(Photo: Reece Andrews/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist has found himself out of answers at multiple points during the 2022 season. The Sun Devils, at times, either showed up lifeless, or committed mistakes and errors that sometimes drew the adjective of “Little-league” out of Bloomquist’s mouth.
Wednesday was not the day for that to happen, as ASU entered the inaugural Pac-12 Conference Baseball Tournament as the No. 8 seed – the last place one – and must win the whole thing to continue playing in 2022.
ASU showed up, pleasing Bloomquist, but couldn’t finish on Wednesday against the No. 1-seeded Stanford Cardinal. Despite an impressive outing from junior right-handed pitcher Kyle Luckham, the Sun Devils left 12 runners on base, hit 1-17 with runners in scoring position – a shocking stat considering ASU went 3-20 with runners on base in general – and fell 6-3 to the Cardinal after a two-run home run from Stanford junior center fielder Brock Jones in the seventh inning.
“No problems with the effort,” Bloomquist said. “My guys come to play hard everyday, no question about it. We had our chances early on and late and would just like to cash in a few more runs.”
ASU sophomore infielder Sean McLain added: “I thought we swung well at the plate, but they just came out on top. That’s all I got.”
Some of ASU’s notable botched situations at the plate were it having two men on with one out in the first inning, two men on with no outs in the fourth inning and the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh inning.
“I think hitting is contagious,” McLain said. “Once we started not getting the runs in early, it kind of fell down from there.”
Bloomquist added: “We’ve got to execute better. There’s no secret sauce. Execute better.”
ASU will now play Oregon in an elimination game at 9 a.m. PST on Thursday morning.
“We’ll do a better job tomorrow,” McLain said.
After Jones’ go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, Stanford sophomore third baseman Drew Bowser added insult to injury the next frame, launching a massive 469-foot two-run home run to give Stanford its 6-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
“It just didn’t work out,” Bloomquist said.
ASU finally gave Luckham, who went six innings, struck out seven Stanford batters and allowed two runs, some help when it went up 1-0 on Stanford in the top of the fifth inning. McLain grounded a ball to Bowser at third base, but Bowser made a low throw to first, which got away from Stanford sophomore first baseman Carter Graham for the second time in the game and rolled toward the right field wall. ASU freshman outfielder Will Rogers came home thanks to the error, which was charged to Bowser.
“I can’t say enough about Luckham,” Bloomquist said. “He went out and gave us an opportunity to win.”
Graham was then charged with an error himself with ASU freshman catcher Ryan Campos next at the plate, as the Sun Devil backstop smoked another ball to Bowser at third base. He made another low throw to first base, but the error was charged to Graham this time for failing to make the catch.
ASU failed to bring home Campos after Baez flew out to right field to end the inning.
Stanford answered the Sun Devils back promptly in the next inning.
Cardinal sophomore designated hitter Tommy Troy hit a ball as far as one can at Scottsdale Stadium without sending it over the facility’s 430-foot center field wall. In what was a tough play for the defensive stalwart, ASU sophomore center fielder Joe Lampe threw his back into the wall as the ball went in and out of glove, plating Troy at third base. The next pitch thrown by Luckham saw Stanford junior shortstop Adam Crampton drop a bloop into center field, tying the contest at one and giving the Cardinal the corners with one out.
The first out of the inning was a critical one for Luckham given that he walked Graham to load the bases for the Cardinal after they tied the game, and it was an impressive one too. Bowser popped up a ball in foul territory that looked as though it would land in or near Stanford’s dugout, but Campos stuck his glove over the dugout wall to catch the ball before it fell near two standing Stanford players.
Once the scoring finally started, it didn’t seem to stop. ASU freshman designated hitter Jacob Tobias singled with one out in the top of the sixth inning, giving the Sun Devils another advantageous scoring opportunity. For the second straight inning, they capitalized, as Rogers roped a ball to left center field. It had enough juice to give Tobias, who doesn’t rank high on ASU’s fastest players list, a play at the plate.
“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Bloomquist said of the play. “We play aggressive. Make them make plays to beat us.”
Jones’ throw from center field was on time and accurate enough, but Stanford junior catcher Kody Huff simply missed Tobias sliding in front of him.
The Sun Devils added insurance after taking the 2-1 lead, as sophomore third baseman Hunter Haas, who’s missed most of the season due to injury and has struggled in his time at the plate, lined one to left and scored Rogers, giving ASU a 3-1 lead.
Once again, Stanford came racing back, and Luckham began to show signs of lesser performance. He faced four batters before recording an out, allowing a single, a walk and then a bloop that cut ASU’s lead to 3-2. Bowser brought home the run that chopped the Sun Devils’ lead in half.
Luckham was removed from the game and replaced by sophomore right-handed pitcher Blake Pivaroff, who allowed Jones’ go-ahead homer.
“Luckham’s a dude for us, we expected that out of him,” McLain said. “We expected it out of him. Unfortunately we just couldn’t pick him up. He pitched well. They looked pretty uncomfortable.”
Bloomquist added: “We wanted [Pivaroff] there.”
Bloomquist said there was no question about removing Luckham from the game when he was at 98 pitches on the day.
“We had debated the inning before on whether to go get him,” Bloomquist said. “He was showing signs of wearing down. He was leaving some pitches up and missing his spots.
“Had we scored more runs, we maybe would have let him go out.”
The struggles with situational hitting will undoubtedly live in the Sun Devils’ minds, but Bloomquist is still optimistic heading into tomorrow’s win-or-go-home game against the Ducks.
“Our guys have battled and played hard all year,” Bloomquist said. “Things haven’t gone our way a fair share of times. Regardless of the outcome, we’re going to play as hard as we can.”
