(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
It felt like the game was out of reach when all hell broke loose in the third inning, yet Arizona State Baseball was only down three runs. That’s how much momentum and energy Texas snatched up without even hitting the ball past redshirt junior left-hander Justin Fall.
The frame started with a walk to Longhorns redshirt senior center-fielder Mike Antico, who then stole his 31st base of the season. After freshman second baseman Mitchell Daly shot a comebacker to Fall for the first out, the strike zone then became as encompassing as an ocean for the lefty.
With balls going in the dirt, far beyond outside and as far back as the backstop, redshirt senior catcher Sam Ferri had what seemed to be a half-hour workout behind the dish. After two consecutive walks, Fall hit a batter, walked another and threw a wild pitch to bring home three consecutive Longhorns.
With the runs piling on, head coach Tracy Smith sent a slew of Sun Devils to race toward the bullpen to get warmed up as quickly as possible. In what was quite a scene, the burnt orange Longhorn faithful – filling their home UFCU Disch-Falk Field to near capacity – roared and waved to the pitchers on their way, with ESPN’s play-by-play announcer Bob Wischusen calling the chaotic action a “fire drill.”
Fall – ASU’s ace on the bump this season – continued to look down at his hand during the inning. After the three-run affair, ASU’s medical team went to take a look at him, and he exited the game shortly thereafter.
“We’re not really sure what the deal is,” Smith said. “We’ll evaluate him back at the hotel, so rather than speculate I’m just not going to comment at this time.”
Redshirt freshman right-hander Christian Bodlovich came in and got out of the jam behind two fantastic defensive plays from redshirt freshman second baseman Sean McLain and freshman third baseman Hunter Haas.
However, the damage was already done, and with the energy completely shifted, Texas would ride in the lead the rest of the way in a 10-3 rout of the Sun Devils.
“When you play a good team like Texas, they’re too good on the mound,” Smith said. “They’re not going to give you anything. We gave them too much. Way too much.”
On the pitching end for the Longhorns, redshirt sophomore right-hander and potential 2021 MLB first round pick Ty Madden shut down ASU’s offense with a stellar pitching performance.
In six innings of work, Madden allowed one run on three hits and threw seven strikeouts on 106 pitches. With some of the long innings that Texas’ offense drew, Madden had plenty of time to stay loose, and even was seen playing catch in the dugout to pass the time.
“He’s not the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year for nothing,” Smith said. “I thought we competed, we knew it was going to be limited opportunities off of him.”
The only bright spots for ASU on Saturday night came from Haas, who reached safely on every at-bat with two singles, a walk and hit-by-pitch. The other was redshirt freshman first baseman Nate Baez – ASU’s best hitter over the last month – who pulled a left-center home run that scored Haas to make it 8-3 in the seventh inning.
That was the last Sun Devil bat to jolt to life, with Texas freshman right-hander Tanner Witt only allowing one more hit in his three innings of relief.
Besides the early plays from McLain and Haas, redshirt junior shortstop Drew Swift also showed why he was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Throughout the night, he put on a defensive clinic with sliding grabs, scoop plays and nifty throws. He assisted on two double plays, and recorded two putouts along with a team-high six assists.
Smith was pleased with the no-quit attitude despite the outcome.
“What you’re looking for in a coaching or managerial position is your guys still playing, are they still battling,” Smith said. “You’re not always going to have favorable outcomes. I like the fact that we kept in the game.
“To a young team, every single time in a Regional like this, playing a good opponent, nice environment, good crowd – that helps us. We’re now planning on hopefully being back in that same environment tomorrow night.”
After being put behind schedule due to a multi-hour weather delay, ASU will now face an elimination game against Fairfield on Sunday scheduled for 11 a.m MST. The Sun Devils beat the Stags 7-6 in their first game of the Regional on Friday on a walkoff hit from McLain.
Smith said postgame that he is not concerned about the short turnaround.
“These guys are obviously teenagers in their early 20’s,” Smith said. “They’re probably up until 2 a.m anyways on most nights. We plan on being here for a long time tomorrow, so we’re going to get a good night’s sleep, have breakfast and be ready to play.”
Smith also said that redshirt freshman two-way player Kai Murphy is “knicked up” and will not get the start on Sunday, meaning ASU could have to rely on other parts of its bullpen again.
“We got to have all hands on deck,” Smith said. “Gonna have to do what we’ve done all year, which is rely on guys to get outs and piece it together.”
ASU is currently faced with a win-or-go-home scenario at this stage of the NCAA Baseball Tournament’s Austin Regional. If it falls to Fairfield on Sunday morning, the Sun Devils’ season is over. If it can beat the Stags for a second time in three days, it will play its second game of the day on Sunday night – against the same Longhorns once again.
“We certainly have a challenge ahead of us, but we’ll get back and talk about it tonight, and try to come up with a gameplan on how we think we can best position ourselves to get through 18 innings,” Smith said.
