(Photo Courtsey Sun Devil Athletics)
Arizona State Baseball freshman infielder Ethan Long came up to the plate in a tie ballgame in the bottom of the ninth inning with runners on first and second base. A simple base-hit would have signaled the end of the Sun Devils’ game against Oregon State on Friday night, but Long instead sent a three-run home run over the right field wall for ASU’s first walk off victory of the season – a 9-6 win over the Beavers on Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
“It was awesome, it’s something you dream about as a kid,” Long said. “As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone… looked into the dugout and saw them jumping over the rail going nuts and I couldn’t wait to get to home plate.”
ASU Head Coach Tracy Smith is seemingly in awe of what Long has done at the plate over the past month.
“He’s a bad man,” Smith said. “He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve ever coached – bar none – and he wants to be in those positions.”
Long noticed the 1,787 fans in attendance who went into pandemonium late in the ninth inning.
“When Sean [McLain] was up, the crowd started chanting ‘Let’s go Devils’ and I looked around and just said ‘Wow, this is great, get me up,'” Long said. “I love that stuff with the crowd being into it like they were, and it was something special.”
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Brady Corrigan described what the scene in ASU’s locker room was like after the thrilling victory, and also recognized the role of the fans.
“It’s about as much energy as a team can get,” Corrigan said. “It’s about as loud as I’ve ever heard Muni since UofA a few years back. It felt great to feel the support from the fans and it just gets us going even more.”
The Sun Devils came into the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 6-5, and Oregon State had their 2019 All-Pac-12 Conference First Team closer on the mound in senior left-handed pitcher Jake Mulholland.
The frame started in controversy. Redshirt freshman outfielder Joe Lampe appeared to be hit by a pitch but was called out for not making an attempt to get out of the way for the first out.
“By and large umpires have a hard job, but I actually thought he got the call correct,” Smith said. “Joe [Lampe] did put his elbow out there and the rule is that you have to attempt to get out of the way, so he got that right.”
With the bench and most of the crowd in an uproar, redshirt junior infielder Drew Swift singled through the left side, representing the eventual tying run. Redshirt junior outfielder Hunter Jump then singled a 0-1 pitch into center field, which sent Swift to third base on the play. Redshirt freshman infielder Sean McLain later worked his count to 2-0 and hit a screamer that was mishandled by Oregon State senior shortstop Andy Armstrong, which allowed Swift to score and pinch-runner redshirt freshman outfielder Seth Nager to get to second base.
The sequence tied things up at six apiece.
“We had to find a way to win this game because we need to keep winning weekends,” Smith said. “Every win is important at this point and we talk about winning a championship every single day, our guys believe that and continue to believe it through nine innings.”
Oregon State was ferocious at the plate in the first inning, and made ASU redshirt sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Tyler Thornton throw a lot of pitches. He threw 23 pitches to the first three batters of the game alone. In that span, a walk and a single set up the Beavers for some first inning action, and they converted thanks to a RBI double by redshirt junior outfielder Joe Casey.
A pair of second pitch groundouts got OSU redshirt sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Kevin Abel two outs on four pitches in the bottom of the first inning. He then proceeded to walk McLain and Long. The Sun Devils took advantage of the two-out rally as freshman infielder Jack Moss doubled them home to put ASU ahead 2-1.
With redshirt freshman infielder Nate Baez on first base after a lead off single, Swift homered to dead center field for his sixth dinger of the year to extend the Sun Devils’ lead to 4-1.
“I had a feeling he was going to come at me with a fastball in that at-bat and I sat on it, connected on it well and gave it a ride,” Swift said.
Things began to unravel for Thornton in the top of the fourth. Junior catcher Troy Claunch took the second pitch of the inning and deposited it over the right center field wall to cut the Oregon State deficit in half.
Sophomore infielder Jake Dukart reached on a fielder’s choice, setting up sophomore outfielder Wade Meckler’s game-tying two-run shot to right center field – the second long ball of the inning for the Beavers. After a walk to junior infielder Ryan Ober, Thornton’s night was done after 3.2 innings of work. He allowed five hits and five runs with three walks and three strikeouts.
ASU redshirt freshman right-hander Christian Bodlovich came on in relief and was immediately touched up. Armstrong singled on a 1-2 pitch and advanced to second base on a wild pitch from Bodlovich. Freshman infielder Garret Forrester singled home Armstrong and Ober to put OSU back ahead 6-4.
Tensions only grew from there on. Casey appeared to have struck out to end the inning but home plate umpire Steve Mattingly signaled that it was a foul ball. After Smith had requested a meeting with all four umpires, the call stood pat and after words were exchanged, Smith was thrown out of the game.
“We strike the guy out and the catcher clearly caught it and I don’t know how he missed it and that’s why I got thrown out,” Smith said.
ASU had its chances in the middle innings but were only able to bring across one run, which came in the seventh inning as Jump doubled home Swift to cut things to 6-5. McLain flew out to center field which allowed Jump to go to third base. This set up a showdown between the Sun Devils’ hottest hitter in Long and Oregon State’s freshman right-handed pitcher Will Frisch, who was consistently attacking the zone in the mid-90s. After what seemed to be one of the more intense at-bats of the season, Frisch won the nine-pitch battle by striking out Long to end the frame.
ASU received solid performances out of the bullpen after the five-run fourth inning by OSU. Redshirt freshman left-handed pitcher Graham Osman, Corrigan and redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Will Levine combined for three innings of bullpen work, allowing just two hits which kept the Beavers offense quiet and set up the ninth inning rally.
“We did a great job of filling it up and making them beat us,” Corrigan said. “Pounding the strike zone and letting my defense make plays like the big double play ground ball [against] the first guy I faced.”
Smith praised ASU’s ability to consistently stand by one another.
“These guys continue to pick each other up whether it’s the offense or the pitching,” Smith said. “It may not be pretty but we’re going to continue to do it and I love how they’re giving everything they got.”
