Sun Devils drop final series of regular season

The month of May will officially go down as a losing month for the Sun Devils.

Over the past few weeks, teams from California have been trouble for the Sun Devils. On the first weekend of the month, ASU lost so out of three against California in Berkeley.

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The following weekend, ASU hosted UCLA for three games at Phoenix Muni and the Bruins took the first two of three games from the Sun Devils.

This weekend, the Sun Devils were back in Southern California to take on USC at Dedeaux Field for the final three games of the regular season.

And again their struggles continued.

The Trojans defeated the Sun Devils twice, to take the series win.

After getting blown out on Friday night 11-3, the USC answered back with a 7-4 win Saturday and a 6-3 win on Sunday.

A win Sunday would have evened the Sun Devils’ May record up at 7-7.

Instead, they finished the final month of the regular season with a 6-8 record and 34-21 overall.

On Friday, the Sun Devils got to work immediately, putting five runs on the board in the top of the first inning off of USC starter Kyle Davis.

Johnny Sewald got things started in the top of the first with a triple. He scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by David Greer.

Later in the innings, Short stop Colby Woodmansee stepped up at smashed a three-run home run, scoring Trever Allen and Jake Peevyhouse.

Joey Bielek scored the fifth run of the inning with a solo home run of his own to give the Sun Devils the early 5-0 lead.

Davis would settle down and the Sun Devils were quiet during the following five innings.

The Trojans, meanwhile, tried to slowly chip away at the five-run deficit. They added a run in the second, fourth and sixth.

But ASU stopped them right there. The Sun Devil pitching staff, led by Brett Lilek and Darin Gillies, held the Trojans to just three runs the entire game.

The offense picked things up again in the seventh inning, putting up a run in the inning and knocking out starter Kyle Davis.

The Sun Devils would go on to add three more runs in the eighth and two runs in the ninth. They eventually won it 11-3.

ASU tallied 17 hits in the Friday night win, their most in Pac-12 play and the second-most this season overall. They also put up a double-digit run total for the first time since April 26.

Gillies was awarded with the win. He threw five innings, giving up just one run on six hits. He also walked three and struck out six batters. He is now 3-5 this season.

Davis was handed the loss for the Trojans, his second of the year. Davis went six innings during his appearance. The Sun Devils managed eight hits and five runs off of him. Davis also walked three and struck out six.

On Saturday, the roles were slightly reversed.

This time, the Trojans struck first in the bottom of the first innings, putting up the game’s first run thanks to a SAC fly by Timmy Robinson to score Garrett Stubbs.

Both teams battled back and forth in the middle innings, putting up two runs respectively in the sixth.

The Sun Devils tied things up at three in the top of the seventh and it looked like it would be another close one heading into the later innings.

But the crushing blow came when the trojans knocked in four runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-3 lead.

USC eventually won it 7-4 and tied the series at a game a piece.

The win went to Trojans reliever Brent Wheatley, who pitched the final four innings of the game. He allowed just two runs on four hits. He also gave up just one walk and struck out four. Wheatley improved to 4-3 on the year.

The loss was given to ASU starter Ryan Kellogg, his second of the year. Kellogg went 6 1/3 and gave up five runs on nine hits. He also walked two and struck out eight. Kellogg ended regular year with an 8-2 record.

Sunday was the rubber-match of the three game series.

The Sun Devils were hoping to end the 2015 regular season with a win, but again, their struggles continued.

Things looked promising as the game began. The Sun Devils jumped to a 2-0 lead after the first three innings.

But the Sun Devil pitching gave up a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth and the Trojans took a 4-2 lead into the sixth.

The Sun Devils would add a run a pull within one run in the sixth, but USC answered back with two runs of their own an inning later.

The Trojans went on to with the game 6-3 and took the series from ASU. ASU dropped their final two games of the regular season.

Tyler Gilbert was awarded the win for USC. He pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up one run on three hits. He also walked a batter and struck out three.

Seth Martinez, the ASU starter, was handed the loss. During his six innings, he gave up five runs on eight hits. He walked four and struck out six.

The save went to Trojan Marc Huberman.

With the 2015 regular season officially in the books, ASU finished with an overall record of 34-21 and 18-12 in PAC-12 play.

The Trojans, meanwhile, finish at 37-19 and 18-12 in PAC-12 action.

USC and ASU finish tied for fourth in the PAC-12 standings.

The NCAA Regionals begin Friday, May 29.