Hingst tosses the program's 10th no-hitter

Sophomore right-hander Ryan Hingst pitched the 10th no-hitter in Sun Devil Baseball history to power Arizona State to a 5-0 win against Utah on Friday night in front of a season-high 3,463 fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

“I’m on cloud nine right now,” Hingst said. “I don’t even know how to put it into words. It will probably hit me later on tonight when I’m about to go to bed.” 

Hingst, in his first start of the season and first career Pac-12 start, completed ASU’s first no-hitter since March 23, 2013, as he allowed four baserunners on 121 pitches and struck out a career-best nine. It marked the Devils’ second no-hitter in Pac-10/12 Conference play and the school’s third no-hitter at Phoenix Muni.

“It was kind of in the back of my mind in the sixth inning when I noticed everybody was just ignoring me,” Hingst said. “Brandon Higelin, our pitching coach, who’s usually right next to me between innings, I noticed he wasn’t even next to me those last three innings. Then I looked at the scoreboard and that’s when it really kind of hit me.” 

Hingst, whose previous career-long outing was five innings, retired the first nine batters in order, hit one batter and allowed three walks in the middle third of the game, and closed out his historic night with three consecutive perfect frames.

The Utes (7-13, 3-2) put one runner in scoring position on the night as they had runners at first and second with one out in the sixth inning following a pair of walks, but Hingst issued a swinging strikeout and fly ball to right field to end the threat.

“[Hingst] was still throwing 92 mph in the last innings, so I think he still had plenty in the tank,” head coach Tracy Smith said. “He was very effective and the good part was, he was locating his fastball. He pretty much did that tonight with one pitch.”

The Sun Devils (14-8, 1-4) made a number of defensive plays to help preserve Hingst’s outing, including second baseman Andrew Snow, who secured a hard-hit grounder off the pitcher’s mound to make the out at first base in the second inning, and center fielder Andrew Shaps, who traced a long fly ball nearly to the warning track with one out in the eighth inning and made a running catch over his right shoulder for the second out of the frame.

ASU’s offense also found its groove in the victory as the team notched 13 hits, tied for the second-most this season and its 11th game in 2016 with double-digit hits. Eight different Devils recorded a hit and the team led off each of the first seven innings with a hit.

Snow tallied his team-high fourth three-hit game, catcher Brian Serven went 2-for-4 with a triple and scored two runs, Shaps added a pair of hits, and left fielder Tyler Williams, who entered the game with one career hit, collected two singles.  

ASU struck first in the bottom of the third inning to take a one-run lead. Snow opened the frame with a double to right field and took third on a groundout before Shaps brought him home with an infield single, his fifth two-out RBI of the season and second in as many nights. 

Serven extended the Devils’ advantage to a pair in the following frame as he led off with a triple, the first of his career, and scored in the next at-bat on Williams’ first career RBI in the form of a base hit to left field.

The Devils added three runs in the sixth to move ahead by five, 5-0. Pinch-hitter Ryan Lillard punched in the first run of the frame with a single, first baseman David Greer took a bases-loaded walk, and shortstop Colby Woodmansee closed out the inning with a RBI groundout to third base.