(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball’s start to Pac-12 Conference play has been an unideal one, to say the least.
Facing off with No. 5 Oregon State in Corvallis was already a tough enough draw to open things up, although it’s clear that the Sun Devils were out of their depth to begin with after getting blown out in the first two games. But in the end, sophomore right-handed pitcher Tyler Meyer got the last laugh.
His masterful performance in the series finale on Sunday sparked a late Sun Devils’ rally that landed them a gutsy 3-1 win to avoid a sweep on Sunday. The win is new head coach Willie Bloomquist’s first against a Pac-12 opponent.
The Sun Devils return from Corvallis with humility though – they are 9-12 and therefore last in the Pac-12, as they have been for some time now. ASU’s pitching staff gave up 34 runs on the series while offensively only plating five of its own against a tough Beavers pitching staff.
Regardless, it doesn’t take anything away from Meyer’s gem.
After his starting pitching contemporaries – redshirt juniors Adam Tulloch and Kyle Luckham – gave up a combined 13 earned runs in their respective outings, Meyer dealt seven innings of one-run ball on Sunday The Beavers did most of their damage thanks to some concentrated at-bats that more often than not resulted in walks or hits throughout the weekend.
Coming into Sunday, Oregon State tallied 31 hits – eight for extra bases – and 19 walks, most of which were compiled on Friday night. Their only offense on Sunday came in the second inning on an RBI double from freshman catcher Tanner Smith.
Following that at-bat, Meyer retired nine of the next 11 men he faced. Bloomquist squeezed every ounce of effectiveness that he could from Meyer, and he was rewarded with just two walks, four hits and nine strikeouts from his starter on 123 total pitches in turn.
After giving up nine runs over his last two appearances, Meyer returned to his normal self, and for seven innings he did everything he could do to keep the Sun Devils in the contest.
The offense didn’t exactly follow suit, not until the ninth inning at least. After three Oregon State pitchers combined to surrender just two hits and two walks through eight frames while punching out 12, something clicked. The Sun Devils tied the game at one on redshirt sophomore designated hitter Nate Baez’s RBI single that was set up by a walk from sophomore third baseman Ethan Long and a double from graduate first baseman Conor Davis.
Two consecutive walks netted ASU the go-ahead tally before redshirt sophomore right fielder Kai Murphy flew out in foul territory down the right field line to score Baez from third. The Sun Devils saw 30 pitches in the inning en route to claiming the lead.
When perhaps no one else could take the mound without getting shelled by Oregon State’s bats, redshirt junior right-hander Will Levine, redshirt sophomore right-hander Christian Bodlovich and sophomore righty Brock Peery teamed up to provide six high-leverage outs to back Meyer’s stellar performance. Peery pushed his streak to four consecutive scoreless outings with a three-strikeout ninth to shut the door for his third save.
Bloomquist’s newfound trust in Peery has headlined a slew of subtle improvements throughout the ASU bullpen over the past two weeks.
The Sun Devils return home for four games – one against Grand Canyon on Tuesday before a weekend series against Washington – with a chance to elevate themselves north of .500 for the first time in over a month. A sweep of the homestand will almost certainly be a best case scenario with seven of the ensuing eight games being against some of the best in the Pac-12, including Cal, Arizona and Stanford.
