(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
PHOENIX — For most of Saturday’s contest, Arizona State baseball put itself in a position to win its second consecutive game against Oregon, which would provide a chance to go for the sweep on Sunday. But just like that — in an instant — those hopes vanished.
The Ducks pulled a couple rabbits out of their hat with some magical plays in the ninth inning to not only take the lead, but to finish the job. With one out in the top of the frame, Oregon junior designated hitter Jeffrey Heard, who entered Saturday with a .420 batting average at the cleanup spot, did not have a hit in his first three at-bats. That changed quickly when the San Jose native launched the ball over the fence to the opposite field to give UO its first lead since the second inning.
To add insult to injury, UO center fielder Bryce Boettcher made a spectacular diving catch to his right to rob ASU center fielder Isaiah Jackson of a leadoff hit during the bottom of the inning. The Ducks (10-4, 1-1 Pac-12) made plays when they needed it most, handing the Sun Devils (7-7, 1-1 Pac-12) a 6-4 loss, which left ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist with no answers of what his team could do better.
“That’s the beauty of baseball, but it’s also the heartbreak of baseball at the same time,” Bloomquist said. “I wish I had a crystal ball or a magic wand I could wave to have the outcome be different.”
Unfortunately for Bloomquist, he could not channel his inner Harry Potter against UO. However, what he can do is see a squad that had a great collective pitching performance — which was overshadowed by a blown save from freshman closer Cole Carlon — and a lineup’s inability to score insurance runs for his young reliever.
The manager reiterated that Carlon is his best bullpen arm and this poor performance does not change that sentiment. It’s the first time the Tempe product allowed multiple earned runs in an outing, so Saturday’s struggles may be a rough patch of growing pains for a player in his first year of college ball.
Besides Carlon, the rest of the arm barn was lights out. Sophomore lefty Ben Jacobs struck out five batters in his eight outs recorded and senior right-hander Hunter Omlid reeled off his third-straight scoreless outing after a rough start to the season. Simply put, all of ASU’s middle relief arms were locked in.
“(I was) messing around with the new changeup grip,” Behrens said. “I felt like I was getting more out of it, so I felt pretty confident in that. Being able to throw almost every pitch for a strike. I feel like when a pitcher is feeling it, he kind of gets in a groove and just getting the ball back. That’s my mentality. If anything goes wrong you just take a deep breath.”
Nothing went particularly wrong for Jacobs as he continues to look like the most trusted high-leverage reliever on the team. The skipper mentioned that the game lined up the way he wanted it to, but the result just did not go his team’s way.
The bullpen arms are starting to find their roles, but the rotation is far from that. Senior righty Connor Markl is normally ASU’s Saturday starter, but is inactive this weekend because of tricep tendonitis. This short-term injury thrusted freshman right-handed pitcher Adam Behrens into the starting spot, which he had occupied before against then-No. 24 Kansas State on Feb. 20.
Behrens’ stats were not pretty as he entered Saturday with a 9.58 ERA in 10 ⅓ innings, but he gave the team a chance to win with three earned runs in 4 ⅓ innings. Even though the Illinois native had a sour start to his first year, Bloomquist said his role is to do anything the team needs him to do.
“He doesn’t care where he pitches,“ Bloomquist said. “He knows that’s his role. He’s going to start. He’s gonna come out the ‘pen and wherever he’s used, he just goes out and gets outs. I wish they all had the mentality that he has. ‘Whatever you need, coach, I’m game.’ He did his job, kept us in the game there.”
The solid pitching performance was wasted with the lineup’s inability to provide a bigger cushion. ASU scored four runs in the first three innings thanks to three solo shots, but that was about the only offense it could generate. The power is great, but the team is not getting on base as much as it should.
“We’re not getting as many baserunners as we were early on in the year,” Bloomquist said. “Whether it be a walk or just getting a lot of hits in bunches early on. A lot of base runners everywhere creating havoc. Although we swung the bats a little bit better tonight and ran into a few balls and hit some home runs, their solo shots, right? We weren’t able to throw the knockout punch in there with guys on base.”
UO’s pitching was in a similar situation to ASU where its starter, freshman southpaw Toby Twist, kept his team in the game with three earned runs in four innings, but the bullpen plastered all zeros on the scoreboard in the final five innings. Senior righty Brock Moore hit triple digits on the radar gun in his two innings and senior southpaw Bradley Mullan used a funky delivery tho deceive ASU’ lineup in the final three innings to close out the game and get the win.
Redshirt sophomore Nick McLain was one of the three Devils — along with sophomore first baseman Jacob Tobias and junior catcher Ryan Campos — to homer on Saturday. The heart of the lineup provided the power, but as Bloomquist said, the top of the lineup could not get hits against Oregon. ASU faced some strong pitching on Saturday, but McLain is confident the team will bounce back for the rubber match on Sunday.
“I mean, they executed at the right time,” McLain said. “It’s not a bad staff over there. It’s baseball. We’ll get them tomorrow.”
