ASU Baseball: Early pitching woes for Sun Devils are a story in two parts

(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)

Two-faced.

That’s how Arizona State Baseball’s pitching performance thus far this season can be summarized.

Through its first 12 games, ASU has dealt with heartbreak in nearly half of those contests, blowing both sustainable and unsustainable leads consistently. If games like the 19-3 shellacking that BYU poured on in the series finale last Sunday were a regular occurrence, it would perhaps be easier to point the finger at the pitching staff as a whole, but that hasn’t quite been the case.

Head coach Willie Bloomquist and pitching coach Sam Peraza have made it clear how their new-look pitching staff boasts experience over everything else, and how the daily management of said staff is likely to be a “piecing-together-the-puzzle” kind of affair throughout the season.

In that respect, it’s been as advertised, but the rough start indeed has two sides: stellar starting pitching and woeful performances in the bullpen.

Following their series win over San Diego State this weekend, the Sun Devils’ staff as a whole has surrendered 67 runs in 108 innings pitched – good for a 5.58 earned run average. At a glance, those aren’t exactly the kind of numbers that lead to wins, much less a deep postseason run, but context is everything in this case.

The difference through these first 12 games between the two entities is night and day, and the underlying message is that a starter can only do so much. For the Sun Devils, starting pitchers have carried their fair share of the load.

In a combined 55 innings pitched, ASU’s starters are collectively holding opponents to a .208 batting average while sporting a 3.60 ERA.

This past weekend alone, redshirt junior transfers Adam Tulloch and Kyle Luckham have come into their own and are the early bright spots for the staff. The left-hander in Tulloch twirled seven innings of one-run ball on Friday night against SDSU, striking out eight and walking just one in the effort as well.

Luckham, a righty, followed him up on Saturday with 7.2 innings, punching out seven and surrendering three runs on just as many hits.

Since the beginning of the season, the two have improved with every outing. Tulloch went 4.1 hitless frames on opening night against Dixie State and pushed through 6.2 quality innings a week later against BYU before his masterclass on Friday.

Tulloch’s ERA sits at 2.50 in 18 innings, and opponents are batting a measly .115 against him.

Luckham struggled in his debut, going just 4.1 innings and giving up three runs against Dixie State, but the right-hander came out and threw five scoreless frames with five strikeouts against BYU in his second outing.

Where others have struggled to throw strikes and keep the free passes to a minimum, Luckham has thrived. He’s issued just four walks in 17 innings, pitching with a respectable 3.18 ERA as well.

Sophomore right-hander Tyler Meyer has also been a welcoming surprise, particularly in his two mid-week outings against Nevada and No. 4 Oklahoma State. He’s tossed 11 innings between those two starts and surrendered one run on six hits.

Those three have given the Sun Devils a chance to win seemingly every time they have taken the mound, and ASU is 4-4 in games that Tulloch, Luckham and Meyer have started. But those four losses perhaps tell more of the story than the four wins ever could, because when Bloomquist has given his work horses a pat on the back and handed the ball off to the bullpen, everything that could go wrong has done just that.

As a bullpen, the Sun Devils currently carry an alarming 7.64 ERA across 53 innings of work. This goes along with a .311 opponent BA on 65 hits and 40 walks. It’s a staggering compliment to a starting rotation that has given up 24 fewer hits, 19 fewer walks and 23 fewer earned runs.

ASU has yet to hold an opponent scoreless out of the bullpen in a game this season, and in five consecutive games – from Feb. 25–March 4 – relievers have given up four or more runs. Collapses against BYU and Oklahoma State most recently stand out, in part because they resulted in losses.

But even Friday’s 13-5 win over SDSU didn’t end until the bullpen laid an egg. Four Aztecs came around to score in the bottom of the ninth on redshirt junior right-hander Andrew Lucas.

Redshirt junior right-hander Will Levine has had trouble in his new multi-inning closer role, as he’s been shelled for five earned runs across 8.2 innings. Redshirt sophomore right-hander Christian Bodlovich and redshirt junior right-hander Dom Cacchione have combined to allow nine earned through 11.1 innings as well.

Redshirt senior right-hander Jacob Walker has been hit harder-than most, surrendering 11 earned runs in 12.2 total innings. Granted, two of his five appearances are starts, and his scoreless outing on Sunday in relief of redshirt senior right-hander Boyd Vander Kooi – who made his first start in over two years – suggests a possible turnaround.

While all of the aforementioned performances so far are glaring enough to worry those with rooting interest, they certainly aren’t the sole reason ASU has started as slowly as it has – baseball doesn’t usually work like that. Lack of run support at times and squandered opportunities at the plate don’t help either, and providing as large of a cushion as possible tends to be essential in college ball.

Regardless, in retrospect, there isn’t much else to point to for the source of the Sun Devils’ problems. As of now, there isn’t a single arm Bloomquist can turn to with 100% confidence to get three – much less six or nine – high-leverage outs at any given time.

If the Sun Devils aren’t able to turn that around by the start of Pac-12 Conference play, they’ll likely be in for a rude awakening. Currently, the four Pac-12 schools ASU has yet to face are hitting above .290, with staunch, unforgiving lineups built to do damage from top to bottom.

Reliability is key when it comes to a good bullpen, but that isn’t a label the Sun Devils can place on themselves right now. If it goes unresolved, the rest of this season could be one to forget.