(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball split a doubleheader on Saturday, winning 17-10 against San Francisco in its first game of the day and falling to Missouri 6-4 in the second game. Below are recaps of each contest from reporters Michael Baribault and Tia Reid.
Game 1
By Michael Baribault
ASU’s bats were hot in the first game of its doubleheader, as the Sun Devils slugged their way to a 17-10 victory to sweep visiting San Francisco on Sunday afternoon.
The three hour and 35 minute contest saw ASU score 15 runs in the final three innings to turn a 7-2 deficit into a decisive seven-run victory.
The win came on the backs of the Dons firing head coach Nino Giarratano just hours before first pitch due to a lawsuit he was facing regarding “persistent psychological abuse and repeated inappropriate sexual conduct,” according to ESPN.
ASU took the lead for good in the seventh inning thanks to a five-run performance. It got back-to-back singles from freshman catchers Will Rogers and Ryan Campos to start the inning. San Francisco junior left-handed pitcher Lance Santerre had trouble finding the strike zone, walking ASU sophomore outfielder Joe Lampe, forcing in the tying run. Sophomore infielder Sean McLain then hit a ground ball to first and San Francisco senior infielder Gabe Giosso threw the ball into left field, scoring Campos and freshman infielder Alex Champagne to give ASU its first lead of the afternoon at 9-7.
ASU would tack on two more runs thanks to senior infielder Conor Davis’ RBI walk and a sac-fly that gave the home team an 11-7 lead.
It was all San Francisco early on. A pair of singles set the table for senior outfielder Jordan Vujovich. He sent a 2-0 fastball over the center field wall to give the Dons a 3-0 lead.
ASU countered in the bottom half, as Lampe sent the first pitch he saw over the center field wall himself to get the Sun Devils on the board at 3-1.
ASU sophomore right-handed starting pitcher Tyler Meyer walked a pair of batters to start the top of the second inning. With two outs, San Francisco sophomore infielder Mario Demera drove a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall for the second three-run homer of the day for the Dons, which extended their lead to 6-1.
A pair of singles gave ASU runners at the corners to start the third inning with nobody out. Sophomore infielder Ethan Long singled up the middle, scoring Lampe to bring the Sun Devils to a 6-2 deficit. However, three straight outs after that quickly ended the inning.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Will Levine pitched two scoreless innings, facing the minimum after relieving Meyer. Giosso changed that in the top of the fifth inning, however, homering to left field to extend the San Francisco lead back to five at 7-2.
ASU Head Coach Willie Bloomquist complemented the bullpen’s work over the weekend.
“They’re working ahead more often which is always good,” Bloomquist said. “Our starting pitching has done a great job getting later into games, which doesn’t tax our bullpen as much. They’ve done a much better job mentally being ready to go which has been big.”
Bloomquist was elated about Levine.
“That was huge – he gave our offense a chance to come back and get back in the game,” he said. “That was the highlight of the game – him coming in and shutting things down.”
The first five Sun Devils that came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning did not even have to take the bat off their shoulder. Campos walked, then redshirt junior right-hander Andrew Lucas and freshman infielder Cam Magee were hit by pitches from San Francisco senior right-handed pitcher Jonah Jenkins. Lampe and McLain worked back-to-back walks to cut the Dons’ lead to 7-4.
Lampe reached base all six times he came to the plate in the first game of the doubleheader.
“He’s an electric player,” Bloomquist said. “He comes with a crazy intensity every day and is our most intense player. He’s the fire-starter, [when] he gets on base, things happen. When he’s doing what Joe Lampe does, everyone else picks up their game too and he demands that of his teammates too. There’s no one that’s going to question if Joe [Lampe] is ready to play or not – he is what Sun Devil Baseball is all about.”
Lampe spoke about his successful day at the plate.
“I’m seeing the ball really well and trying to stay aggressive at the top of the lineup,” he said. “I’ve always been a guy that can find the barrel but wanted to develop the strength.”
He credited his success to the time he spent in the Cape Cod League this past summer, where he played with the Bourne Braves.
“I never really struggled for a long period of time before I got back to that league,” Lampe said. “I had a 1-16 period and it gave me insight on how to handle with struggles, which was huge because it’s all mental at that point.”
After Long struck out, Davis roped a two-run single to bring the game to 7-6.
With ASU leading 11-7, USF did not go away quietly in the top of the eighth inning. ASU redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Graham Osman allowed a single and a double that made the score 11-8.
An error by McLain on the throw to first base scored another run, cutting the ASU lead to 11-9.
USF nearly took the lead as sophomore infielder Luke Keaschall doubled off the top of the wall in left-field scoring senior infielder Brandon Greim, putting the score at 11-10 Dons.
The bottom of the eighth inning saw the Sun Devils break it wide-open. They showed their patience getting deep into counts, which garnered three singles, including one from McLain, which scored Campos to make it 12-10. A bases-loaded walk from Davis extended the lead to 13-10.
The exclamation point came when ASU redshirt sophomore catcher Nate Baez hit a grand-slam to blow things open at 17-10.
“We came from behind in all three games against [San Francisco], so it’s nice we didn’t cash it in when we got behind,” Bloomquist said. “We aren’t satisfied with winning three out of four, we can’t settle with that or else we’ll never be a winning team.”
Game 2
By Tia Reid
After a thrilling 17-10 comeback win that clinched the series sweep over the San Francisco Dons, the crowd at Phoenix Municipal Stadium thinned exponentially, setting the tone for the second half of ASU’s split doubleheader against Missouri.
Coming off of a game where ASU managed 13 hits en route to 17 runs, the Sun Devils’ bats cooled considerably against Mizzou, only recording two hits in the first four innings.
“I thought we came out a little bit flat against Mizzou,” Bloomquist said. “After coming back and putting a thump in late against [San Francisco] and putting up a lot of runs, I thought we kind of pulled the ripcord a little bit and coasted and for me, that’s not acceptable.”
Despite the sluggish offensive start, the Sun Devils still found a way to score one run in the bottom of the second inning. With freshman designated hitter Jacob Tobias on base by way of a triple and Campos at first base due to a walk, with two outs on the board, Tobias managed to steal home.
When Mizzou senior catcher Mike Coletta saw Campos take off for second base, he made the throw, allowing Tobias to sneak in and score the run at home. After catching the ball, Mizzou senior shortstop Josh Day threw it right back to Coletta for the play at home, allowing Campos to make it safely to second base.
Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, they were not able to bring Campos around, ending the inning on a groundout by freshman third baseman Blake Pivaroff.
In addition to continuing the season-long struggle of bringing runners home, ASU also had five innings in which only three batters went up to the plate. This includes a key stretch in the bottom of the seventh inning after the defense had just allowed two runs.
The three batters – Campos, Rogers and Pivaroff – all flew out to various parts of the field to end the inning.
The Tigers, on the other hand, had no problems getting off to a hot start, with Day scoring a run in the top of the first inning thanks to an RBI double by junior first baseman Torin Montgomery. Later in the game, Day would get himself around the bases with a solo home run over the wall in right field to lead off the third inning.
The final run surrendered by ASU starting right-hander Jacob Walker was another home run, hit this time by Mizzou freshman right fielder Carlos Peña in the top of the fourth inning.
Following the run, Walker also gave up a walk and a single. Bloomquist headed out to the mound, not to pull his starter, but to give him some words of encouragement.
“He just told me to take a breath, get a ground ball, get us out of the inning,” Walker said. “It was nice to just have a second to kind of step back and get back to attacking.”
Walker was able to do just what Bloomquist asked. In the next at-bat, he caused Coletta to hit a ground ball to Champagne. Although Champagne made an error and wasn’t able to get the ball to first base in time, Davis was able to make the throw to beat Mizzou junior second baseman Nander De Sedas to home plate for the out.
Following the fast-paced play, Day grounded out to Walker, who made the throw to first to get the out and end the inning.
The ASU lineup came alive in the fifth inning at the hands of several base hits off of Mizzou sophomore right-handed reliever Carter Rustad. Campos and Champagne scored and tied the game up. Missouri responded quickly, however, scoring three runs during the next two innings.
Despite being down three runs in the eighth, it appeared the Sun Devils had a chance to heat up once again. With two outs on the board, McLain sent a home run ball over the left field wall to make the score 6-4 Mizzou.
McLain’s home run was followed up by a Davis single, seemingly getting the bats moving again. This outlook was short lived, however, after Tobias sent a ball out to left field that was caught by Mizzou sophomore outfielder Ross Lovich for the last out of the inning.
Nonetheless, the two-run deficit going into the ninth inning gave the Sun Devils hope that they could pull off the win.
Despite a single and a walk given up by ASU sophomore right-handed pitcher Brock Peery in the closing spot, a 6-4-3 double play to end the top half of the inning gave ASU one more chance to pull ahead.
To try and close the game out, the Tigers sent sophomore left-hander Ian Lohse to the mound.
Lohse walked the first batter he faced in Baez, but the Tigers’ infield stood strong, immediately picking up the out against Campos in the next at-bat. Montgomery also caught a ball hit into foul territory by Rogers to get the second out of the inning.
With just one out left in the game, Lohse walked ASU freshman outfielder Ivan Brethowr, who was pinch hitting for Pivaroff. ASU sophomore outfielder Kade Higgins came in to pinch run for Brethowr while the winning run stepped up to the plate.
Champagne fought to put the ball in play, fouling off four balls, but ultimately the freshman wavered, going down swinging to end the at-bat and the game.
While Bloomquist and players expressed disappointment in the loss, they recognized the bright spots, particularly towards the end of the game.
“I think we fought until the end,” Walker said. “I think some guys had really good at-bats in that last inning. Brethowr had a great at-bat to get the walk. Even Champagne’s at-bat was good, [he] saw a lot of pitches, took good swings, so I’m proud of the team.”
Campos added: “We had some good at-bats in that last inning, but I think the thing we’re just missing is we need to have those at-bats from the get-go.”
Despite picking up the series sweep against San Francisco, ASU personnel also emphasized that a .750 winning percentage on the weekend is not good enough.
“All four of them were winnable games,” Bloomquist said. “Yeah, we got three of them, but if we settle for 3-4, we’re never going to be the team we want to be, so for me, I wasn’t satisfied with that.”
With the loss, the Sun Devils dropped to 8-10 on the season. They’ll take that record with them as they head to Corvallis next weekend to begin their Pac-12 Conference slate against the No.7-ranked Oregon State Beavers.
The first game of that series will take place on Friday, beginning at 5:35 p.m. MST.
