(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
It might not have counted in the standings for either team, but the Arizona State Sun Devils played a baseball game on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Despite the game just being an exhibition, head coach Tracy Smith and his team can be proud of the effort they put forth against Major League talent at Salt River Fields, falling 8-2 in seven innings.
Fielding a hybrid lineup consisting of mostly reserves on offense and regulars on defense, Smith handed the ball to senior Ryan Hingst to start the game.
The Diamondbacks jumped on the El Paso, Texas native early, plating two runs in the bottom of the first thanks to a Christian Walker two-run single scoring Ildemaro Vargas and Jeremy Hazelbaker.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo pulled starter Taylor Clarke after one inning and handed the ball off to Yuhei Nakaushiro to start the second. What followed were four straight singles by Taylor Lane, Luke Leisenring, Zach Hogueisson and Scott Mehan to cut the Diamondbacks in half.
Nakaushiro recorded his only out via fielder’s choice as Leisenring was cut down at home after Hunter Jump bounced a dribbler to Kristopher Negrón at shortstop. Nakaushiro was pulled one batter later after he walked Myles Denson to bring home ASU’s second and final run.
Hingst was bailed out by his defense in the bottom of the second as Gage Canning made a fabulous running catch in the right-center field gap off the bat of Negrón, doubling Ramón Flores off of first. Hingst then got Jack Reinheimer to ground out to Drew Swift at short to end the inning.
The two teams remained deadlocked at two until the bottom of the fifth, when Tony Renda laced a two-out triple just past the diving glove of Trevor Hauver in right, bringing home Evan Marzilli for a 3-2 lead.
The game finally unraveled for ASU in the bottom of the sixth when senior Grant Schneider relieved Drake Davis with the bases loaded and two outs, trailing 4-2. Schneider walked Kevin Madrano, hit Marty Herum and walked Jason Morozowski to bring home three Diamondback runs. The inning was called after Morozowski’s base on balls.
Parker Markel and Taylor Grover shut the door over the final two frames for the Diamondbacks to seal the victory over the Sun Devils.
The Diamondbacks batted in their half of the seventh despite being ahead, and tacked an eighth run with a Michael Perez RBI single off sophomore Chaz Montoya.
Smith mentioned multiple times leading up to this scrimmage that he was focused more on the experience for his players than the actual play on the field. ASU was able to string together four consecutive hits in an inning, allowed only one extra-base hit against them, and turned in two impressive double plays on defense while not committing an error.
It’s back to the reality of NCAA competition for the Devils, as they will get set to welcome the Gaels of Saint Mary’s College (CA) for three games at Phoenix Municipal Stadium starting on Friday, trying to improve on their 2-2 opening weekend against Miami (OH).
Bobby Kraus is a baseball beat writer for the Walter Cronkite Sports Network. You can follow him on Twitter @bobbykraus22
