AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sean McLain had an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning and a walk-off single in the ninth as Arizona State beat Fairfield 7-6 on Friday at the Austin Regional.
Arizona State (33-20) plays No. 2 overall seed Texas in the winner’s bracket, and Fairfield (37-4) plays Southern in a loser-out game, on Saturday.
Joe Lampe singled to center field and Kai Murphy followed with a pinch-hit single before Drew Swift walked to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Lampe scored when pinch-hitter Blake Pivaroff was hit by pitch to make it 6-all and two pitches later McLain dropped a line drive into right-center to bring home Murphy.
Justin Guerrera had a career-high four hits, including two doubles, and three runs, and Mike Handal hit a solo home run for Fairfield.
McLain walked, stole second and then scored on a single by Ethan Long and Jack Moss hit a two-run homer to give the Sun Devils a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth but Charlie Pagliarini had an RBI double in the sixth and Handal went home on a wild pitch before Matt Venuto and Ryan Strollo scored on back-to-back bases-loaded walks to give the Stags a 5-4 lead in the seventh. Guerrera hit a two-out double down the left-field line and scored on a single by Sean Cullen in the top of the eighth.
Hunter Jump singled in the bottom of the inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Seth Nager who scored on McLain’s double five pitches later.
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