Defensive struggles cost Sun Devils against Stanford

(Photo: Samantha Maxwell/WCSN)

PHOENIX — In the middle of his first season as Arizona State’s baseball head coach, Willie Bloomquist and his team traveled to Palo Alto to take on the Pac-12 powerhouse, Stanford. ASU came home with three losses, getting outscored 34-16.

Later that fall, Bloomquist said that the Stanford series was the moment he realized that his team needed to make big upgrades across the diamond in order to compete with a team like the Cardinal.

A year later, the result was the same but in a close 8-6 loss, the No. 20 Sun Devils (29-16, 14-7 Pac-12) proved that they were able to hang with No. 7 Stanford (29-13, 18-6 Pac-12), who are once again the premier power in the Pac-12.

“You know it’s a tough loss,” Bloomquist said. “I told our guys that’s a pretty dang good team over there, and we’re right with them. We make one play … and it might be a different outcome. It’s a ball bouncing one way or the other.”

The game marked the Sun Devils’ fourth straight Friday loss, and after a rough start from sophomore righty Jonah Giblin last week in Eugene, Bloomquist turned to junior southpaw Timmy Manning. The Florida transfer cruised through the first three innings, striking out four and only allowing one hit on a double from junior infielder Drew Bowser.

The curveball was working for Manning, and with a fastball sitting in the low 90s, the Florida transfer showed why he has the potential to be one of the Sun Devils’ premier arms. However, one of Manning’s prevalent issues has been his propensity to give up some huge innings that hurt his outing.

After freshman center fielder Isaiah Jackson hit a solo shot in the bottom of the third to give ASU a 1-0 lead, Manning gave the run right back, surrendering a leadoff homer to junior infielder Tommy Troy. Manning then let the inning get out of control, giving up three more runs on three doubles, a single, and a walk.

“I thought Timmy threw the ball outstanding,” Bloomquist said. “Tried to lengthen him out a little bit, so we ran them out there again (in the fourth). He was throwing the ball really well, and the only complaint I had was him going 3-0 to start the inning against Tommy Troy. He had to come at him with three fastballs, and he got the third one oppo and hit a homer.”

The Troy homer swung the momentum in the Cardinal’s favor immediately after ASU built some with the Jackson homer. Stanford made it a theme all night, taking the energy out of the Phoenix Municipal Stadium crowd every time it started to build.

In the bottom of the fifth, freshman outfielder Nick McLain hit his seventh home run of the season to cut the Cardinal lead to 4-3, but once again, Stanford answered with a solo shot from junior outfielder Alberto Rios, pushing the lead back to two.

Forever the Comeback Kids, a two-run lead was not going to be enough to keep the Sun Devils at bay. Following the Rios homer, freshman third baseman Nu’u Contrades made up for a play Bloomquist thought he could have made in the fourth with an RBI double that was two or three feet from being a homer.

Senior outfielder Wyatt Crenshaw drove a run home on a groundout to second before Jackson gave ASU a 6-5 lead on a two-out single that was roped up the middle.

“Early in the season and maybe even the last couple of weeks, I have just been inconsistent with my load and my timing,” Jackson said. “I felt like this has gotten me in between being late for the fastball and early for the off-speed. Just haven’t been able to be on time for one of them. So it’s been getting really consistent and working on standing that backside a little bit better and seeing the ball a lot better. Obviously, results are coming.”

The lead and momentum ASU had gained did not stick around for long as junior righty Blake Pivaroff, who has been so solid for the Sun Devils all year, surrendered a crushing three-run home run to Rios, his second of the game. Pivaroff was one pitch away from getting out of the inning, but he hung a 1-0 slider to Stanford’s hottest hitter.

“Just hung one pitch,” Bloomquist said. “At the end of the day, [Pivaroff is] our guy. He’s been our guy all year. He’s been outstanding. He just hung one pitch over the middle of the plate, and the kid didn’t miss it. Unfortunately, it was against probably their hottest hitter right now, and he didn’t miss it. He beat us; tip your hat to him, turn the page, and move on to tomorrow.”

Despite giving up six runs already, Stanford head coach David Esquer ran out senior starter Quinn Matthews for his seventh inning of work. The southpaw was nearing 100 pitches, but that didn’t stop him from shutting down the Sun Devils in the seventh and then the eighth as well.

Matthews finished the night with 121 pitches, striking out 11 and walking none over his 8.0 innings. He got better as the night went along, striking out five in his final two innings of work.

“(Matthews) didn’t drop off; he stayed right there,” Bloomquist said. “He was as effective in the eighth as he was in the first and second. He just didn’t drop off. His velocity was still there. His breaking stuff was still sharp. He was still locating. The kid’s a good pitcher and a tribute to our offense to put up six on him. I mean, that was impressive.”

ASU has already proved that it can compete with Stanford, and they have come a long way from that series in early April last year. But the Cardinal showed that great teams always have the capacity to answer back, and on Saturday, the Sun Devils will have a chance to do just that.

“We were one out away from turning that ball over to (junior righty Owen Stevenson) for the eighth and the ninth, and maybe we’re sitting here celebrating right now if that’s the case. It wasn’t meant to be tonight, but we still are in good shape tomorrow.”