(Photo: Reece Andrews/WCSN)
TEMPE – A Friday night series opener for Arizona State Baseball against California came with a medley of parallels.
Both teams came into the contest with 11 wins, both boasted aces with a troublesome last three outings and both were having their fair share of inconsistencies in the bullpen as well, leading into the matchup. Even with a long list of similarities, the end result Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium upended any comparison for the time being, with the Sun Devils claiming their 12th win on the year by a final of 8-3.
A rough ninth inning on the mound for the Sun Devils that featured a pair of pitching changes didn’t matter even after the Golden Bears brought home two runs before sophomore right-hander Brock Peery shut the door.
“It was well played all around,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “Certainly nice when you come out and do that against a quality starter like Josh White.”
After dropping ten runs in a loss to UNLV earlier in the week, it didn’t take the Sun Devil lineup long to get going on Friday.
The Sun Devils got to California junior right-handed starting pitcher Josh White right away, forcing him to throw nearly 50 pitches in his first two innings of work. His opposite number on the other hand, redshirt junior right-hander Kyle Luckham, was as efficient as it gets, throwing just 26 pitches to get through his first three innings.
Luckham started for the second consecutive Friday in place of fellow redshirt junior left-hander Adam Tulloch, who has struggled mightily across his last three starts. After giving up four runs in his last appearance against Washington, Luckham twirled seven quality innings, surrendering just two unearned runs on seven hits.
“They were a solid hitting team,” Luckham said. “There’s a lot of outs in that lineup though, you just got to pound the zone against those guys.”
The pair of unearned runs in the sixth ended up being the only blemish for Luckham before his night was done.
A high volume of strikes accompanied by just one walk made for yet another deep outing, one that saved the bullpen as much as possible for the rest of the weekend. It’s the third time this season Luckham has gone at least seven frames in a start.
“Being able to pick up our bullpen and take some weight off of them is big,” Luckham said. “It’s an important weekend for them, so it was good to go as deep as I could. It’s always nice being able to help them out.”
Redshirt sophomore shortstop Sean McLain highlighted a two out rally in the home first with a three-run home run off of White, who threw 28 pitches in his opening frame and gave up two hits and a pair of walks before getting out of the jam.
In the ensuing two innings, White fell victim to three more runs, which included a two-run triple from redshirt sophomore center fielder Joe Lampe in the third. Five ASU batters had multi-hit games including Lampe, who went 2-for-5 with three runs driven in.
“From an offensive standpoint I think that was one our most complete games,” Lampe said. “Just from consistent at-bats the whole game and then to doing it off of that kind of pitcher, setting the tone in the first inning was big as well.”
A large part of the Sun Devils’ offensive success in the early innings was thanks to some productivity with two outs. Five of the Sun Devils eight runs came with two outs, all of which were scored off of White.
Six two-out hits and four two-out walks provided the necessary support where Bloomquist and company needed it most.
“The innings where we put up crooked numbers, it’s guys not trying to do too much,” Bloomquist said. “Taking their walks and passing the baton to the next guy versus trying to be the hero. Those are good quality at-bats when we’re able to do that and make the other guy work more.”
White managed to pitch into the sixth inning despite the tough start, but the Sun Devils tacked on their final two runs in the frame on graduate first baseman Conor Davis’ single to center field and a wild pitch that scored freshman catcher Ryan Campos.
Lampe mentioned postgame that sophomore right-hander Tyler Meyer is out this weekend, alluding to it by highlighting how important Luckham’s lengthy start was to help save as many arms for the rest of the series. Bloomquist later noted that he doesn’t want to risk any further injury with Meyer being as impactful as he has this season.
“It’s just a little stiffness in his shoulder,” Bloomquist said. “Tyler is a valuable piece to our puzzle and we can’t afford to send him out there like that. It’s nothing major, it’s just something we want to be cautious about because we’re gonna need him to be healthy for the second half of the season.”
Bloomquist and his staff are still contemplating Meyer’s replacement for tomorrow evening, but he feels confident with the options that Luckham has opened up for the remainder of the series.
