(Photo: Samantha Maxwell/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Entering the bottom of the ninth, Arizona State baseball was down two runs to Washington State (18-10, Pac-12 5-8) and looked primed to turn in its worst offensive performance of the year. However, a late rally by the Sun Devils saw the bases loaded, led to freshman outfielder Kien Vu walking off 6-5. While the innings leading up to it looked iffy, confidence was at an all-time high because of the club’s resilience.
Thursday’s comeback may look familiar for ASU (21-9, Pac-12 8-2) because, as freshman infielder Luke Hill pointed out, it was similar to the first game of the 2023 campaign.
“Yeah, we were down two, but literally the exact same thing happened at San Diego State’s first game of the year. We were in these jerseys, down 5-4, and we walked it off, winning it 6-5,” Hill said. “So, I was completely confident, and what do you know, Vu again, like we did the exact same thing against San Diego State.”
Since that game against SDSU, ASU has proven to have a heart against adversity. Head coach Willie Bloomquist has harped on the program’s never quit mindset, which was apparent on Thursday in a stellar comeback win. The victory extends the Sun Devils’ home winning streak to 10 and keeps them tied with Stanford at the top of the Pac-12 Standings.
“They’re starting to believe that they can win,” Bloomquist said. “Good teams figured out ways to win late, and they did that tonight. I would characterize them as guys that care and have heart, and they aren’t going to give in. Tonight wasn’t necessarily our night offensively early… It’s fun to watch those guys start to believe that they can do something special.”
The night opened with a familiar face for the Sun Devils with sophomore infielder Cam Magee, who transferred away from Tempe this past offseason. There wasn’t much friendly catching up as Magee, on a two-strike count, sliced a double to center field to open Thursday’s game. That was a common theme for starting sophomore right-hander Jonah Giblin, his inability to put away batters with two strikes.
Giblin, with the seven batters he faced in the first frame, five were on a two-strike count. However, his early lead wouldn’t matter much as many Cougars’ batters battled at the plate and eventually found an opening. The sophomore right-hander’s lack of command put him in trouble loading the bases.
WSU took advantage of the early base runners, tacking on three to begin the game, two via sac flies and one from an RBI single by junior outfielder Jonah Advincula. Before some fans could even make it to their seat with their popcorn, the Cougars had built a sizable margin.
Despite the early deficit, Bloomquist had highlighted his team’s fight illustrated when down, which showed early. The Sun Devils had the heart of their lineup entering the second, where it proved to pump some life back into Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Quick two base runners aboard set the table for freshman infielder Luke Hill to even the score with a massive 373-foot moonshot over the left field wall to tie the game 3-3. After a hot start to his Sun Devil career, followed by a cool-down period, Hill has begun to ramp it up again for ASU with his second homer of the year and his third straight game with two or more RBIs.
“I was hunting a fastball, and he left a little bit up, and then it was just green light from there,” Hill said. “He left to right in my wheelhouse, and I made sure to do damage with that.”
The homer brought some energy not only to the fans but the ASU dugout as well, with much louder chirping coming from the Sun Devils side. While considered friendly competitive banter by most, the next time Magee was up and grounded out, he had some choice words to bark back to his former teammates.
Regardless of the back-and-forth, it didn’t mess with WSU’s plate approach. Left-hander Timmy Manning would relieve Giblin after the second and had better luck on the mound.
“We’re down 3-0 in the game and just putting up scoreless innings,” Manning said. “So, knowing our offense will get back. That team wasn’t gonna hold back our offense to three runs, just holding it down, putting up some zeros until our offense got a chance to click.”
However, the Cougars still found a way to produce. This time sophomore infielder Elijah Hainline with a solo shot to retake the lead for WSU in the fourth. After the three-run homer by Hill, the Sun Devils went ice cold at the plate, only recording two base runners in the subsequent 17 plate appearances, one of them being via a throwing error by Magee into the ASU dugout.
Manning did his best to keep the game close with a stellar outing on the bump. In 4.1 innings pitched, the junior left-hander struck out six Cougar batters and allowed only two hits. Despite Manning’s heroics, the Sun Devils couldn’t measure any real offensive momentum.
“To me, [Manning] was hands down the player that game,” Bloomquist said. “His four innings. They’re huge because that saves our bullpen for the next two days… He’s been throwing the ball really well. He’s getting more and more confident every time he goes out there.”
In the seventh, ASU finally had a runner in scoring position and looked primed to erase the one-run deficit. However, after a close play at first was reversed to call senior infielder Wyatt Crenshaw out, led to a hit-by-pitch on freshman outfielder Isaiah Jackson being reviewed and changed into a strikeout that ended the inning, which could’ve been a huge missed opportunity for the Sun Devils.
“By rule, they were right. But it’s one of those things that I don’t think anybody agrees with that rule,” Bloomquist said. “In professional baseball, it has to be over the plate. You know, if a guy does that and it’s a strike, In college, if they show the intent of leaning into it doesn’t have to be a strike. So by rule, they got it right. I couldn’t argue that much, but that was a tough call.”
After the seventh-inning debacle, ASU would have one last chance in the final frame. Down two runs, the Sun Devils needed to work quickly, which is exactly what they did, with sophomore infielder Jacob Tobias launching a solo shot to open the ninth and cut the Cougars’ lead 5-4. Hill stepped up to the plate down one, but instead of looking to be the hero to tie the game, he was just looking to get on base because of the trust of the guys in the lineup.
“I don’t want to get too big. We’re down one, but there’s a lot of guys behind me that can do what I’m doing, if not better,” Hill said. “Just put up a good at-bat, and he left some pitches up, so I had to do damage with him. That was the emphasis, get on first base and pass the baton.”
Hill succeeded with a single, and soon afterward, the bases were loaded. Jackson came to the plate with a chance to fix the clunky seventh-inning ruling and did it with a loud sac fly that tied the game. After an ugly eight innings, ASU had a chance to steal one at home, and Vu would come in with a soft blooper that propelled the program to win No. 21 of the season in walk-off fashion.
“I guess you can go back to fall and spring practice to where we try to make practices intense and put pressure on them to execute in certain situations,” Bloomquist said about how the team has shined in clutch moments. “It doesn’t necessarily equate to a game situation like this, but hopefully, it allows them to train their minds to lock in when there is a pressure situation on the line. So they’ve done a good job of it so far and late, late games where we have the chance to win late, and they’ve they’ve come through, so hopefully, that continues.”
Coming into 2023, it was seen as a reset year for ASU, and it looks good to fix those woeful memories of 2022. Now, seeing his words coming to fruition has been a fun experience for Bloomquist to see.
“Different team, different character, different people,” Bloomquist said. “This is a good group of guys, and they’re starting to feel it a little bit, and to me, that’s what’s exciting. I can sit here and talk about it all day long, but unless they feel it and start believing it, then it doesn’t really matter. And when you start to see the excitement building with them in the locker room and their confidence level just continuing to grow every time out. It’s kind of fun to be in my seat to sit and watch it happen.”
