(Photo: Sammi Maxwell/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Arizona State baseball scheduled fireworks after the conclusion of Saturday night’s game to cap off Senior Night for the last regular season game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, but the show came earlier than expected.
Before the fireworks could light up the sky, the ASU offense lit up the scoreboard with six runs in the ninth inning. The Sun Devils had plenty of come-from-behind victories this season, including one against UNLV on March 25 where they scored four runs in the ninth inning, but this one was unlike any other.
ASU is fighting for its life to make the NCAA Tournament as a bubble team and a loss to a UNLV squad ranked No. 229 in the RPI (Rating Percentage Index) would have been a major blow to its chances, and that was the situation they faced down five runs in the ninth.
The bottom of the ninth had everything. A fielding error, multiple hit by pitches, a comebacker off the bat of redshirt sophomore Nick McLain that drilled UNLV senior right-handed pitcher Matthew Maloney, and a walk-off hit from junior first baseman Jacob Tobias up the middle to win the game — just to name a few.
ASU (32-24, 17-13 Pac-12) improbably pulled out a 14-13 victory from the jaws of defeat against UNLV (26-26, 12-18 Mountain West). In all of its craziness, the ninth inning was the perfect microcosm of how wild this ASU season has been. Just ask head coach Willie Bloomquist.
“I think that game sums up our season in a lot of ways where it wasn’t pretty, but the guys kept battling,” Bloomquist said. “They came out victorious in the end, which is pretty special. We just talked to them for a minute there. You know, the emotional highs and lows in sports that they deal you at times, but this is one of those emotional highs that you can’t get anywhere else unless it’s on the athletic field.
“To cherish it, savor it and just when it looks like you’re dead in the water. I’m not going to lie, I kind of had my doubts earlier in that game too, but (the) guys just keep battling.”
Tobias only finished with two hits and one RBI, but the one that mattered made him a hero. The first baseman embody his role as the cleanup hitter not only on Saturday night, but quite often of late. In his last four games, Tobias has ten hits — four of which were home runs — and 19 RBI.
The junior will certainly be in consideration for the Pac-12 Player of the Week after McLain won the honor for the last two weeks, but he will also be competing against his fellow junior teammate in catcher Ryan Campos, who tallied four hits for the third-straight game. During that span, the ASU backstop is 12-14 with a whopping .857 batting average, which does not even include his loud sacrifice fly to right field that cut the deficit to one run in the ninth.
With hitters like Campos and Tobias swinging the bat well all season long, it’s easy to see why a player like senior outfielder Harris Williams can get overshadowed. The San Francisco transfer started off the season as the team’s consistent leadoff hitter, but he only started four of the last 14 games with so many good bats in the lineup. The senior saw his teammates step up when given their opportunities, and he did the same when he ripped a double to left center to get the scoring started in that ninth-inning rally on Senior Night.
“Harris (Williams) has contributed one way or another all year long and done a great job. His attitude has always been phenomenal,” Bloomquist said. “I knew we were going to have good players that weren’t going to play some days and maybe for stretches of time…but Harris has continued to stay ready. I’m trying to mix him in and keep him sharp and he came through in a huge way on Senior Night. The last regular season game of his career, which was a special night for him. Can’t say enough about him (and) his attitude. The seniors have been outstanding with their leadership and how they carried themselves, especially this last month.”
One of the reasons Williams lost some playing time was the emergence of sophomore outfielder Kien Vu. The sophomore was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning, but he did his damage earlier in the game by hitting a pair of two-run homers. After only hitting one home run in 28 starts last season, the outfielder started six more games this season and exploded with 14 homers.
The offense’s late-inning heroics masked a problematic bullpen game. Bloomquist used his three starters in the last two games, so he called upon freshman right-handed pitcher Wyatt Halvorson to start on the mound. Halvorson only pitched 2 ⅔ innings because he allowed seven runs — four earned — and walked six Running Rebels, which is half of the 12 walks ASU’s pitchers issued on Saturday.
With the bullpen game, Bloomquist could not find a pitcher who could provide bulk innings as four Sun Devils pitched at least two frames each. However, the silver lining in this pitiful pitching performance was freshman right-handed pitcher Brok Eddy. The freshman was credited with the win after pitching two scoreless frames and only allowing one baserunner with three strikeouts.
Considering that Eddy has not pitched since February 24, it seemed like Bloomquist inserted the righty so that he did not have to use any of his high-leverage arms with the team down five runs late in the game and the Pac-12 Tournament in a few days. However, the reliever’s performance was a pleasant surprise to his manager.
“That credit goes to that young man (Eddy),” Bloomquist said. “I’m not going to give credit to myself or (pitching coach Sam Peraza) or anybody else. It’s that young man staying mentally sharp. That’s awful tough to do and I get it. He’s probably as frustrated as anybody in that clubhouse and other guys that haven’t pitched are probably frustrated, and rightfully so, at some point in time because I wouldn’t want them to not be frustrated.
“Hey, you never know, maybe we’ve found another arm for this tournament stretch.”
Bloomquist admitted that he is concerned about the way his pitching has looked with the amount of free passes it has allowed. The lineup bailed out the pitching lately and that may not be sustainable for much longer. Fortunately for the Devils, they only need it to be sustainable for four more games to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
ASU will be the No. 5 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and is grouped in Pool B with No. 8 Stanford and No. 2 Oregon State in Pool B, who lost to No. 1 Arizona in a walk-off loss on Saturday to lose the top spot in the conference. Senior left-handed pitcher Connor Markl is expected to pitch on Tuesday against Stanford and sophomore left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs should go Thursday against Oregon State.
The Sun Devils have mixed results in their pool as they were swept by Oregon State in Corvallis April 5-7, but they also swept Stanford in Palo Alto last weekend. With the team winning 15 of their last 18 games and scoring double-digit runs with regularity, players like McLain are confident that the offense can carry them no matter who it faces.
“I think that’s (the ability to make a run) pretty obvious to be honest,” McLain said. :If you look at the numbers, it’s pretty crazy what we’ve got going on right now. It’s not a fun lineup to throw to, that’s for sure. I think Stanford had a decent staff and we hit them pretty good. UCLA had some decent arms (and) we hit them good. We’ve been doing it for four or five weeks now. This is what our expectation was the whole year, and it’s nice that we’re living up to it. Hopefully we can sneak in (NCAA Tournament) and keep going.”
