(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
As his name was being announced over the cheers of fans, freshman Erik Tolman found himself in the most crucial spot in the game
Top of the ninth, score tied 5-5, Tolman took the mound, hoping to get the Devils the lights out inning they needed to keep them in the game, and that is exactly what they got. Tolman faced the minimum and put the Devils in excellent position for the win.
ASU was set up perfectly to win the ball game, but unfortunately, ASU’s top of the lineup went quietly in the ninth sending the game into extra innings.
With the bases loaded, Michigan State’s Marty Bechina flied out to Myles Denson in right field and threw a dart to get the runner tagging from third out at the plate to end the top of the tenth, and the team and crowd were electrified .
“[Denson] comes and works hard every day at practice, he’s a locker room favorite,” said head coach Tracy Smith. “That guy works on his craft and then again low and behold he is presented with an opportunity with the game on the line and he executes the throw, and he does that because that’s what he works on every single day.”
Smith awarded Denson “player of the game”, saying, “If he doesn’t make that throw, we lose the game.”
The stars were aligned in the bottom of the eleventh for the Devils. With two strikes and two outs, Spencer Torkelson took the ball to deep left field to end the game with a three-run, walk off home run, giving the Devils an 8-5 win over the Spartans.
This was ASU’s first walk-off home run since Colby Woodmansee’s solo shot beat No. 5 Oklahoma State in extra innings on February 13th, 2015.
“Great players do great things and I said it earlier, there’s nobody I wanted up to the plate in that situation other than that guy and he could have struck out again and I would still be sitting here saying that there’s nobody I want,” said Smith following the game.
“This is awesome, this is what it’s supposed to feel like,” Torkelson said. “We come into the clubhouse every day and we expect to win. If we somehow don’t win, we are going to have a bad feeling in our stomachs, and it’s going to feel really weird and we are not going to like it. We come to the clubhouse expecting to win.”
With the 8-5 win, ASU extends its undefeated record to 10-0 with the final matchup against the Spartans slated for Sunday at 12:30 p.m..
