ASU Baseball: Arizona pushes ASU bullpen to breaking point late, claims series with 7-6 win

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

Arizona State Baseball came into its annual “Territorial Cup” matchup against Arizona riding high after surrendering a mere four runs in three games against Washington State last weekend, one of the highest scoring teams in the Pac-12.

That parade seemingly ended when the No. 22 ranked Wildcats put up ten runs on the depleted Sun Devil pitching staff in the series opener on Thursday. This isn’t a surprise, considering the Wildcats rank first in the entire country in runs scored and fifth in team batting average.

The high-scoring theme most certainly carried over into the Friday night affair for both clubs, as they combined for 24 hits. But the back-and-forth contest once again went to the Wildcats, as they battled their way to a 7-6 victory on Friday.

The Sun Devils got off to a quick start, scoring three in the first on freshman outfielder Joe Lampe’s RBI single following junior shortstop Drew Swift’s leadoff triple. Freshman second baseman Sean McLain extended his other-worldly hitting streak to 20 games with an RBI double before freshman utility man Nate Baez added another run on an RBI single.

“I think if you asked Sean, he’d tell you that he’d trade all those hits for a team win,” head coach Tracy Smith said. “But regardless, I love what he’s doing.”

McLain joins the likes of ASU greats Spencer Torkelson, Andre Ethier, and Willie Bloomquist amongst others as the only Sun Devil hitters since 1998 to hit safely in 20 or more games.

“It feels special,” said McLain. “It’s a cool list to be on, but we gotta keep building.”

As great of a start as it was for the Sun Devil offense, sophomore starting pitcher Tyler Thornton struggled to keep the Wildcat offense at bay early on. Thornton narrowly averted danger in each of the first two innings, including a bases loaded jam in the second.

Arizona inevitably got to him in the third and fourth innings, as sophomore right fielder Ryan Holgate blasted a solo bomb before junior center fielder Donta Williams hammered a two-run shot to even up the score.

Thornton’s night was finished after that, making it the first time he’s failed to go at least four innings in a start in his Sun Devil career.

Arizona junior starter Garrett Irvin’s fate was much the same, as he too departed from the ballgame without getting through the middle innings, after both McLain and junior left fielder Hunter Jump reached base to start the frame. Freshman third baseman Hunter Haas eventually regained the Sun Devil lead after reaching on a throwing error by Arizona’s sophomore shortstop Jacob Blas in the fifth.

A head-scratching ground-rule double turned inside-the-park home run from sophomore left-fielder Tanner O’Tremba once again evened up the score 4-4 in the sixth. ASU found a way to jump back in front in the seventh as Haas once again delivered with a run scoring single before Baez followed it up with one of his own.

After limping through the fifth, sixth and seventh, the Wildcats offense finally pushed the ASU bullpen to its breaking point in the eighth. After striking out both of the batters he faced on Thursday, freshman left-hander Graham Osman gave up three runs, the most devastating coming on a wild pitch and a sharp single from freshman designated hitter Jacob Berry, giving Arizona the lead for good.

“Graham’s thrown well,” Smith said. “The plan was to take him through [Donta] Williams the lefty. It was more of a matchup thing, we had to stick with him longer.”

The ASU bullpen has managed to give up 11 runs over the first two games of the series, though most have been unearned.

Arizona State failed to respond on offense, and the Sun Devils dropped their second Pac-12 series of the season. It’s the first time since 2018 that they have lost a series against the rival Wildcats.

“They’re a good club,” Smith said. “But we have to play a good clean game in order to beat them.”

The Sun Devils struck out 12 times in the losing effort, and Arizona’s bullpen combination of freshmen Riley Cooper, Dawson Netz and seniors Vince Vannelle and Preston Price combined to only allow two runs the rest of the way.

ASU will attempt to salvage a win in the series finale on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. before heading to Tucson for a Tuesday non-conference bout with the Wildcats once again.