Box Score

PHOENIX -- Senior right-hander Nat Hamby threw six shutout innings of two-hit baseball, but host Arizona State found a way to rally against the Aggies' bullpen, scoring all three of its runs in the final two innings to help the Sun Devils shade UC Davis, 3-2, in the final game of a three-game series at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

The Aggies fell to 5-10 overall with the defeat, playing in their sixth consecutive game decided by a single run. Arizona State, meanwhile, won its eighth straight, improving to 13-3 on the year.

Hamby allowed only five base runners in his six innings of work en route to a no decision, holding the Sun Devils hitless until Colby Woodmansee singled to left with two outs in the third. He was eventually erased, caught stealing by Diaz to end the inning. Hamby tied a season-high with seven strikeouts, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced, and allowed only one of the five base runners to reach scoring position.

A pair of RBIs by freshman Ryan Anderson accounted for UC Davis' two runs, giving the Aggies the early advantage with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and an RBI single in the eighth for a 2-0 lead. Jacob Thomas walked with one out and went to third on junior Mark Cardinalli's single to left center to bring up Anderson, who lofted a ball to center, deep enough to plate Thomas for a 1-0 lead.

A lead-off walk by Garret Kelly and a sacrifice put the freshman into scoring position. Thomas walked for a third time on the day, and it looked as if Arizona State might get out of the jam with a strikeout for out number two. However, Anderson came through by sending the second pitch off left-hander Tucker Baca into left, scoring Kelly to give the Aggies a two-run advantage.

However, just as the Aggies had done in the first two games of the series, the Sun Devils were able to come up with the tying runs late, scoring a pair in the eighth on a two-run single by Woodmansee -- the third in a string of three straight hits -- to make it a 2-2 ball game and set up another last at-bat rally for Arizona State.

A single by Andrew Snow to lead-off the ninth off sophomore Blake Peters (2-2) set the stage as he was sacrificed into scoring position. A walk to Jordan Aboites set up a possible double play, but UC Davis wouldn't get the chance as Ryan Lillard singled into left field, scoring Snow from second base for the winning run.

Peters allowed all three runs on five hits to suffer his second loss of the weekend, while freshman Chris Brown allowed a hit and struck out one in the seventh. Ryan Hingst (1-0) earned the win in relief for the Sun Devils, allowing just one hit in 1.2 innings of work striking out one.

UC Davis stranded six runners -- including a runner at third in the sixth and another at second in the eighth. Junior Mark Cardinalli finished 2-for-3 to lead the UC Davis offense, while sophomore Alex Aguiar and junior Ignacio Diaz also added hits.

The Aggies take the next week off for final exams, returning to the diamond on March 21 for the second of three meetings against Stanford at Dobbins Stadium. First pitch is scheduled 2:30 p.m.

Arizona State 3, UC Davis 2 (Mar 13, 2016 at Phoenix, Ariz.)
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UC Davis……..…. 000 100 010 - 2 5 0 (5-10)
Arizona State....... 000 000 021 - 3 8 0 (13-3)
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Pitchers: UC Davis - Hamby, Nat; Brown, Chris (7); Peters, Blake (8) and Diaz, Ignacio. Arizona State - Todd,R; Schneider,G(7); Melbostad,E(8); Baca,T(8); Hingst,R(8) and Cerbo,Z; Serven,B.
Win-Hingst,R(1-0) Loss - Peters, Blake (2-2) T-3:00 A-2320
Weather: 80s and sunny
Schneider,G faced 1 batter in the 8th.
Baca,T faced 1 batter in the 8th.