Utah snapped a 27-game losing streak against Arizona State.
SALT LAKE CITY -- A three-run seventh inning lifted Utah to a 6-5 win against 12th-ranked Arizona State on Friday, evening the three-game series at 1-1.
Utah broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kody Davis led off the inning with his first career home run to give Utah the lead. The Utes kept it going as Hunter Simmons doubled down the right field line, and Dallas Carroll reached on an error on a bunt to put runners at the corners. Wyler Smith hit an RBI single and AJ Young sent a run home with a sacrifice fly, giving Utah a 5-2 lead.
Utah added an insurance run in the eighth inning. Josh Rose hit a one-out single and after a walk, a pair of hit batters loaded the bases and sent home a run, giving Utah a 6-3 lead. The Sun Devils made things interesting in the ninth inning, scoring three runs on four hits. ASU had the game-tying run on third base before reliever Bret Helton got a fly out to end the inning.
Helton entered in the seventh inning, surrendering three runs on six hits with three strikeouts. He earned the win to go to 2-4 on the season.
Starter Dalton Carroll pitched six innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out five. After walking three batters in the first inning, he would walk just one more throughout his remaining five innings.
"Dalton really did a nice job after the first inning," said Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg. "He came back and got it together and really did a nice job for the next five innings. We held on and we'll take it and go on to tomorrow."
Five players each had two hits for the Utes. Dallas Carroll went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI, scoring two runs. Young had two RBI. Davis, Simmons, Rose and Smith also all had two hits.
The win snapped Utah’s 27-game losing streak against the Sun Devils, giving the Utes their first win over ASU since 1960.
