The Arizona Wildcats (13-13, 2-6) got another home run from freshman Dayton Dooney and a pair of spectacular relief appearances, but could not overcome the Arizona State Sun Devils (24-1, 7-1), falling by a final score of 8-3 on Saturday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Dooney, a switch hitter batting left handed, belted a three-run home run to right center field in the top of the fourth inning to get the Cats on the board and cut the ASU lead to 5-3. It was Dooney’s second home run in as many games, and his third of the year – all have come while hitting left handed. He finished the night 1-for-3 with one run, one home run, three RBI, and a walk.

Sophomore left-hander Gil Luna worked his best outing of the year on Saturday night. The southpaw entered the game in the bottom of the first inning with two runners on base and stranded them both. Luna worked 3.1 innings and limited the red-hot Arizona State offense to just one hit while striking out five batters. At one point, in the bottom of the fourth inning, Luna retired the Sun Devils two best hitters on back-to-back strikeouts.

Right-hander Vince Vannelle also showed out with a strong outing, covering the final 2.1 innings for the Wildcats and holding ASU scoreless on just one hit while striking out a pair. Just like Luna, Vannelle also stranded a pair of inherited runners after he entered the ballgame.

The top of the Wildcats lineup was productive too – center fielder and leadoff hitter Donta Williams (2x5), catcher Matthew Dyer (2x5), and left fielder Austin Wells (2x5) all collected multiple hits on the night.

The Wildcats and Sun Devils wrap up the three-game series with a Sunday afternoon contest scheduled for 1:05 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on Pac-12 Network.