long, two-time reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week, tied the game at 3-3 with his first homer in the seventh then added two insurance runs to a 4-3 lead with his second homer in the ninth.

The designated hitter now has 12 homers overall, passing Barry Bonds for second in school freshman history behind Spencer Torkelson, who hit 25 in 2018.

Fall (6-1) gave up single runs in the first, third and fourth innings in Berkeley then shut out the Bears over the final five innings. He is the first Sun Devil to throw a complete game since Boyd Vander Kooi over Utah in April 2019. 

The junior left-hander stayed in the game after taking a line drive off his leg in the third inning then slipping while covering first on a ground ball. He gave up seven hits and two earned runs, striking out five and throwing 133 pitches.

Sean McLain also homered for ASU and was singled ahead of McLain’s second homer. Drew Swift drove in the game-winning with a double in the eighth.

ASU improved to 26-15, 11-9 Pac-12 while evening the series against Cal (24-20, 10-10). The rubber game is at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Cal baseball roughs up Tyler Thornton in win over ASU

Arizona State baseball’s second try at a backward start for Tyler Thornton didn’t go so well.

Thornton entered in the third inning Friday night at California and immediately gave up a home run to Keshawn Ogans. The next three batters also had hits then Thornton hit a batter as the Bears finished the frame with a 4-0 lead in Berkeley.

Cal won 7-2 in the series opener, improving to 24-19, 10-9 Pac-12. ASU’s three-game win streak ended with the Sun Devils falling to 25-15, 10-9.

ASU trailed 6-0 before scoring twice in the seventh on a Sean McLain double. The Sun Devils left three runners on base in the first inning and 10 overall. ASU two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week Ethan Long went 0-of-4 with two strikeouts. 

Thornton (1-3), who pitched seven innings starting in the third last week against Rhode Island, took the loss. ASU used seven pitchers total with Thornton working 3 1/3 innings.

Josh White (4-1) was the winning pitcher.

The series continues at 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

ASU baseball, Long look to continue streaks at California

Arizona State at California, Evans Diamond, Berkeley, California, 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday — ASU (25-14, 10-8 Pac-12) is on a three-game win streak after sweeping non-conference Rhode Island. DH Ethan Long is two-time reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week and has 10 home runs, one shy of tying Barry Bonds for second in school freshman history. He is hitting .369 with .738 slugging percentage. Cal (23-19, 9-9) has won four straight, sweeping Washington last week and beating San Jose State 18-10 on Tuesday. OF Dylan Beavers has hit 13 homers (tied for No. 14 nationally) and the Bears 43 overall. 

ASU baseball’s Ethan Long earns Pac-12, national recognition

Arizona State freshman Ethan Long won his second consecutive Pac-12 Player of the Week award Monday.

Long, ASU’s designated hitter, also was chosen as one of the Collegiate Baseball national Players of the Week after becoming the first Sun Devil to hit eight home runs over a seven game span.

He is ASU’s first Collegiate Baseball honoree since Gage Canning in March 2018 and first repeat Pac-12 Player of the Week since Hunter Bishop in 2019. The only other ASU player to win Pac-12 honors twice in a row since 2008 was Ike Davis. 

In four games last week, Long hit .500 (9-of-18) with five home runs. He had 14 RBIs with a slugging percentage of 1.444 and OPS of 1.918. He had a season high six RBIs Sunday when ASU completed a non-conference sweep of Rhode Island, the most by a Sun Devil since Trevor Hauver’s seven in 2019.

ASU (25-14, 10-8 Pac-12) is at California (22-19, 9-9) for a series starting Friday. 

More: Kai & Kade: Arizona State baseball freshmen build on their family legacies

More: Long makes ASU baseball history with eight homers over seven games

Reach the reporter at [email protected] and 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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