Whenever Arizona State (25-16, 11-7 Big 12) faces off against crosstown rival Grand Canyon (24-16, 10-5 WAC), the teams often turn in a highly contested back-and-forth affair. This once again proved to be the case on Tuesday night.
In the first of two meetings this season, GCU downed the Devils by a final tally of 7-6 following a late comeback in the sixth and seventh innings.
After taking two out of three in their previous series against Texas Tech, the Sun Devils exuded confidence as they walked out onto Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark on Tuesday night.
They kicked the evening off by jumping out to a 1-0 lead courtesy of senior shortstop Matt King, who drove in senior second baseman Kyle Walker with a single to right field.
“Matt King plays hard and put together good, solid at-bats tonight,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said.
Nonetheless, soon after, GCU sophomore infielder Cannon Peery delivered the first blow to the Maroon and Gold by driving in two runs in the bottom of the first. His double to right center gave the Lopes a 2-1 lead.
Yet, King continued his recent tear by striking again in the third and fourth innings. He racked up three more RBIs across the two frames to tack on to the ASU lead. At the end of four innings, the visitors held a steady 5-2 advantage.
However, the Lopes refused to go away. In the bottom of the fifth, Peery knocked a single through the left side, adding a run to the GCU total and cutting the deficit to just two.
ASU managed to respond with runs of its own in its next offensive frame. Graduate catcher Josiah Cromwick hammered a deep shot that soared high into the night sky and over the fence in left field to claim a team-leading 11th home run this season. It gave the Devils some insurance, as they went into the bottom of the sixth with a 6-3 lead.
CROM. BOMB. ELEVEN.
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) April 23, 2025
The team dinger leader sends this out of here in a hurry.
6-3, Devils, T6 pic.twitter.com/rwUQKyMned
In the bottom of the half of the inning, junior outfielder Josh Wakefield came to the Lopes’ aid with a single to right center, scoring a run and cutting the Sun Devils lead to 6-4.
Junior Emilio Barreras added to GCU’s comeback efforts in the frame, squeaking a hit past ASU senior first baseman Jacob Tobias. He doubled down the right field line to make it a one-run lead for the Sun Devils.
The Sun Devil bullpen’s struggles continued in the seventh. Right-handed pitcher Will Koger took the mound for ASU and gave up a two-run shot to right center to redshirt senior outfielder Michael Diaz, who put the Lopes up 7-6.
While Grand Canyon’s bats heated up as the night went on, ASU’s bats froze up in its final three offensive frames.
GCU’s closer, right-handed pitcher Walter Quinn, shut the door in the final two innings to earn his eighth save of the season and give the Lopes their 24th win of the season.
In the end, all Sparky had to show for was another close loss, as, despite an inspired early effort, it fell short on the road to its crosstown rival. ASU will be back at it again this weekend at Phoenix Municipal Stadium to take on Big 12 foe BYU in a three-game series starting on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. AZT.
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