(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
A baseball season is often referred to as a horse race, rather than a sprint. This, due to the length of the season and the fact that short spurts of success won’t result in making the postseason.
However, for much of Arizona State’s baseball season it has felt like a sprint. After jumping out to a 25-1 start, the Sun Devils have hit a rough patch in the trail, which they hope leads them to Omaha.
The Devils just concluded a week where they went 1-3 and the prospect of their unbelievable early season success was unsustainable, became apparent.
Complete and consistency are two words ASU over the last week has realized it will need to carry through the latter half of the season if they hope to remain a top team in the NCAA. The offense is always there, sometimes the pitching and defense is not, and other nights the Devils fail to play a complete nine inning game.
That was the case Tuesday night.
Arizona State travelled to Las Vegas to take the field against the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. Fresh off an 11-8 victory over USC on Sunday, ASU was looking to get back in the win column and recommence a winning streak.
As the scorching sun radiated down on Earl E. Wilson Baseball Stadium, you could feel the Devils offense was heating up and due for a break through.
Players tend to look forward to their homecoming, the chance to play where you grew up, in front of friends and family. Well, Las Vegas native, Myles Denson, got that opportunity Tuesday as he got the start as designated hitter for ASU.
Denson led off the top of the third with a double. A balk and a Drew Swift single later, the Devils found themselves on the board. However, the Devils didn’t stop there in the inning. A series of singles were culminated with a Spencer Torkelson RBI single. Alika Williams added a SAC fly to bring another across and put the Devils up 3-0 at the end of three.
Torkelson would add to his RBI count with a bomb to deep right field in the fourth to give ASU the 4-1 lead. Arizona State tacked on two more in the middle innings off of wild pitches and a Carter Aldrete RBI single to take a 6-4 lead.
The hometown kid wasn’t done, Denson added his team-leading third triple of the season down the right field line to add some insurance for ASU.
Entering the bottom of the ninth, it looked like the Sun Devils were going head back to Phoenix with a commanding 9-4 win. However, the Rebels had alternative plans.
Chaz Montoya and Sam Romero were both tasked to finish the job for Arizona State.
Walk, walk, walk, balk, walk, single, single, single, strikeout, wild pitch, walk, and to cap it off a walk-off-walk. That was the sequence for the home nine in the bottom half of the ninth inning to come back from a 9-4 deficit to walk-off ASU, 10-9.
Consistency and compete once again proved to wear thin in that Sun Devils dugout. It’s something they will have to piece together if they hope to return to their dominant form they experienced in the first half of the season.
Arizona State’s schedule won’t get easier as it welcomes the defending College World Series Champions, No. 4 Oregon State, to Phoenix Municipal this weekend.
