(Photo: Reece Andrews/WCSN)
“I thought it was downright pathetic,” Arizona State Baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist said of ASU’s effort against UNLV on Tuesday.
ASU has become desperate for players to step up because of an injury plague that has left many of its arms and bats out of commission. This was made apparent with the start of redshirt sophomore left-hander Graham Osman on the mound for the club, as the Sun Devils were left with no other option out of the pen.
Osman has struggled to get consistent stints this year because of lackluster play. However, with other options like sophomore right-hander starter Tyler Meyer out for the foreseeable future, Bloomquist was forced to improvise against one of the best offenses in the country in UNLV.
The challenge was unsuccessful with the adjustments on the mound and players switching positions, which all led to poor play on the diamond for the Sun Devils. The emotional disappointment for ASU off its result down in Tucson, and the many lineup changes, led the club to come out flat against UNLV, losing the midweek contest 9-1 on Tuesday.
“It was not a well-played game on any front,” Bloomquist said. “Defensively, we were awful, no communication, not knowing how many outs there are. I don’t know what they were doing yesterday, but in my mind, this game is over, so they can get back to whatever they were doing yesterday on their off day. That’s how it looks.”
The performance is even more disappointing for Bloomquist and the Sun Devils with how crucial the end stretch of the season is for the team. ASU is still trying to crawl back into contention to make the NCAA Tournament, and nights like Tuesday won’t help in that chase.
“We met before the game to talk about the importance of tonight and every game moving forward here on out,” Bloomquist said. “I expected a sense of urgency from our guys, and it wasn’t there. I don’t know where it was.”
Redshirt sophomore outfielder Joe Lampe would produce the only highlight for the Sun Devils early, hitting a home run on the first pitch to open the game with a score of 1-0 ASU. That would be the extent of any sense of life at the plate for the club, as UNLV junior right-hander Joey Acosta would dominate in a way that ASU hasn’t experienced in a while.
“We had one good swing, and it was the first swing of the game,” Bloomquist said. “Then we decided to sleep for 27 straight outs.”
The Rebels’ righty retired 13 straight batters quickly, only needing 42 pitches through the subsequent four frames. While Costa deserves most of the credit, ASU’s trigger-happy swinging led to many innings with under ten pitches thrown. Costa’s outing ended with one run on three hits, while he fanned eight batters in a dreadful night for ASU at the plate.
“I expected a little bit more from everyone tonight,” Bloomquist said. “No adjustment, no plan of attack, we went through a hitters meeting on what to expect from [Costa], and we made him look like Cy Young.”
The Sun Devils’ bats were on a roll as of late, being one of the best offensive teams in the Pac-12 Conference. However, injuries to offensive weapons like sophomore infielder Ethan Long has forced Bloomquist to switch up the batting lineup, leaving the flow of the offense clunky.
It’s an excuse he doesn’t accept.
“Everything that we preached not to do, we did,” Bloomquist said. “Taking fastballs for strikes down the middle, swinging at breaking balls in the dirt, it was just a poor performance.”
A misread hit off the wall by ASU redshirt sophomore outfielder Kai Murphy allowed a triple to open UNLV’s side in the second. The Rebels wouldn’t waste a breath, as freshman infielder Braden Murphy slashed an RBI single to tie the game 1-1. Osman struggled to finish UNLV batters, having multiple two-strike counts that could’ve ended the inning, but the Rebels survived and attacked.
A pitch away from escaping the inning while only surrendering one run, Osman allowed a two-run RBI single that just missed the glove of redshirt sophomore infielder Sean McLain on a tough play, extending the UNLV lead 3-1.
The third frame saw similar results, with Rebels’ runners on second and third base. Braden Murphy again successfully produced an RBI on a groundout before senior catcher Eric Bigani drove the other runner home on a single, making the game 5-1 UNLV. Osman would finish the frame and be done for the night. It was a tough outing for the ASU lefty facing off against a UNLV team leading the nation in batting average with .343.
“[Osman] got hit around, but he didn’t walk anybody,” Bloomquist said. “He attacked the strike zone, so that was encouraging. That’s a good hitting team over there. We knew UNLV could swing the bats. They’re one of the better hitting teams in the country.”
The mental mistakes would rear their ugly head again for the Sun Devils the next inning in the form of back-to-back fielding errors by sophomore infielder Hunter Haas, adding a run to the club’s deficit 6-1. The sophomore has struggled on the defensive side of the ball since his return, and the club’s blunders plagued any momentum of a rally.
“Those plays are things that [Haas] makes 99 out of 100 times,” Bloomquist said. “I have confidence in him to make those plays. So when he doesn’t, essentially on back-to-back ones, I don’t think it has anything to do physically. I think just as a whole team, we didn’t have very good focus tonight.”
Comeback aspirations weren’t helped by a three-run sixth inning for UNLV highlighted by a two-run RBI double by Bigani, bloating its lead to the final score of 9-1. The groans from the home crowd at Phoenix Municipal Stadium seemed to intensify after every mistake by ASU before slowly turning into silence as the fans and the club were left stunned.
“I always have my team’s back, but tonight, with that effort level, it’s very tough to say something positive,” Bloomquist said.
