Brandon Compton walks off Buckeyes, clinches series win

(Photo: Sammy Nute/WCSN)

PHOENIX – When junior right fielder Kien Vu beat out an infield single in the bottom of the ninth inning, Arizona State baseball’s most dangerous hitter was next up in a game situation that you dream about in the backyard as a kid.

Redshirt sophomore left fielder Brandon Compton stepped into his left-handed batter’s box with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, just a single or better and the Sun Devils would be celebrating the kid from Buckeye, Arizona, walking off the Buckeyes.

In a 1-1 count Compton got a pitch to hit. Ohio State right-handed freshman reliever Nik Copenhaver hung an 87 MPH offspeed pitch which Compton lasered into center field. Initially, it looked like junior center fielder Reggie Bussey had a potential play on the ball, but the Arizona sun was shining bright for its Devils. Instead of watching the ball into his glove, Bussey felt it hit off his sliding body.

“That’s a Tempe, Phoenix Muni sun ball that you just can’t do much about,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said.

Redshirt junior second baseman Kyle Walker and junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades, who reached on a hustle play to beat out a double play and on a walk, respectively, scored on the play to give Arizona State (2-0) the 7-6 victory over Ohio State (0-2) to clinch the weekend series and send the Sun Devil faithful into a frenzy on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

“We got the winning run to second base so we were in good shape there with our middle of the lineup coming up,” Bloomquist said. “And as soon as he hit it, I mean he just smoked it, but I guess right at him then I realized, remembered, we’re playing in at Phoenix Muni, and that sun is really, really tough at that time for that low line drive.”

Arizona State found itself in a 6-5 hole entering the ninth inning in part to two Ohio State runs scoring in back-to-back innings on wild pitches.

In the eighth inning, freshman right-hander Eli Buxton had an 87 MPH slider get away from him allowing Ohio State senior left fielder Nick Giamarusti, who has been a pest on the basepaths throughout both games, to score and make it a 6-5 game.

The inning prior, sophomore left-hander Cole Carlon sailed a pitch over the head of redshirt freshman catcher Brody Briggs in a high-pressure bases-loaded situation allowing senior third baseman Tyler Pettorini to score and make it a 5-4 game.

Possessing a 96 mph fastball from the left side and brimming with potential, Carlon threw 40.2 innings in his rookie campaign. Bloomquist and his staff want to look to Carlon as a consistent option with the ability to both start games and come out of the bullpen, leading to heightened expectations.

“We expect Cole to be good,” Bloomquist said. “We can’t get a double play ball with two outs and then walk a couple guys and hit a guy and throw a wild pitch and give away a lead late in the game. And he knows that he’s a great kid and understands and probably wants it so bad is what part of the problem is.”

The bullpen performance was bumpy throughout the game, allowing eight baserunners and giving up two earned runs in 4.2 innings, but did enough to not throw the game away following the first ASU start for transfer senior right-hander from Louisiana-Lafayette, Jack Martinez.

Martinez had his fastball-changeup combo working well and helped him go 5.1 innings pitched, striking out eight along the way and allowing zero walks. Martinez threw his mid-90s fastball and low-80s changeup confidently to all hitters and peppered in his curveball and slider.

“Overall I thought he threw the ball outstanding,” Bloomquist said. “(The) ball was coming out hot, (he) had a very good changeup coming behind it, slider, had some good bite to it. All in all, he had a great outing. He wanted to keep going.”

The righty was credited with three earned runs, but it could be argued that he only deserved to be credited with two of those. After allowing an RBI single in the first inning and a leadoff home run in the second inning Martinez started to settle down. It wasn’t until the fifth inning when Giamarusti scored on a sacrifice fly that another earned run was tacked onto his line.

Giamarusti reached base on a double to left-center field to lead off the fifth, but it wasn’t your traditional double slicing a gap or even a hustle double. Giamarusti’s hit went sky-high into the blaring sun and the catchable ball fell between Brandon Compton and junior center fielder Isaiah Jackson in left-center field.

Still, Martinez walks away with a performance to be proud of and a performance that the Sun Devils are going to need him to replicate and improve on as the season goes on.

“We need those guys late in the year,” Bloomquist said.

Martinez was one of 12 pitchers to toe the rubber the past two days, leaving Willie Bloomquist a tough task to manage his arms with two more games still to play – one against Ohio State and one against Austin Peay – before the Sun Devils get a rest.

One part of the equation is clear though, sophomore right-hander Jaden Alba will start the final game against Ohio State. Alba only pitched 7.1 innings last year in nine relief appearances but is coming off an impressive summer showing where his 1.32 ERA led the Healdsburg Prune Packers to a Pacific Empire League Championship.

Despite how many arms have already thrown, Bloomquist still has options to follow Alba.

“(Freshman right-hander) Jake Neely will be hot tomorrow, A lot of the guys that threw Friday will be back, ready to go tomorrow. (sophomore right-hander) Derek Schaefer will be ready. We got another game Monday, so we got to save some bullets for that game.”

Arizona State’s short-term memory will be tested over the next two games when pitchers who struggled will have to return to the rubber with the expectation that they’ll succeed. The need for short-term memory doesn’t just extend to pitchers.

In the seventh inning, Kien Vu got hit in the elbow and got thrown out trying to steal home in a painful and unfortunate half-inning. However, he didn’t let it affect him when he came up to the plate in the ninth inning and used his wheels to create the bases-loaded situation that handed Compton the opportunity to win the game.

“At the end of the day I’m just trying to pass the baton, get the bat in Compton’s hands,” Vu said. “That last pitcher we faced was pretty solid. He had good stuff and he was spotting up well, so as soon as it was on the ground I was like ‘I better beat this out and get it to Compton.’”

The walk-off that followed capped off a great bounce-back day for Compton. After going 0-4 on opening day he smashed a 109 MPH, 445-foot home run to deep right field, clearing the National Championship sign with ease, in his first at-bat. Compton added a single and a walk to his stat line for a very successful second day at the yard.

“I think he hung a changeup there so I was able to do some damage,” Compton said.

In Bloomquist’s opinion, Compton didn’t even get all of that one. He knows that Compton has a lot more in the tank.

“He didn’t get all of it,” Bloomquist said. “I’ve seen him where he gets all of it. He got most of it, but there’s still some room in there.”

If Saturday is just an average day at the ballpark for Compton it’s a sign of what the MLB Draft prospect can do this season and beyond.

“I’ve had the luxury of playing with a lot of really good players that could hit the ball a long way over my lifetime,” Bloomquist said. “He’s right up there with a lot of those guys. It’s impressive what he can do.”