ASU’s quiet bats make enough noise for win

After clubbing three top 20-ranked teams by a combined 44-10, the Arizona State baseball team carried a much smaller stick on Friday.

Then again, considering that Surprise Stadium is a facility in which the Sun Devils have often looked less than ordinary, a 3-0 victory against Hawaii in the Coca-Cola Classic is an achievement to savor.

Top-ranked ASU — which won in Surprise for just the second time in seven games — countered a solid effort by Hawaii starting pitcher Jared Alexander with effective mound work of its own and used slick, run-saving defense to make up for run-costing base-running lapses.

“It’s always easy to pitch when your team is scoring a bunch of runs,” said right-handed reliever Tommy Rafferty, who pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings. “If we get tested by a team and overcome that, it’s going to be good for us.”

It was not all good for the Sun Devils (5-0), as outfielder Jason Kipnis, who has four home runs in the first four games of the season, left in the seventh inning and had his right elbow wrapped.

“He’s hurting,” ASU coach Pat Murphy said of Kipnis, who had a bunt single and an infield hit. “The last two times he came up, he couldn’t feel two fingers. He is potentially out; we’ll see. It’s a nerve thing. It’s terrible when something like that happens to a kid who is going so good.”

Rafferty was the fourth of five ASU pitchers. With the bases loaded in the ninth inning, sophomore Jason Jarvis moved to the mound from left field to get the final out for his first save of the season.

“We pieced it together and made good plays behind them,” Murphy said.

The last key defensive play came from shortstop Marcel Champagnie, who dove to Sean Montplaisir’s ground ball off Jarvis and threw to second base for the force out.

The junior-college transfer also had a big game at the plate, going 3-for-4 for the second straight game.

Champagnie, who had two triples on Friday, is batting .454 (10-for-22).

“I just try to play every game hard,” Champagnie said. “I guess I’m showing that I’m capable of playing well, but what matters is if the team is capable. If the team is not winning, I’m not doing my job.”

ASU blew scoring chances, with two runners thrown out at home plate and another at third base.

It scored an unearned run in the second, then ended Alexander’s season streak of 17 innings without allowing an earned run in the seventh. Champagnie led off with a triple but was thrown out at home on a ground ball. Next up was second baseman Raoul Torrez, who tripled to score Matt Newman from first.

Alexander, a right-hander, scattered eight hits, walked none and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings. He threw 105 pitches.

“He had great command of three pitches,” Murphy said. “You couldn’t sit on his fastball. I’d take him in a heartbeat.”

The Warriors (5-4) threatened in the sixth and seventh innings, putting two runners on with one out in both frames. Right-hander Reyes Dorado came in and put out the sixth-inning fire with two strikeouts, and Rafferty relieved Dorado in the seventh and squelched the rally.

“I just had to threw strikes and let the defense work,” said Rafferty, who sat out last season after transferring from Angelo State. “I’m throwing the sinker up there and letting them hit it.”