(Photo: Joey Phliska/WCSN)
It was the top of the tenth inning with a runner on third base in a 6-6 ball game.
Dixie State tried to bunt its runner home. Arizona State Baseball junior right-handed pitcher Dom Cacchione ran up to field the ball, but slipped as he made contact with it and fumbled, allowing the Trailblazers to take a 7-6 lead – a run and final score that would give them the win over the Sun Devils in Tempe on Saturday night.
It was a moment that perfectly encapsulated Saturday for the Sun Devils, as they produced many errors that Dixie State took advantage of to give ASU its first loss of the 2022 season in disappointing fashion.
“This is a game we felt like we let slip away from us,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “That team over there is scrappy, [Dixie State] executed the fundamentals well, and they got us tonight.”
The game didn’t start like that for ASU. It began with it being the aggressor to take the early lead. Sophomore center fielder Joe Lampe got it going early for ASU with a single down the middle to drive in the game’s first run.
Dixie State looked like the one flustered when junior shortstop Matthew Ivancich threw a routine ground ball into the stands, giving ASU the 2-0 lead after the first inning.
While the offense was attacking early, so was ASU’s pitching. Junior right-hander Kyle Luckham sliced through Trailblazers batters, only allowing one hit through three frames. During this time, Lampe would add his second of four hits on the night – a 413-foot home run over the dead center field wall, extending the ASU lead to 3-0.
The beginning of the fourth inning was when the cracks started to show for the Sun Devils. After working on eight-straight retired batters, Luckham surrendered another hit to Dixie State junior first baseman Sean Keating, his second of the night. A bloop single later, and two men were on when Trailblazers’ sophomore designated hitter Will Chambers struck a ball out to left field.
The throw at the plate sailed over the head of ASU freshman catcher Ryan Campos, but Luckham was behind it and able to catch Chambers trying for second to end the inning with only one run. However, that one run was enough to get the Dixie State dugout chirping.
“I don’t pay attention to that,” Bloomquist said when asked about the loud jeers coming from the opposing dugout.
The Trailblazers started to back up their chirping, though, as junior right-handed pitcher Brett Porthan got on the mound and struck out the side, which caused an eruption from the Dixie State baseline.
Entering the fifth inning, while still down 3-1, Dixie State had all the confidence, which might’ve shaken the Sun Devils.
Luckham allowed a hit and his first walk of the evening to the first two batters before getting pulled. ASU sophomore left-hander Graham Osman was called into relief and didn’t have his stuff early, noticeably throwing wildly. Osman’s lack of control was not an easy ask for the freshman catcher in Campos, which would lead to two wild pitches that gave Dixie State two runs to tie the game at three.
The cherry on top of the disastrous inning for the Sun Devils was a single to center field that Lampe was able to laser home in time to beat the opposing runner, but Campos was unable to control the throw and allowed the runner to give Dixie State a 4-3 lead.
“We had a good shot at [the runner],” Bloomquist said. “We just have to be able to drop step a little bit there. It’s easier said than done with catching gear on and a catcher’s mitt, but it’s a play we work on.”
The opposing dugout was chirping after every pitch and had turned the game 180 degrees in its favor.
In the small two-game sample size that the 2022 season so far, the Sun Devils have had trouble with situational hitting, causing cold streaks in the middle of the game, which has killed some momentum.
“I think approach-wise, we’re solid,” sophomore outfielder Kai Murphy said. “It’s definitely not a lack of effort. Everyone is trying their hardest, and sometimes you try a little too hard.”
However, ASU would not go out quietly as the Sun Devils’ power hitters made a re-appearance. Lampe opened the sixth inning with a double to set up sophomore third baseman Ethan Long for a sac-fly to tie the game at four. After a confusing groundout that caused runners on second and third base to start a chase down, ASU eventually grabbed the 5-4 lead to end the frame.
It seemed that this was the moment that ASU was going to pull ahead, but Dixie State had other plans. The Trailblazers would score a run in both the seventh and eighth innings to take the lead, with the highlight being former ASU Football wide receiver and current Dixie State left fielder Keith Davis garnering the RBI to give the Trailblazers a 6-5 lead.
“There’s a lot of things we got to clean up on,” Bloomquist said of the ASU bullpen. “We put some guys into some tough situations tonight, but we have to find out who’s able to handle those tough situations.”
The game was slipping out of the Sun Devils’ hand, and it looked to be worse as they faced a bases-loaded situation in the top of the ninth frame. However, ASU sophomore right-hander Brock Peery was able to right the ship and get out of the self-inflicted jam with no runs to give the Sun Devils life.
ASU leaped out of the dugout with some exuberance heading into the bottom of the frame. The emotions were high for the Sun Devils, and the adrenaline was pumping for Murphy, who hit a bomb to deep center field that was only a few feet away from leaving the yard.
“I thought I got it,” Murphy said. “[The] ball doesn’t fly as good in February as it does later in the year.”
Murphy wouldn’t stay on base for long as sophomore infielder Sean McLain recorded a fielder’s choice to drive in the tying run. The momentum continued to electrify the Sun Devils’ bats, which gave them a bases-loaded opportunity with two outs, but ASU could not take advantage, striking out.
“It’s life,” Murphy said on getting lost in the moment. “Sometimes you get into a big moment, [with a ] packed house [and] everyone here. Your whole team wants you to do well, and I’ve fallen victims to it a hundred times.”
Murphy touched on the pressure of ASU trying to come back from its deficit in one swing, and how it could be considered natural to fall toward that strategy. Bloomquist added that he told the team to calm down and focus on not swinging so hard while trying to put a real offense together.
The Bloomquist era was bound to earn its first loss eventually, but coming so soon against a rather inferior opponent may be a surprise. However, ASU seems determined not to let Saturday’s game go to waste and use it as a learning experience.
“What can we do?” Bloomquist said postgame. “Sit here and cry about it, or put our big boy pants on tomorrow and show up and play again?
“I trust [that] my team will do the latter.”
