(Photo: Sammy Nute/WCSN)
Arizona State baseball took a hard look at itself in the mirror amid culture concerns, but it appears a trip down south galvanized the troops for the Territorial Cup series.
ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist said you need to “check your pulse” if the rivalry series against Arizona does not get you hyped, and that excitement was palpable in the locker room after the Sun Devils (9-9, 3-2 Pac-12) defeated Arizona (8-9, 2-3 Pac-12) 4-0 to get the series win with a potential sweep on Sunday. The lineup is considered to be the strength of the team, but it did not need to score a bunch of runs because the pitching recorded its first shutout against its arch-rival since 2014.
The Sun Devils’ pitching has been fabulous with freshman right-handed pitcher Thomas Burns only allowing one run in seven innings despite a lack of strikeout stuff and lots of baserunners, but senior left-handed pitcher Connor Markl trusted his stuff and struck out eight Wildcats. The senior dotted the fastball where he wanted it and had the slider play off the heater to deceive the batters.
Not only did Markl have his best outing of the season, but it was also the best of his career. The GCU transfer tied a career-high with six innings pitched and only allowed one hit, which is the first time he has done so in an outing with a minimum of five innings pitched. This is even more impressive considering that he missed his last start due to tricep tendonitis, but that was more of a precautionary move and it appears the extra rest helped him tonight.
“I was able to recover a good amount,” Markl said. “Like I told coach, I could have gone last week. I could have kept going, but it was just one of those things (that) could keep nagging at me for the rest of the year and we’re like,’okay, let’s take the cautious approach and take the weekend off.’ Recoup, regather and so hopefully this is just in the rear-view mirror now.”
Markl and junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Schiefer formed a dynamic duo on Saturday, as the reliever tossed three innings with four strikeouts and only allowed a walk. The junior has been a revelation in the bullpen for the Sun Devils with a 1.15 ERA in 15 ⅔ innings, which has brought some stability to a shaky arm barn.
The pitching has lined up the way Bloomquist wanted it to by throwing a combined four pitchers in these two victories with Burns and sophomore left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs as the tandem last night. This puts the Sun Devils in a spot where they will have all hands on deck and put the final nail in the coffin on Sunday.
“We haven’t used our matchup guys yet,” Bloomquist said. “We got plenty of bullets down there, so that’s reassuring going into Sunday when that hasn’t been the case the past few Sundays. We’re excited about it. We like where we’re at and we’ll give the ball to (freshman right-handed pitcher) Adam Behrens tomorrow. Hopefully give us another good start and then we’ll piece something together.”
This series has been a complete shift from the general expectation of ASU. The Sun Devils were predicted to have a poor pitching staff and were down and out after a midweek loss to New Mexico, but now the starters have carried the squad and the team has a winning record in Pac-12 play.
The lineup only scored a combined seven runs in the last two games, but freshman second baseman Ethan Mendoza shined with the go-ahead two-run single in the ninth inning on Friday night and he tacked on a couple more hits in the second game. Bloomquist thought his team put some good swings on the ball, which is represented with 11 hits on Saturday, but not necessarily in the runs column.
However, the defense has been spectacular with a couple plays to add to the highlight reel. For example, redshirt sophomore right fielder Nick McLain had an incredible diving catch toward the foul line that ended the fifth inning and kept Markl rolling. Part of the reason why the pitching has been phenomenal is because not many balls are dropping in the outfield.
“We have three center fielders out there and a fourth one on the bench in (sophomore center fielder) Kie Vu that can run it down out there as well,” Bloomquist said. “That’s the goal, when you’re playing at ASU, is to have three guys out there that can cover a ton of ground and cover every blade of grass if we can. Nick’s play, that’s an ESPN highlight reel play. The ball in the ninth (inning) there, (redshirt senior left fielder) Harris Williams made the play to really not give them any life and any momentum was huge, really, so to speak. Of course, we get spoiled with (sophomore center fielder) Isaiah (Jackson).”
A combination of this fantastic defense with precise pitching has been the reason for the past two wins, which is scary considering the lineup has not done what it is capable of.
The Territorial Cup is a great rivalry in Arizona, but especially in baseball with two of the most historic collegiate programs battling one another. It was the momentum boost ASU needed after the way it lost the last three games, but now it has a chance for its first three-game winning streak of the season with a potential sweep against its rival in enemy territory.
D1Baseball’s experts unanimously picked Arizona to win the series, and it seems like ASU took that personally. It’s no secret that the Sun Devils feel like they were snubbed last year when the selection committee picked Arizona over them, but they are doing everything they can to avoid that again.
“They know what’s at hand,” Bloomquist said. “Like I said, there’s been constant reminders. We haven’t forgotten last year. We know what happened last year. We swept them in-conference last year and apparently that wasn’t enough, so we’ll have to try and sweep them again and then beat them in the midweek later on in the year would be nice. Anyhow, but first things first, we got to come ready to play tomorrow and they understand that.”
