Even with his team up four runs in the third inning against No. 7 Arizona State, Auburn coach John Pawlowski had a hunch the Sun Devils weren’t done yet.

“We knew they weren’t going away,” Pawlowski said. “That’s a solid ballclub over there, and they play at a very high level.”

But even he probably couldn’t guess the chain of events that would lead to Arizona State’s winning run in its 8-7 victory at Plainsman Park on Friday night.

With the score tied, one out and a runner at first in the ninth inning, the Sun Devils’ Andy Workman hit a ground ball that glanced off umpire Jay Pierce’s foot behind the pitcher’s mound and popped up to Justin Hargett, who looked to have a chance to throw Workman out at first.

Pierce called the play dead and awarded Workman first base, with Andrew Aplin, who had driven in the tying run earlier in the inning, advancing to second.

“He just said it was a dead ball, called time and that was it,” Hargett said. “I didn’t know the ruling, and I wasn’t here to argue with him. I trust his judgment on that. It was just a tough break for us.”

Rule 5.09(f) in the rule book states “If a fair ball touches an umpire working in the infield after it has bounded past, or over, the pitcher, it is a dead ball.”

Two batters later, a Zack MacPhee single that took a bad hop and bounded over Hargett’s head to score Workman gave the Sun Devils (10-2) a one-run lead, and Mitchell Lambson got No. 23 Auburn (10-4) in order in bottom of the inning to preserve the win.

“That’s part of baseball,” Pawlowski said. “We certainly had some chances earlier in the game — maybe if we could’ve got a base hit or made a pitch — but it’s part of the game.

“That’s a tough thing. But I told our guys we can’t worry about those circumstances. What we can worry about is flushing those out and being ready to play tomorrow.”

Auburn jumped out 4-0 in the first three innings with a pair of two-out, two-run hits from Dan Gamache, a double in the first and a triple in the third.

Tigers starter Cory Luckie kept the Sun Devils in check for three innings, but let up a three-spot in the third on a two-run single by Xorge Carrillo and an RBI single from Johnny Ruettiger.

Luckie went 4 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts and leaving with a 4-3 lead.

Arizona State went ahead with two runs — helped along by three Auburn errors — in the top of the sixth, but the Tigers answered back with a two-out, two-run home run to right by Kevin Patterson to take back the lead, 6-5.

The Sun Devils knotted the game in the top of the seventh on another RBI single from Ruettiger, but a Justin Fradejas infield single that drew a bad throw to first plated Bobby Andrews in the bottom of the eighth to give the home team a 7-6 lead heading into the final frame.

Andrews came in as a pinch runner for Gamache, who led off the eighth with a single and finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI.

Gamache would have been the Tigers’ third batter up in the ninth if he hadn’t been subbed out for Andrews.

“You look at it either way: We don’t pinch run, we might not score that run,” Pawlowski said. “You look at every situation that could possibly come up and try to make the best decision.

“(Gamache) had a great night. I thought he swung the bat as well as I’ve seen him.”

Lambson (3-1) got the win for Arizona State, giving up a run on four hits and striking out four over 2 1/3 innings.

Ethan Wallen (0-1) picked up the loss for Auburn, giving up two runs on four hits, while striking out three, walking two and being on the wrong end of two bad bounces in the ninth.

“One pitch here, one play there could have made the difference,” Pawlowski said. “But that’s the way the game is played.”

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