TEMPE, Ariz.- Mike Leake struck out 15 in a complete game gem to lead the No. 4 Arizona State University baseball team to a 4-1 victory over Arizona on Friday in front of a sellout crowd of 4,371 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The Sun Devils improve to 15-3 with the win in the Pac-10 Conference opener.
Leake gave up five hits and one run with just one walk as he moved to 5-1 on the season. It was his fifth career complete game and his career high for strikeouts in a single game. It was the most strikeouts by a Sun Devil pitcher since Mike Esposito fanned 17 Washington Huskies on March 29, 2002.
Both offenses were held at bay through the first four innings by Leake and Arizona starter Preston Guilmet. The Sun Devils finally broke through with two-out runs in both the fifth and sixth. Riccio Torrez had an RBI single in the fifth and Jared McDonald doubled to left center to bring in a run in the sixth.
The Wildcats cut the deficit in the eighth on a solo home run by Bobby Coyle, but ASU answered in the bottom half of the inning when Zack MacPhee bounced a single over the head of Arizona third baseman Brad Glenn to drive in two runs.
Leake then sent the Wildcats down in order in the ninth to secure the ASU victory.
The two teams will continue their three-game series on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.
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