ASU Baseball: Early deficit too large to climb back from as Devils fall to Huskies and series evens

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WSCN)

Often times when a team outhits their opponent by four, they win the game. However, that was not the case for Arizona State Saturday night, as despite outhitting Washington 12-8, they fell to the Huskies 7-3.

Coming off a series-opening win on Friday, the Sun Devils looked to ensure a series win, but an early deficit was too much to climb back from.

Brady Corrigan started the game, but couldn’t make it out of the third inning, as he turned the ball over to Connor Higgins with two outs and two runners on.

Higgins was unable to keep the score close, with his first pitch in the contest being driven over the fence by Washington DH Joe Wainhouse to push the score from 1-0 to 4-0. The junior lefty allowed two more runs, giving up four straight hit in the fourth, the third of which was a two-run double that gave the Huskies a comfortable 6-0 lead.

“[Higgins is] disappointed with the way he’s performed and yeah, we were counting on him,” head coach Tracy Smith said after the loss. “This game is very unforgiving. It’s not that he’s not trying, it’s not that he’s not working hard, it’s just not happening right now.”

Corrigan and Higgins combined to give up eight hits and six runs through the first four innings, putting the Sun Devil offense in a tough position to close the gap.

In those first four innings, ASU’s offense recorded nine hits, but were unable to capitalize against one of the nation’s top pitchers in Joe DeMers as only two runs crossed the plate.

In both the second and third innings, the Devils had a runner in scoring position with two outs, but both times, DeMers stranded them to keep ASU off the board.

The Sun Devils finally scored in the fourth, as Hunter Jump crushed his first collegiate home run, a two-run shot to right field to bring home Lyle Lin as well.

“We hit a lot of baseballs hard tonight, our problem wasn’t our offense, I can certainly tell you that,” Smith said. “I thought offensively, we were pretty good tonight, we just didn’t find the green space … There were plenty of balls struck hard, it certainly wasn’t our offense.

Following Jump’s home run, the game settled down, as ASU’s offense quieted down, scratching across one run on three hits in the final five innings, while Washington went hitless, but scored a run thanks to seven walks issued by five ASU relievers.

“The walk total, it sucks the life out of the game,” Smith said. “Walks are going to happen, but not at that pace. I think we go out there and we’re in the seventh inning and they get the next run, I think we walked four guys and a wild pitch. Got to be better than that.”

After four walks led to a run scoring in the seventh, ASU’s offense lit up again, but only briefly, as a Gage Canning sacrifice fly brought home Hunter Bishop to bring the score to 7-3. Joe DeMers left the game after giving up that run, having allowed three runs on 11 hits in 6. 1 innings.

The Sun Devils had another chance in the eighth, with Jump singling and two more players drawing walks, but Huskies’ freshman reliever Josh Burgmann kept them from reaching home plate, as he closed the door on the 7-3 victory for Washington.

With the series evened at one game each, the Sun Devils look to Sunday’s afternoon game to win their third series in conference play.

After using seven pitchers, including five in the final five innings, a quality start from Eli Lingos would bring ASU back to .500 in conference play, after Saturday’s loss dropped them one game below that mark.

First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

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