PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball overcame a seven-run deficit and took the series against Cal with a 16-9 victory on Sunday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium behind a nine-run eighth inning.

Trailing 9-2 after five innings, ASU looked on pace to suffer its second consecutive rout at the hands of the Bears. But the Sun Devils (13-16, 5-4 Pac-12) rallied behind shutdown pitching from Chase Webster and the hot bats of its true freshmen to score five in the sixth inning and nine in the eighth to post the team’s largest comeback since 2000.

This recap is much different without the efforts of Webster, who had his longest outing as Division I pitcher at 4.0 innings, not allowing a run or a walk while striking out two and giving up just one hit. Relying on his offspeed pitches to complement his low-to-mid 90’s fastball, Webster kept Cal (12-15, 5-7 Pac-12) off balance after the Bears posted crooked numbers in the first, third and fifth innings to jump to a big lead.

After giving up a double to the first batter he faced, he retired eight in a row to stymie the Cal offense and give the Sun Devils a chance.

That chance came to fruition behind the bats of three freshmen recording nine of ASU’s 13 RBIs in the sixth and eighth innings (Ryan Campos with four, Cam Magee with three and Alex Champagne with two).

Campos got his first career homer in the sixth, a two-out three run oppo taco to get ASU back within 9-7. Cam Magee recorded bases-loaded triple to blow the game open while Champagne had a huge bases-loaded RBI single in the eighth – the first of nine runs in the frame, bringing ASU within a run and turning the lineup around to the top of the order.

Nate Baez was 3-for-5 and the only Sun Devil to have multiple hits in the game. All three of his knocks were doubles and he finished with three RBIs and two runs scored. Kai Murphy and Conor Davis each added three runs while every slot in the lineup…