(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball went through a merry-go-round of pitchers on Sunday afternoon, with a total of eight Sun Devils circulating through the final game of three against Utah. However, ASU did this not out of total necessity, but because it had the flexibility and comfort to afford it.
In the end, it did not matter who ASU threw Utah’s way, as the pitching staff got the job done in dominating fashion.
With the impressive performance on the bump and quality hitting on offense, the Sun Devils cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Utes, which finished off a series sweep and gave ASU its sixth straight win.
“Our plan before the game is [that] we’re going to play hard through nine innings no matter what,” freshman designated hitter Ethan Long said. “Whether we’re down or we’re up big, we’re not going to let our foot off the gas.”
The lack of a let-up mentality was displayed the entire game by ASU’s pitchers, which saw several players make their season and collegiate debuts.
With season-ending injuries to redshirt freshman left-hander Cooper Benson and redshirt junior right-hander Boyd Vander Kooi, and an illness of strep throat for redshirt junior left-hander Justin Fall, ASU pitching coach Jason Kelly decided to get creative with his strategy.
The game-plan was to use a committee of hurlers to offset the Sun Devils’ losses.
“We knew that we were going to try [to] use everybody,” Kelly said. “Our offense scored some runs early and that makes that process a little bit easier for us … That anxiety that sometimes [pitchers] feel in their first outing can be tempered just a little bit because you got a lead, and they’re not pitching life and death in a 1-1 game in the eighth.
“[Benson and Vander Kooi] are going to come back healthy and strong, and we hope this helps their career. We’re going to find a silver lining in this thing and I think that you saw some of that today. Today was a great start of what I hope is getting guys more innings and more time, and being able to rely on those guys in big situations.”
Redshirt freshman right-hander Seth Tomczak began the pitching carousel for ASU, with the start being his first action of the year. In the first inning, he was able to get out of a jam with runners on the corners and settled down thereafter.
Yet, after just 2.1 innings, Tomczak’s day was done and in came redshirt sophomore right-hander Will Levine, who also made his season debut.
For a player that hasn’t pitched in a collegiate game in over a year, Levine looked dominant in his 2.2 innings, which earned him the win. The righty allowed no hits and recorded two strikeouts.
“It’s not really something I can describe but it felt amazing,” Levine said. “I was really proud of just all weekend how guys were just stepping up and being ready. We preached it all week, [that] we gotta be ready for anything. Every guy in the bullpen has been working so hard, and it was just nice to see how it all came together today for everybody.”
ASU’s superior pitching performance could be taken with a grain of salt, however. Over the course of the series, Utah left 30 runners stranded and were 2-27 with runners in scoring position. On Sunday, after the three hits allowed by Tomczak, Utah would not record another hit until the eighth inning.
On the offensive end, ASU turned what looked like a pitcher’s duel early on into a comfortable lead in the fifth inning. The Sun Devils smacked one hit after another in the fifth, including two RBI singles by Long and freshman first baseman Jack Moss that escaped the third base-shortstop gap in the infield.
“We come up with a plan before the game,” Long said. “We want to try to drive the fastballs right-center, right field, center field, just live in that area with fastballs. If we get an offspeed pitch, don’t slow our bat down, just keep going through and hammer that ball to the left side. We did a really good job of doing that today.”
Long went 2-3 with two RBI’s, while redshirt freshman center-fielder Joe Lampe’s 2-3 day added to his .333 batting average on the year.
Perhaps a microcosm of the game as a whole, Kelly and the coaching staff went with two pitchers to close things out in the ninth inning. After recording two strikeouts to start, redshirt freshman right-hander Cam Dennie handed it off to redshirt freshman right-hander Bryce Barnett, who was another Sun Devil who made their season debut in the contest.
Once Barnett reached two strikes, the recently-added fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium rose from their seats, filling the stadium with energy that has not been seen or felt at such a magnitude during the young season. When redshirt senior catcher Sam Ferri threw the dropped third strike to first base to end the game, the crowd roared with excitement. The liveliness and spirit was back at ASU’s home ballpark.
“In the beginning, having limited fans … you could hear a little chatter here and there from the stands,” Long said. “But we’d have to create our own energy pretty much. Having those fans create the energy – we already create it in the dugout – but having the fans on our back too, having that many more people helped us out. It was awesome to see.”
The Sun Devils play Cal State Fullerton next weekend, and will look to continue their six-game win streak and win their fourth-straight series to start the year.
