(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
The Willie Bloomquist era for Arizona State Baseball begins on Friday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. After fall ball and grinding through spring camp, ASU has arrived at the beginning of its season ready to answer the question of what should come of the 2022 season.
“[The players] have put in a lot of work and effort into the offseason to get to this time of year,” ASU’s new head coach said on Wednesday. “They’re tired of playing against each other – they want to go against someone else and it’s here.”
The Sun Devils’ first measuring stick of their abilities will be against second-year Division I program Dixie State. The recently promoted Trailblazers, while new, are battle-worn, having played 12 games against Pac-12 Conference teams last year, which included a win against No. 6 ranked Arizona in Tucson.
Dixie State ended last year winning nine of its last 11 games and enters 2022 with confidence that should not be taken lightly.
“[Dixie State] has 10 or 12 returning guys,” Bloomquist said. “They aren’t going to be intimated – they’re going to be better than people think and we’re anticipating a dog fight with them.”
The Trailblazers announced three sophomores as their starting pitchers for opening weekend, beginning with right-hander Dillon Holliday.
Holliday was a lone bright spot in what was a pretty poor Dixie State pitching rotation in 2021. He started last year as a reliever, but slowly migrated to a reliable starter role which was a blessing for Dixie State.
Posting a 4.32 ERA in 50 innings with 35 strikeouts while allowing an opposing batting average of .235, Holliday could realistically offer some pushback against ASU, who was a solid offensive team in 2021.
Saturday and Sunday’s starters are right-hander Brett Porthan and left-hander Ben Hart, respectively. Porthan, similar to Holliday, started in the bullpen but ended last year as a starter and is looking to build some consistency in 2022. He didn’t post eye-opening stats with a 5.73 ERA in 44 innings in 2021, but has shown flashes of dusting batters and controlling games.
The finale on Sunday sees Hart take the mound for Dixie State, who ended last year hot, only allowing four runs with 20 strikeouts in his last 19 innings, which was good for a 1.83 ERA. Hart was the winning pitcher in the Trailblazers’ upset over Arizona last year, as he appeared in 3.2 innings and only allowed one run.
“They have guys on the mound that throw the ball over the plate and are capable of taking advantage if we’re not ready,” Bloomquist said. “We got to match the intensity.”
The Trailblazers’ bullpen, however, does not share many of the same redeeming qualities, with only two pitchers last year posting an ERA under 5.50 – one being Holliday. Dixie State did add some arms over the offseason, like redshirt junior right hander Jake Dahle, who could help soften the impact.
Dahle, formerly of the University of Utah, transferred to the College of Southern Idaho where he was a strikeout machine, delivering 50 in 53 innings in 2021. He left Southern Idaho with an ERA of 3.06 to become a Trailblazer, which gave Dixie State much needed relief help.
All of that said, ASU has the firepower to overwhelm a young Dixie State pitching staff that could deteriorate as the game goes on. However, a more prominent focus for the Sun Devils is preparing for the bats that the Trailblazers have to offer – namely Kaden Hollow, their freshman phenom catcher in 2021.
With First Team All-WAC and 2021 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Freshman All-America Team honors while also clocking in as a top 50-ranked catcher nationally by D1Baseball, Hollow has it all. He accumulated a .322 batting average, a .980 OPS and nine home runs while leading Dixie State with 41 RBIs in 2021, and the scary part is that he might not even be better than his brother.
Senior infielder Tyler Hollow is a four-year starter who had his season shortened in 2021 due to injury, but has rehabilitated back to full health and will look to continue his previous output. Before getting hurt, the elder Hollow was an offensive weapon for Dixie State with five multi-hit games in the 20 he suited up for.
Another returning piece is sophomore infielder Shane Tayler, who was an underrated piece for the Trailblazers. Discipline at the plate led to leading the team in walks with 33, and he also knows what to do once on – Tayler accumulated eight steals and 37 runs last year.
The top half of the lineup for Dixie State is full of consistent and resilient batters who know how to get on. That could be tough against an ASU team that struggled to close out games last year with its bullpen. The Sun Devils allowed the most home runs in the Pac-12 by a wide margin and were near the bottom of the league in walks.
However, new ASU pitching coach Sam Peraza said he has liked what he has seen from the guys in the pen. An improvement from the relief guys throwing “electric stuff” as Peraza mentioned could be dynamic.
Also, health will be a huge factor for ASU as senior right-hander Boyd Vander Kooi and sophomore right-hander Jared Glenn have been battling injuries in training camp, but could be ready for opening weekend.
“I’m not going to bring out [Vander Koi and Glenn] in their first appearance, not having the full fall, into a tight game,” Peraza said. “But, if we have the opportunity, and I hope we do, I want to see Glenn and Boyd out there this weekend.”
Opening up against a Dixie State club that has disciplined batters who hit home runs at a relative frequency could be a good opportunity to see how ASU has grown on the mound since the end of last year, something that redshirt sophomore outfielder Kai Murphy has been obsessing over since the final out in the Austin Regional last June.
“Ever since that game at Texas last year, that is when the clock started for this year,” Murphy said. “It’s been a long road and obviously there have been some changes, but we’re in a really good position, good head space where we’re just going to have some fun this weekend.”
The Sun Devils match up well against a young Dixie State team on opening weekend. However, ASU has a history of playing down to its competition at times. If Bloomquist means it when he mentioned his aspirations to build a championship environment at ASU, that process begins this weekend.
“Obviously I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a little anxiety, a little nerves,” Bloomquist said. “But, I told the guys, ‘You aren’t human and you aren’t a red-blooded American if you don’t have a little bit of anxiety.’
“That’s why we do what we do – that’s being a competitor and an athlete.”
