(Photo: Nick Badders/WCSN)
There hadn’t been many hard hit balls off Arizona State bats in the first five games. For a team that entered Friday night with a 2-3 record and a paltry 2.4 runs scored per game, line drives were few and far between.
After the 13th-ranked Sun Devils struggled Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss to Oklahoma State, head coach Tracy Smith and second baseman Drew Swift kept faith that the offense would show up. They weren’t worried. If they were, they didn’t show it.
“The hitting is going to come,” Smith said Tuesday night after the ASU offense wasted a strong pitching performance from Erik Tolman. “I’m not worried about that. I’m really not.”
“I honestly don’t think anything needs to change,” Swift said, echoing Smith’s comments. “It’s just going to come. We don’t need to do anything. We don’t need to press. We’re gonna be alright.”
Entering play against Boston College, the Sun Devils had failed to register a two-out RBI through five games. Consensus preseason All-American Spencer Torkelson was the only Sun Devil in the starting lineup Friday night boasting a batting average that exceeded .300. The Sun Devils other two preseason All-Americans, Alika Williams and Gage Workman, had combined for just three hits in 28 at-bats.
In his first at-bat of the weekend, Torkelson got things going for ASU with a ringing line drive to left center for a double. Trevor Hauver drew his fifth walk of the season, and Gage Workman turned on an 0-1 fastball for his first home run of the season, a no-doubt shot over the right field fence.
“We haven’t been playing with too much of a lead lately,” said Workman, who went 2-for-5, adding a triple in the fourth inning. “The offense has started a little slow, but I don’t think we made big, huge adjustments. We’re all pretty close and I think we knew that. Tonight, it just kind of clicked for everyone.”
Hunter Jump singled on a hard hit ground ball to left and Swift followed with a line drive of his own. Seth Nager eventually grounded into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, but the first inning was a precursor to the rest of Arizona State’s night. The Sun Devils were beginning to hit the ball hard again.
The offensive awakening for the Sun Devils continued as Williams left Phoenix Municipal Stadium with a wall-scraping two-run home run. The Sun Devil shortstop was followed by Hauver, who unloaded on a pitch for a home run that left his bat at 109 miles per hour and bounced off the top of the right field wall.
“Thank gosh, you know what I’m saying,” said Hauver, who went 1-for-2 with three walks and three RBI. “The first couple games I would say I was pressing I think a little bit. I was trying to do too much, so today we really worked on just trying to breathe and drive everything up the middle.”
It worked. The Sun Devils had a season-high in hits and runs, put up three crooked numbers, and threatened in other innings.
“We know the offense is going to come, still got some things clearly to work on,” Smith said, “but that was good to allow our pitchers to have a little breathing room.”
Smith shook up the rotation Friday, deciding to give Cooper Benson the start after the freshman threw six and a third against Michigan, allowing three runs the Saturday prior. It didn’t exactly go as planned, with Benson struggling with the Boston College lineup, allowing six hits and three earned runs in two-plus innings before exiting for Boyd Vander Kooi.
Entering with a 3-2 lead, the bases loaded and no one out, Vander Kooi worked his way out of the jam. The Sun Devil righthander induced two ground balls to get out of the inning with the game tied.
“I obviously didn’t get all the time in the world to warm-up or anything, but you’ve gotta adapt to that,” said Vander Kooi after his first relief appearance of the year resulted in seven innings and the win. “I feel like every inning I was warming up more and more and I feel like I finished strong.”
Vander Kooi picked up his first win of the season after throwing seven innings of five-hit, one-run ball to help the Sun Devils get back to .500, securing a weekend-opening win with the blueprint of old. With the Sun Devils set for game two of the series Saturday night at 6:30, Smith said he’s excited to see the development of the pitching staff over the remainder of the weekend and season.
“We’ve got some really good guys that I think are going to contribute a lot for us just because of our circumstances up to this point that haven’t pitched yet,” Smith said. “I’m kind of excited to see that as this thing unfolds.”
