TEMPE, Ariz. — Freshman shortstop Michael Benjamin accounted for all of No. 6 Arizona State's runs Monday night in a 3-0 victory over BYU's baseball team.
Benjamin, the son of ASU assistant coach Mike, hit a two-run homer in the eighth. He gave the Sun Devils, now 32-10, their 1-0 lead in the sixth before 2,820 fans in a short one hour, forty-eight minute game.
BYU pitcher Matthew Neil fielded a slow one-hop one-out come-backer, but lobbed it over Austin Hall's head for a two-base error in the sixth to put Michael Benjamin second. Benjamin advanced to third on a ground-out, then scored on a wild pitch to give ASU a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars, now 20-21 overall, had their chances against ASU. Ryan Bernal led off with a double in the fourth and advanced to third on Alex Wolfe's ground-out. Teammate Chase Frampton walked, but the Cougars were stranded with runners on the corners.
Bernal got on base again with a single in the sixth, but was thrown out trying to steal second.
And Cougar Austin Hall hit a two-out single in the seventh to left field. Hall stole second, but Bret Lopez popped up to second to end the inning.
Neil and Kyle Ottoson, now 3-0, each tallied five strikeouts through six innings when the game was scoreless.
The two teams meet again Tuesday night.