(Photo: Joey Plishka/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball sophomore right-handed pitcher Tyler Meyer entered Saturday’s matchup against Washington not in the best condition. Meyer felt worn out after a spectacular outing against a top-ranked Oregon State team, where he stole the Sun Devils’ only win in Corvallis.
Back home, Meyer was feeling the aches and pains of the road trip, and didn’t feel his typical looseness coming into Saturday, which spelled disaster for ASU. Head coach Willie Bloomquist didn’t know how many innings he would get out of the right-hander against Washington, but it was soon apparent that Meyer wouldn’t let him feeling under the weather deter his pride.
After questions if he could even make it through one inning, the first-year Sun Devil would go seven innings in triumph fashion to secure ASU a 5-3 win over Washington and their first series win against a Pac-12 Conference opponent this year.
“He didn’t feel his best,” Bloomquist said. “But he competed. My biggest thing: no walks again.”
The Sun Devils have had control issues all season, giving up free bases to their opponents, but have posted back-to-back games where the club allowed one or fewer walks in a game. Bloomquist has harped on how the pitching staff needs to get better with that, and tonight, when he didn’t feel the best, Meyer pulled through.
“I’ve just been trying to build off last weekend in Oregon and give us a chance to win,” Meyer said. “I was able to do that, and the bullpen came in and shut it down – just a feel-good win right there.”
To start the game, the two opposing starters on the mound mirrored each other and produced the same results to dominate early. Meyer and Washington’s starter, sophomore right-hander Calvin Kirchoff, were looking for contact and found it early, as both made quick use of the early innings.
“[Washington] was very aggressive, and they actually helped me out in a lot of ways,” Meyer said. “I was just trying to pitch right to their bats, and they were getting themselves out.”
Both pitchers generated many groundouts and flyouts, but both soon found out that looking for those quick outs could lead to quick offense. For Meyer, it was in the second frame, when the first three pitches led to a bases-loaded situation with zero outs. Before he could even blink, the ASU right-hander was in a dangerous position that could’ve seen the game get out of reach early.
However, Meyer locked in and continued his success of the previous inning by attacking the zone, only surrendering a lone run that gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
“To get out with one is huge, keeps the momentum of the game going,” Meyer said. “[I] just tried to minimize and keep us in the game right there. That’s all it comes down to.”
It wouldn’t be long until ASU responded. Senior infielder Conor Davis opened the bottom half of the frame with a solo shot to right field, his fifth of the year, tying the game at one. That would be the only offensive push by the Sun Devils, as Kirchoff was still efficient attacking the zone.
The Huskies right-hander would be put in a similar hole as Meyer with bases loaded in the third inning. Like his counterpart, he only surrendered one run to sophomore infielder Ethan Long, who chopped one down the right field line to give ASU a 2-1 advantage.
The mirroring between the two sophomore right-handers would intensify in the next frame, as Meyer would surrender his own solo homer to Huskies freshman outfielder Coby Morales, but in a much different manner. Morales hit short of the center field wall, but ASU sophomore outfielder Joe Lampe made a mental error, missing the ball and punching it over to tie the game at two.
“[I] jumped up and kind of scraped the wall, didn’t get my arm all the way up – [it] hit off my mitt and [it] went over,” Lampe said.
Lampe continued with how he was frustrated with himself and motivated to correct his error when up to bat. The error could’ve been a momentum killer for the Sun Devils, but it turned out to be the moment the club mentally locked in.
Bloomquist has talked much in 2022 about the poor situational hitting and lack of consistent at-bats ASU has had, which has struggled to get them runs late in close games. The Sun Devils seemed to finally put the first-year coach’s words into action in the ASU side of the fifth inning.
ASU was able to capitalize on a triple by sophomore infielder Sean McLain, and see Long strike again with a sac-fly – his second RBI of the game – to propel it ahead 3-2.
“It’s always nice to get those runs late,” Long said. “It’s nice that we’re finally following through with our situational hitting, and everything is starting to click.”
The rest of the way would see Meyer dominate for ASU, continuing his aggressive approach and finding success, as he only allowed two base runners in his final three innings. Meyer recorded eight groundouts and seven fly outs in seven frames of work on only 76 pitches.
“I was feeling it a little bit at the end,” Meyer said. “Long weekend in Oregon, threw a lot of pitches, then a day short [of normal] rest so that was the perfect amount. We weren’t going to go over 85 [pitches].”
For Meyer, there were strong defensive plays that his infielders were able to make and save him from extending innings. Bloomquist would highlight McLain as one of the critical reasons for ASU’s defensive success on. Saturday.
“Sean McLain played some big-league defense today,” Bloomquist said. “He took away three or four base hits today that the average shortstop doesn’t make. That’s the difference in the game.”
The Sun Devils continued at the plate by adding insurance runs, which have become essential with how ASU’s bullpen has performed this year. In the bottom of the seventh inning, ASU would continue its team baseball as freshman designated hitter Jacob Tobias hit a sac-fly, extending its lead to 4-2.
Lampe would correct his error in the fourth inning with a double in the eighth to drive in the Sun Devils’ fifth and final run of the game.
“I like how the bottom of the order is right now,” Lampe said. “They put good at-bats on pitchers, and it’s what the coaches preach. We haven’t really had that combination to turn over the lineup a lot this year, but I think the recent success is a big part of that.”
ASU had a bullpen scare as junior right-hander Will Levine, after a flawless eighth inning, allowed a solo home run in the ninth that caused a deja-vu moment that Bloomquist and the team were not interested in reliving. Sophomore right-hander Brock Peery would come in to record the final two outs to give ASU the 5-3 win over Washington.
The Sun Devils got the series win over the Huskies and look to secure the sweep on Sunday at home, which could lead to a massive momentum shift from where the team was just a week ago. Bloomquist isn’t surprised about ASU’s recent success though, as he’s been preaching the solution to the club for weeks now.
It may just now be starting to take shape.
“The proof is in the pudding,” Bloomquist said. “I’m not trying to reinvent the game of baseball, if you don’t beat yourself, you give yourself a chance, and the numbers prove it.”
