(Photo: Reece Andrews/WCSN)
Arizona State Baseball’s series finale was a poetic way to end what was a roller coaster season.
ASU entered the year with lofty expectations, a new head coach, talented transfers, and returning contributors. The immediate future seemed bright.
However, the club had many missed opportunities, and maintaining consistency always seemed out of reach.
After getting swept at Stanford in April, the team would pivot from winning streaks to losing streaks on a weekly basis. After any winning streak, the Sun Devils reverted back to their old ways, going on losing streaks greater than the initial win streak.
ASU continuously dug itself into holes throughout the year.
This hole for ASU couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the Sun Devils were being swept by Washington State with a season finale 10-3 loss thanks to bullpen woes and poor situational hitting. The Sun Devils lost five of six to end the year, dropping them to eighth place in the Pac-12 standings, setting up an opening conference tournament matchup with Stanford.
ASU, despite the overwhelming negatives in Sunday’s performance, still had some things that head coach Willie Bloomquist can work with as it heads to Scottsdale for the Pac-12 Tournament.
One is ASU sophomore right-hander Tyler Meyer who got the start on the bump and continued to work his way back from injury. After a disastrous outing against Oregon last weekend, where he allowed seven runs in three innings, the road back to his old form was expected to be extensive. However, early on, Meyer was slicing through Cougar batters.
The Sun Devil righty controlled the zone differently, relying on his changeup early to strike out the side in the first inning. Then, he dialed up on the fastball to generate three straight groundouts in the second inning to retire the first six Cougars’ batters. Meyer would go four innings, his longest outing since April 14, while recording his most strikeouts since March 20 with six.
While Meyer was headlining the defensive pressure early, redshirt sophomore outfielder Joe Lampe took responsibility for the offensive side. After a poor series up to this point, hitting 1-8, it seemed like Lampe finally let off some steam with a monster performance at the plate, recording a hit in his first three at-bats.
The Petaluma, California native got the scoring started in the second frame, slashing a two-RBI single with the bases loaded to give ASU its first and only lead, 2-0. Lampe tried to sneak into second on the throw to third but was called out to end the inning.
After the abrupt end to the second, the focus was back on Meyer. In the third inning, Meyer allowed the first two Washington State batters to get on base with zero outs.
Despite the early turbulence, Meyer was able to keep control of the situation, surrendering just one run in the third inning to keep the ASU lead intact at 2-1. The lead wouldn’t be safe for long though, as the next frame saw the Sun Devil righty surrender a two-run home run to Cougars’ sophomore infielder Kyle Russell, who flipped the one-run deficit into a one-run lead.
The deflating feeling for ASU looked to be temporary as the next side saw Lampe blast a solo moonshot over the right-field wall to tie the game 3-3. It was Lampe’s third RBI of the game and his 12th home run of 2022.
No other ASU batter seemed to generate offensive production for the team, and any spark off the bats appeared to fizzle out after the homer. The bats stalled, and with Meyer pulled after the fourth inning, It was a green light for the Cougars to take advantage of a weak Sun Devil bullpen.
Sophomore Ethan Long was the first out of the bullpen, and his stint wouldn’t last long, recording the first two outs and allowing two Washington State batters aboard. Bloomquist tried to diffuse the situation by putting in redshirt junior right-hander Will Levine, but the Cougars soon proved those aspirations to be a disaster.
Levine wouldn’t record a single out in his outing on Sunday, allowing five runs on three hits. The lack of control was immediately showcased when Levine hit his first batter in the face first before allowing sophomore outfielder Nate Swarts to hit a two-run RBI single to take back the lead 5-3.
The momentum was entirely in the Cougars favor as Russell would record his third RBI with a single following Swarts before redshirt catcher Jake Meyer would close out the offensive burst for Cougars with a two-run RBI single to give Washington State the commanding 8-3 lead.
The explosive fifth inning by the Cougars seemed to handcuff the Sun Devils as the club never seriously responded, only recording two hits in the last four frames.
After the rough start, ASU’s bullpen found its groove, only allowing two runs in the final three innings pitched. However, the Washington State’s arms were even more effective, not giving any hopes to the opposing bats to secure the 10-3 win, securing the sweep.
2022 has been an emotionally-draining year for ASU. Bloomquist has talked throughout the season about having the memory of a goldfish, never wanting his players to focus on the negatives. The Sun Devils will need to be goldfish for the Pac-12 Tournament, as some bigger fish stand to end their season for good if ASU is unable to adjust.
