(Photo: Rebecca Striffler/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball limped into Pac-12 Conference play on Friday against the No. 20-ranked Oregon Ducks hot at the dish, but depleted on the mound.
Following a 10-9 nail-biting loss to UNLV on Tuesday, it was announced that redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher Erik Tolman will be missing the remainder of the season to undergo Tommy John Surgery. Tolman’s injury made him the third Sun Devil arm to go under the knife so far this year, and only a month has passed since the start of the season.
“We’re gonna have to find a way to cover 280 to 300 innings,” head coach Tracy Smith said candidly following Tuesday’s loss.
While the rotation will continue to be a looming question mark, it helps that the Sun Devils’ offense is rolling as of late. ASU had outscored its opponents 35-16 over the past five games entering Friday.
Redshirt freshman right-hander Seth Tomczak, making his third start as the Sun Devils’ opener, took to the hill for ASU to kick-off its first road series of the year in Eugene.
Once again, the bullpen proved to be the catalyst against the red-hot Ducks, as the Sun Devils earned their first conference win 6-3 on Friday night.
Oregon got to Tomczak right away, scoring three runs in the first inning on a pair of extra-base hits from senior first-baseman Gabe Matthews and sophomore outfielder Aaron Zavala, which were followed up by a run-scoring single from sophomore third-baseman Sam Novitske. Tomczak’s outing was done after an inning and two-thirds before the Sun Devils turned to the bullpen.
Freshman right-hander Jared Glenn took over and proceeded to allow next-to-no offensive output from the Ducks. While he only struck out one batter, Glenn surrendered a mere three hits the rest of his outing, including a pair of inning-ending double plays in the process.
The Tomczak-Glenn gobbling of innings gives Smith plenty of options for the rest of the weekend, as the majority of the bullpen got much-needed rest.
After redshirt senior catcher Sam Ferri brought home a run on a groundout in the second, the Sun Devils scored three of their own in the third. Redshirt junior designated-hitter Hunter Jump doubled home a pair of runners before freshman first-baseman Ethan Long brought another home on a base hit to left field to give the Sun Devils the lead.
From that point forward, Oregon junior starting pitcher Robert Ahlstrom stifled the Sun Devils’ bats until his departure. The reigning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week surrendered eight hits while striking out four.
Once Ahlstrom’s replacement, freshman right-hander Isaac Ayon, came into the game, the Sun Devils got right back to their scoring ways. Long continued to impress, blasting a two-run dinger, the first of his collegiate career, over the left field wall to extend the ASU lead to three.
Long’s homer ended up being the dagger, as the Sun Devils secured their first conference victory of the season.
Four ASU hitters (redshirt junior shortstop Drew Swift, freshman third baseman Hunter Haas, redshirt freshman second baseman Sean McLain, and Long) had multi-hit performances and combined for nine of the Sun Devils’ 11 total knocks on the evening.
ASU will look to do it again against the Ducks on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
