(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
In baseball, the term “The Stopper” is often used when referencing an ace, or a No. 1 starting pitcher in the rotation. For Arizona State, their strongest bat casts that role: Gage Canning.
Rewinding back to March 16 against Oregon, ASU had lost three consecutive contests, and was on the verge of a fourth, down 4-3 in the eighth. Canning dug into the left-handed batter’s box with the bases juiced and two away. He drilled a 1-0 pitch against Kenyon Yovan into the left-centerfield gap, tacking on three runs, and later a Sun Devil victory.
Back to present day, Canning found himself and his ball club in a six-game losing streak, and in a tie ballgame versus the conference’s weakest opponent, the Utah Utes (9-26, 4-9). The Devils got out in front 4-0, only to blow the lead two short frames later. With two aboard and a pair retired in the eighth, he took the first pitch he saw from reliever Jacob Rebar and found the grass in center with Gage Workman scoring from second to give ASU a one-run lead.
“It’s kind of nice being in those situations sometimes,” Canning said. “To get that big hit and go ahead, it’s a good feeling.”
Canning has been one of the nation’s top hitters all season and continues to show it every game. His three-for-five performance on Friday marked his eighth game of the season with three or more hits, sitting at 61 total, putting him into a tie for ninth-most in the country.
When the moment is at its greatest, he rises above it.
“It’s a tough thing to do, hitting a baseball, but it’s usually going to come down to a win and a loss,” ASU head coach Tracy Smith said. “The team that ends up with the most two-out RBI’s usually ends up on the winning side. That was big for us tonight.”
Aside from Canning, the other X-factor in Arizona State’s (15-22, 7-9) opening series win was the work of Dellan Raish. The southpaw entered the game in the fifth, after a less-than-ideal outing for starter Alec Marsh, who tweaked his back in the outing (4 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K).
Raish, plain and simple, was dealing.
“He’s been pretty good the whole year and having a guy that can just come in and shut the whole team down, it’s gives you a chance to go ahead and it’s huge for us,” Canning said.
After allowing a single with two outs in the fifth, Raish sat down 12 consecutive Utes, retiring 13 of the 15 total hitters he faced. The Utah offense couldn’t touch his two-punch combo of fastball-slider, whiffing seven times from the fifth to the ninth in Raish’s longest outing of his collegiate career.
“For Raish to come in there and shut that thing down, take over the baseball game was a huge lift for our team,” Smith said.
No runners reached second base for Utah after the fourth inning.
Carter Aldrete added some late insurance, blistering a two-RBI triple to extend the lead to 7-4, which would result as the final score.
“Guys are going to have to pick each other up. Canning has done his fair share of carrying this team for a while and guys aren’t going to have their best stuff every night,” Smith said. “Aldrete’s been doing a good job of driving guys in.”
The Sun Devils will be back in action Saturday evening looking to secure their second Pac-12 win of the season. First pitch is on tap for 6:30 p.m.
