(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
Arizona State pitcher Ryan Hingst has had some time to allow the accomplishment of his no-hitter against Utah last weekend to sink in, and he still can’t exactly comprehend what took place.
In keeping with his even keel mentality, the sophomore is trying to enjoy the emotions that come with no-hitting a conference opponent, but keep his mind sharp as ASU gets ready to face Washington State in their third Pac-12 series.
“It’s sunk in a little bit. It’s kind of nice to look back on it and realize what happened, but now it’s just time to look ahead to this weekend,” Hingst said.
The Texan was announced as the starter for game two of the series against the Cougars by head coach Tracy Smith and Hingst is trying to approach this start as he would any other – despite coming off perhaps the most memorable outing of his career to date.
“You don’t want to forget about throwing a no-hitter, but you kind of want to forget about it at the same time in that you don’t want to carry that emotion into the next game. You just want to start the next game with a clean slate,” Hingst said.
Hingst’s no-hitter was outstanding in many facets, whether it be that it was his first start of the season or that he ended the night with 121 pitches after having thrown only 16.1 innings through the first six weeks of the year.
But perhaps the most remarkable aspect was that he carved through a Utah lineup using primarily one pitch.
Hingst’s catcher that night, junior Brian Serven who had never caught a no-hitter previously, realized that Hingst’s off-speed repertoire wasn’t at its sharpest early on in the game. However, that was no cause for concern when he saw what Hingst’s fastball was accomplishing.
“We usually try to flip the lineup with just fastballs anyway, and then as the game went on we could just tell that (Utah) couldn’t really make solid contact with the fastball,” Serven said. “The off-speed wasn’t really looking too good in warm-ups, so we just stuck with what was working and it just kept working for him.”
The no-hitter was a lone bright spot in what has otherwise been a dismal first two weekends of conference play for ASU, having been outscored 41-20 while being swept by Oregon State and losing two of three to Utah. Not to mention the 6-3 loss in a midweek game to San Diego following the OSU series.
As the Devils get ready to take on the Cougars in Pullman this weekend, Hingst hopes that the elation stemming from his performance against Utah can somehow spark his teammates and get their season back on level terms.
“It was definitely memorable, and the first one is always hardest to get out of the way, that first win in a Pac-12 series,” Hingst said. “I feel like we’ll carry that momentum into this weekend and just see what happens.”
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