(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
A record of 8-8 is not how any baseball team would like to start its season. That’s where Sun Devil baseball currently sits, but if you ask anybody on this squad, they’ll tell you that they are more than confident with the strides this team has taken.
ASU lost its three game series to UNC-Wilmington Sunday afternoon in a 3-1 loss. The game was against a talented Seahawk team who won 40 games in 2015, as the UNCW pitching staff only gave up two earned runs and the Sun Devils had eight hits in the game.
Although they put up decent numbers at the plate, it didn’t translate onto the scoreboard.
Disappointed with the loss, ASU head coach Tracy Smith still expressed his satisfaction with his team’s fight.
“I don’t want to lose, but I’ll take the effort. I thought we battled,” Smith said, “We just couldn’t find that one hit.”
Finding that one hit was the problem for the Sun Devils all game lomg.
ASU was 1-11 with runners in scoring position the whole game, and that one hit with RISP produced the Devils’ only run of the game.
Despite the loss, junior Gage Canning was not disappointed with how the team swung the bat.
“I thought we swung the bat well today,” he said. “We didn’t strike out often. We just couldn’t put the ball in the right places.”
Smith made similar remarks in his postgame conference.
“I thought we barreled up some good balls,” he said. “I just didn’t think it worked our way.”
With two runners on base, the entire ASU dugout stood and put their hands up when Spencer Torkelson hit what fans thought was going to be a 3-run home run that would have put the Sun Devils up by one run. UNCW center fielder Noah Bridges ranged all the way to the warning track to catch the ball and crushed the spirt of every Sun Devil fan. At that point, it became clear things weren’t going ASU’s way.
Smith also admitted that the youth of his team is still a problem, but one that he know will get better with time.
“They just have to learn from these situations and experiences,” he said. “As we grow up I know (this team) going to win us a lot of baseball games.”
Although clearly disappointed and not satisfied with the 8-8 record his team currently has, Smith was mainly impressed with the way they played the Seahawks throughout the series.
“There’s nobody in (our team) who’s not confident in this group,” Smith said. “This is a good baseball team, I’ve said it and I’m going to continue to say it.”
The Sun Devils round out non-conference play this Tuesday, playing one game against in-state rival Arizona before starting a three-game series to open up conference play against Oregon.
Smith is excited to play the Wildcats, knowing that more experience is something a lot of his young players still need.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to continue to grow and develop,” he said, “I think it’s going to prepare us well for conference play.”
