Jayhawks Fall to No. 7 Arizona State, 4-3

March 5, 2011

SURPRISE, Ariz. –

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Arizona State third baseman Riccio Torrez’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh broke a three-all tie and lifted the seventh-ranked SunDevils to a 4-3 victory over Kansas Saturday evening at Surprise Stadium as part of the Coca Cola Classic.

Kansas drops its third game of the tournament, falling to 4-6 overall, while ASU improves to 8-2 on the season.

ASU took advantage of an errant pickoff attempt to secure the victory. After a one-out walk to second baseman Zack MacPhee, KU relief pitcher Nolan Mansfield tried to pick him off first. However, the senior’s throw sail wide of first base and ricocheted off the wall and into right field to put McPhee on third base.

Torrez took advantage of the error by lifting a high fly to center field which scored McPhee easily from third base. It marked the Jayhawks’ third loss of the season by one run.

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fourth, KU grabbed the lead on a three-run homer off the bat of catcher Alex DeLeon. It was the sophomore’s first home run of the season and just the second by the Jayhawks this season.

However, ASU tied the game in the fifth on another sacrifice fly by Torrez and then won the contest in the seventh.

KU starting pitcher T.J. Walz was effectively wild, allowing three runs on eight hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts over six innings. It marked the fifth quality start by a Kansas pitcher this season in 10 games.

The Jayhawks dropped to 1-3 this year against Top 25 teams. Seven of the nine Jayhawks in the lineup had hits in the game.

Kansas will look to salvage the final game of the tournament Sunday morning against Air Force at 11 a.m. CST.