(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
With the series and bragging rights on the line, Arizona State Baseball cracked under the pressure on Sunday afternoon against in-state rival Arizona and lost 14-4.
From the Wildcats’ early 2-0 lead at the end of the first inning by way of sophomore catcher Daniel Susac’s two-run home run, the Sun Devils seemingly stood no chance against Arizona’s punishing offense.
The Wildcats continued to pile on the runs in the third inning with a trio of RBI singles by junior outfielder Tanner O’Tremba, junior infielder Tony Bullard and sophomore outfielder Mac Bingham, who brought in two runs with a base hit, to make the score 6-0 Wildcats. Meanwhile, the Sun Devils just could not get going, managing just three hits through the first five innings.
The momentum seemed to shift, however, in the fifth inning when Arizona head coach Chip Hale was ejected for arguing a call with the home plate umpire.
Leading off the inning, Arizona sophomore outfielder Chase Davis was hit by a pitch out of the hands of ASU redshirt sophomore right-hander Jacob Walker. Davis was not awarded a base, however, because the umpire deemed he did not make a sufficient effort to move out of the way of the ball. Irate because of the call, Hale came out of the dugout to argue the decision and was subsequently tossed from the game.
Following the ejection, the Sun Devils secured the necessary outs to move to the sixth inning, where redshirt sophomore Nate Baez launched a ball out to left field for a 3-run blast, cutting Arizona’s lead in half.
Headed into the seventh inning, the Sun Devils seemed ready to turn the game around but their momentum was quickly halted by a leadoff walk given up by junior right-hander Chase Webster. After the walk, Webster was visited on the mound by ASU’s trainer and was subsequently pulled and replaced by redshirt sophomore right-hander Christian Bodlovich.
Bodlovich seemed to be working through the inning just fine. With two outs on the board, he forced O’Tremba to pop one out to left field, but after ASU freshman outfielder Will Rogers struggled to find the ball in the air, not only did O’Tremba make it to second base safely, but he also scored an RBI, bringing Arizona sophomore catcher Cameron LaLiberte home.
The game got further out of hand for ASU in the seventh when it had to burn through four different pitchers just to make it out of the inning.
Redshirt junior right-hander Andrew Lucas started the inning off in place of Bodlovich, but after giving up a double, a walk and hitting a batter to load the bases, he was pulled in in favor of freshman two-way player Blake Pivaroff. Pivaroff didn’t fare much better, walking in a run and allowing another on a sacrifice fly to load up the bases once again before he was sent to the dugout.
Next up to try to finish the inning on the mound was sophomore infielder Ethan Long, who wasn’t available to play his usual spot at third base due to a nagging wrist injury on his glove arm. Long picked up right where Pivaroff left off, walking in two straight runs before allowing Arizona junior infielder Nik McClaughry to score on a wild pitch and Davis to put down a single that also brought in a run.
Finally, the inning ended thanks to sophomore right-handed pitcher Brock Peery, who got freshman utility player Tommy Splaine to fly out but not before allowing another run on a Bingham sacrifice fly. When the dust had settled ASU found themselves down 14-3 with just 2 innings remaining.
Not willing to give up, the Sun Devils found some light in the eighth when sophomore outfielder Michael Brueser pinch-hit for freshman infielder Jacob Tobias and earned his way on base while bringing in a run. On an otherwise dreary day for ASU, Brueser had something to celebrate, having earned his first collegiate hit.
Nonetheless, the Sun Devils were shut down with a pair of eye-catching plays from McClaughry, who barehanded a ball at shortstop to throw out redshirt sophomore infielder Sean McLain and Davis, who sent Rogers back to the dugout empty-handed after running into the left-field wall to make a play.
In the end, ASU couldn’t muster up enough fight to put themselves back in the game, losing the weekend series. With the loss, the Sun Devils finish tied at two wins apiece with the Wildcats in their head-to-head record on the season. ASU also drops back to .500 in the Pac-12 Conference and drops below .500 on the season overall once again.
The Sun Devils’ next chance for improvement will be on Tuesday back at home in Phoenix Municipal Stadium, when they host UNLV for a rematch from earlier in the season. The Rebels currently hold the advantage, having won the March 29 affair in Las Vegas 11-10.
