Beach Score Three in Ninth and Win

Saturday, March 10

Tempe, Ariz.

1:00 PM

Long Beach State University

9-5

Arizona State

13-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Long Beach State	0	1	2	0	1	0	0	1	3	8	16	1
Arizona State	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	2	1	7	6	1

3/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Howell and Corder Lead Comeback in the Ninth
Pac-10 Transfers Evens Series with Arizona State

March 10, 2007

BOXSCORE

TEMPE, AZ-- Travis Howell's two-run single as part of a three-run ninth inning led No. 19-ranked Long Beach State (9-5) to an 8-7 victory over host No. 11-ranked Arizona State (13-6), after the Sun Devils took the lead in the bottom of the eighth for the second-straight day. The win evened the series and was the second-straight one-run, late inning victory in the series.

The Dirtbags twice came back late in the game, leading in the eighth and ninth innings. Matt Spencer hit a two-run double in the eighth off of closer Bryan Shaw (2-0) giving ASU a brief 6-5 advantage, which stood for about 10 minutes, before Jason Corder's RBI single in the ninth tied it at 6-6. Shaw gave up an RBI double to Eric Sogard to make it 8-7, before getting the final out for the win. The two runs were the first runs given up by Shaw all year.

Corder, who finished 4-for-5, as part of a 16-hit attack, added three hits from Danny Espinosa and two hits from Robert Perry and Brandon Godfrey. Corder and Espinosa each hit solo home runs in the game.

The Beach had taken a 5-4 lead in the eighth after Joey Parigini's first pitch of the ballgame in the eighth, scored Espinosa from third on a wild pitch. Espinosa got on via an error by second baseman Eric Sogard, who now has five RBIs in the series.

Omar Arif fought his way into the seventh inning for LBSU, pitching six and two-thirds innings, allowing just four hits against an ASU team which came in batting .372 on the season. Arif gave up three runs in the fourth and another in the fourth, retiring the first 11 batters of the game and another six in a row into the seventh. ASU twice tied it against Arif.

Corder put The Beach on the board in the second with a solo home run before two sacrifice flies in the third made it 3-0. ASU came back with three runs in the fourth, breaking up 11 in a row retired by Arif to start, as an Petey Parramore two-run home run tied it at 3-3.

Espinosa broke the tie with a solo home run to left in the fifth to give LBSU a 4-3 lead. An error by third baseman Taylor Krick led to an unearned run in the bottom of the inning, as a groundout tied it at 4-4.

The final game of the series will be on Sunday at 1 p.m.