(Photo: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
PHOENIX – As the dark night sky donned overhead Phoenix Municipal Stadium, the crowd of 3,690 was treated to the sight of a kindling star. The second-best opening night crowd in stadium history wasn’t gazing at stars thousands of miles away, rather one stood just 60-feet-and-six-inches away from home plate.
Junior left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon gleamed in front of the maroon and gold faithful, as he got the ball for his first chance as a Friday-night starter.
“It was awesome,” Carlon said. “The energy; we were able to feed off of it. I was up there, I could hear the buzz, warming up between innings.”
Carlon delivered a scintillating performance, as he finished with one earned run allowed in a career-high of five innings pitched. His opening outing also ended in his first win of the season, with Arizona State baseball (1-0) winning 7-2 over Omaha (0-1) in game one of the weekend series.
“I’m just trying to attack the hitter, keep in the zone,” Carlon said. “I could go up there and try to chuck it as hard as I can every time, and I won’t have a good result.”
Carlon’s attacks didn’t end in strikeouts – he finished with only three – but was able to continuously produce weak contact throughout the game. Of the twelve outs from balls put in play, Omaha was retired six times from flyouts and six times from groundouts.
Carlon may have also been helped by the strong wind blowing through the ballpark. Coming from over the batter’s eye, the wind whipped right toward home plate, preventing both teams from hitting the ball over the fence.
“Nothing really changed (in my approach),” Carlon said. “They had a good approach and they weren’t really swinging that much early on, so the biggest thing was staying in the zone and getting just weak contact.”
Omaha’s lineup was incredibly experienced, with eight upperclassmen starting the game. The starters contained seven seniors, one junior and one freshman.
The veteran presence on the Omaha side presented a unique challenge for Carlon, as they were incredibly disciplined in the batter’s box.
“They did a really good job laying off his hard slider down in the zone,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “We recognized that he was able to dump a slider for a strike, and even a curveball in there a few times for strikes.”
Before Friday night’s start, Carlon’s previous career high for innings pitched was 4.1 innings versus Arizona last season. As he hit that mark against Omaha, he immediately surrendered a solo home run, but was able to finish the inning.
“Cole did a good job getting through five, which was kind of more than I was expecting,” Bloomquist said. “I was hoping to get him through four, but his pitch count was still manageable going into the fifth.”
Even with his inexperience as a starter, Carlon isn’t done adapting to his new role. Bloomquist said that he is planning to raise his pitch count to 75 pitches for his next outing.
Though Carlon modified his game to produce longer outings, he didn’t use his whole repertoire of pitches. Over the offseason, Carlon had been working to add a changeup to his pitch arsenal.
“The more pitches he can throw for strikes, the better he’s going to be,” Bloomquist said. “I’m glad he didn’t necessarily need it tonight, but that’s a pitch that’s going to give him a whole other layer.”
After the fifth inning, Carlon was pulled for junior right-hander Alex Overbay. Overbay, a UNLV transfer, finished with three innings of one-run ball, but it wasn’t without bumps along the way.
In the seventh and eighth innings, Overbay got into a bases-loaded jam. The first time, Overbay was able to get out unscathed. In the eighth inning, Overbay was one out away from getting out again, but Omaha scored on a fielder’s choice.
“We were able to maintain composure, which was big,” Bloomquist said. “Alex kept his composure, kept making pitches and we were able to pick it up behind him.”
Junior right-hander Derek Schaefer closed the game with an efficient performance. He only required 15 pitches to retire the side, striking out two along the way.
However, Schaefer hasn’t secured the closer role, as Bloomquist said that Schaefer will continue to battle with sophomore right-hander Eli Buxton for the position.
While Carlon was the starlet, the duo of Overbay and Schaefer did more than enough to secure the game for the Sun Devils.
“That’s the beauty of the staff,” Bloomquist said. “We have guys that are ready to pitch, that are capable of pitching, so we don’t have to rely on Carlon all year long.”
