Game 3: Sun Devils stun Tar Heels

For nine innings Sunday afternoon at the College World Series, an old-time pitching duel raged.

Arizona State starter Josh Spence for seven innings and reliever Mitchell Lambson for two scattered 10 hits, struck out 11 and gave up one run.

North Carolina starter Alex White's numbers sparkled even brighter. He gave up just seven hits and fanned 12 while giving up one run.

Then some baseball serendipity got involved.

In the 10th inning, a fly ball lost in the sun and a wind-blown three-run homer from Arizona State left fielder Kole Calhoun helped the Sun Devils topple North Carolina 5-2 before a Session 3 record crowd of 24,273 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

A postgame review of the box score brought a moment of silence from ASU's normally loquacious coach Pat Murphy.

“Wow, did we really strike out 14 times?'' he asked. “When you strike out 14 times, get picked off twice, make an error and still win, you're pretty lucky.''

The Sun Devils (50-12) were especially fortunate that White, who last year tied a record by winning three games in a single CWS, was pulled — even after his 131st and final pitch registered 94 mph.

“He was at his pitch limit,'' UNC coach Mike Fox said. “That was enough.''

Murphy said he “was praying'' that White, the No. 15 overall draft pick by Cleveland, would be lifted.

“White was terrific,'' Murphy said. “I don't know him at all, but I'm betting he's a great competitor.

“This kid has got a future. I went up to him after the game and said, ‘I know you're disappointed. But from my view after 25 raggedy years as a coach, you were special.'”

White's departure hardly meant that North Carolina (47-17) was in trouble.

Tar Heel reliever Colin Bates (2.84 ERA) got a popup and allowed a single. On came Brian Moran, third nationally in ERA at 1.95 with 88 strikeouts and eight walks.

Moran got Arizona State's Jason Kipnis, the Pac-10 player of the year, to fly to right. But North Carolina's Garrett Gore, fighting the sun, dropped it for an error.

ASU catcher Carlos Ramirez followed with a run-scoring single for a 2-1 lead. Then came Calhoun, with his first home run in 10 games and his first contribution of the day.

“The redhead here,'' said Murphy, poking fun, “finally decided he was going to show up. The first nine innings, he was busy signing autographs, waving to the fans in left field and building friendships out there for his next job.''

Calhoun was 0 for 4 through nine innings, with three grounders back to the pitcher and a strikeout.

But this time, he lifted a pitch to left center that the 15-mph breeze grabbed and slung into the fourth row of the bleachers.

“I was just trying to have a better at-bat than the last four, which wasn't hard to do,'' said Calhoun, a junior from Buckeye, Ariz. “I just wanted to hit it into left center. Fortunately, it got up in the air and got out.''

The four-run 10th inning stopped any potential second-guessing of Murphy for starting Spence (9-1, 2.33 ERA) over Mike Leake (16-1, 1.36 ERA).

Using the left-handed Spence against a Carolina lineup with five left-handed hitters was the clincher.

“Spence and Leake have been interchanging all year long,'' Murphy said. “Spence went plenty of times on Friday night earlier in the year before he got hurt.''

Contact the writer:

444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com