(Photo: Bobby Kraus/WCSN)
The Washington State Cougars’ (6-11, 0-1 Pac-12) nine-hole hitter Kodie Kolden stared intently back to the mound where Alec Marsh stood waiting for the sign.
Marsh nodded, came set and threw.
Kolden would only see the one pitch, a center-cut four-seam fastball darted into the zone at 92 miles per hour.
Kolden swung. The pitch was placed in the most optimal place for hard contact and that he got. But, there standing on the dirt of the Phoenix Municipal Stadium infield was Carter Aldrete who waited, tracked and snagged the first pitch line drive, tossing it sharply to first base to complete an untraditional but empathic 4-3 double play.
Aldrete had played second base in each of the last 10 games. His placement at the position even he readily admits he, “… doesn’t get to play a lot,” was a result of a hamstring injury to the regular second baseman, Drew Swift. But, as Aldrete lunged forward and caught that heat-seeking ball, tossing it to first and collecting two outs, his demeanor was natural at second, his confidence speaking even more volume than the play.
In Aldrete’s dive and subsequent double play, the Sun Devils ability to fill in for one another and do so effectively was thoroughly unmasked.
Aldrete, the everyday right fielder at the outset of 2019, was playing second base as gracefully as a regular. Myles Denson played right field and went 3-4 at the plate. The Sun Devils, a team with little room for injury, played as confidently and competently as ever before despite the jigsaw puzzle of a baseball lineup being assembled slightly differently than before.
This competence and awareness, whether it be on the mound, in the field or at the plate, allowed Arizona State (17-0, 1-0 Pac-12) to win its 17th straight game of the season by a final score of 6-0.
“The maturity,” Aldrete said. “Everyone is a year older and we’re just more into the game.”
Maturity, however, leaves the explanation for ASU’s success shorter than it truly should be.
The Devils have done what Tracy Smith simply calls, “stepping in.”
Whether that has been Spencer Torkelson going 0-4 at the plate and being the first person to congratulate every other hitter in the lineup or Denson stepping up and hitting .390, ASU has known well in 2019 that their success would largely be based on how they “stepped in” either emotionally as a teammate or physically on the field.
In their first conference win of the season, it was a combination of both.
“The guys came in hyper today,” Smith said. “I told Ben Greenspan that it’s a good thing conference play is starting with all this energy.”
In that was the emotion. The Devils took the field on Friday night with the energy of a strong cup of coffee and under the bright lights of Phoenix Municipal Stadium, that energy was palpable. It ran through the fielders and onto the bench. From the bench to the coaches and from the coaches onto the mound.
So, on a night where Marsh may not have had what he deems his best stuff once again, energy, confidence and stepped up defense got the job done and sent the Devils en route to their third straight Friday night shutout.
That was the intangible step-up for ASU, electric energy, and like a chain reaction, that liveliness translated to effectiveness in the field and with the bats.
The Cougars brought in ‘throw strikes’ pitching and ASU played a strike hunting style of offense that gave them the lead and kept them there.
“They brought out pitchers who knew how to throw strikes,” Smith said. “When we see strikes we’re going to hunt strikes.”
So, through 17 games, Smith and the rest of the ASU baseball squad have effectively taught their press, their fans and their critics a lesson.
The team is built on a foundation of three key qualities: step up when needed, treat each day like it’s opening day and adjust to the circumstances of the game to get the win.
In free passes, wild pitches, home runs and RBI they’ve done that. On Friday night, as conference play began, they vehemently did that and as the season progresses the team certainly hopes they will continue to do work on those three core traits that have won the team 17 of 17.
