ASU Baseball: Conference woes continue in Utah series

(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)

Just a day removed from the 10th no-hitter in Arizona State baseball history, the Sun Devils (14-10) were defeated by the Utah Utes (8-13) 16-7 in Sunday’s series finale at Phoenix Muni.

Arizona State now sits at 1-5 in conference play.

Hever Bueno toed the rubber for the first time since opening day and showed no signs of being hampered by his lingering forearm strain, striking out the side in his first inning back.

The Arizona State offense put up two runs in the bottom of the first, as David Greer and Colby Woodmansee both drove in runs in the first inning to make it 2-0 early.

Head coach Tracy Smith then elected to pull Bueno after just one inning in favor of James Ryan.

“Realistically, we were looking at 30 pitches or so,” Smith said. “Our plan was to get him back out on the diamond this weekend, out on the mound this weekend. With the way that it went last night, our thought was it’s a great way to get him out there at the beginning of the game because we could control his warm up, we could do all of that, but we were trying to really just steal an inning.”

In his limited outing, Bueno surrendered one hit and two walks to go with three strikeouts. He threw a total of 27 pitches.

“We will see how he responds,” Smith said. “That was the plan, to see how he responds physically, mentally, everything from getting out there, then we’ll talk with our trainers and our doctors and kind of see where he is.”

The theme of multiple pitchers remained true throughout, as Smith deployed a total of nine pitchers throughout the game.

Combined, they allowed 23 hits.

“When you’re trying to manage a [bull]pen, you’ve got to try and look for some consistency,” Smith said. “We’ve been a little inconsistent, makes it a little tough, so it really kind of puts us in a position where were just fighting and scratching and clawing trying to figure out every inning.”

Andrew Snow batted leadoff in the game and finished with a hit, two runs, two walks and two RBI.

Smith, who has plugged different guys into the leadoff spot all season, said he was pleased with the performance.

“I think he did a really, really good job with it,” Smith said. “I mean, he’s seeing pitches, with the walks, I thought he made them work, he’s not afraid to hit with two strikes, I thought his at-bats, truly yesterday and today, were phenomenal.”

The Devils have now dropped five of their last six games and while the team boasted a 13-3 record before conference play, Smith believes the struggles as of late are just a glimpse into where it team is actually at.

They will look climb back in Pullman next weekend in a series with Washington State (8-13, 1-4 Pac-12), who will be just as desperate for a conference win as the slumping Devils.

“I don’t like it, they [the players] don’t like it, I’m sure fans don’t like it, but it’s where we are right now,” Smith said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get better, not only this year but in the future, so that’s what were going to do.”

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