Despite a sweep, Arizona State goes toe-to-toe against Stanford

(Photo: Hailey Rogalski/WCSN)

PHOENIX — When Willie Bloomquist took over as head coach of Arizona State baseball hosting a regional and reaching Omaha was a goal for his program. While donning the maroon and gold for three seasons, Bloomquist won 119 games, earned Pac-10 Player of the Year honors in 1998 and brought ASU to Omaha during the same season. Simply put, losing as a Sun Devil is not something he’s accustomed to.

After defeating Oregon State in late April, Bloomquist explained how the series win didn’t mean much to him, as he has higher aspirations for a program “built upon Omaha.” After losing its first Pac-12 series to Oregon, his squad had another chance to bolster its resume against a top-25 team in the country.

Matching up with No. 7 Stanford at home provided an opportunity to leave no doubt about potentially hosting a regional for the first time at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. But the Cardinal (31-13, 18-6 Pac-12) instead used the series as proving ground to solidify themselves atop the Pac-12 standings, defeating the Sun Devils (29-18, 14-9 Pac-12) 9-4 in the series finale.

The series between each side wasn’t different from a year ago. Stanford swept ASU in its ballpark and did the same on the road, but the three contests were closer than 2022’s matchup.

Even with the growth, Bloomquist doesn’t see any moral victories in going toe-to-toe with the conference’s leader.

“I don’t look at it that way. I take it as three [losses], and for me, that’s tough,” Bloomquist said. “So our guys played hard they battled that’s all is a given. But in order to be the program that we want to be, we got to figure out ways to win those games.”

The offense was there against the Cardinal, but on Sunday, the offense managed to capture the lead first, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. On Friday and Saturday, the Sun Devils were forced to play catchup, building a lead before eventually losing it in both contests.

In the first two games of the series, starting pitching failed to get through the fourth inning, forcing Bloomquist to turn to the bullpen for early relief. But on Sunday, that wasn’t the case, as junior left-hander Ross Dunn threw five innings, allowing six hits, four runs and four walks.

After graduate righty Nolan Lebamoff guided ASU through the sixth inning, junior right-hander Owen Stevenson was trotted to the mound to keep Stanford at bay for three innings. Stevenson has made numerous multi-inning closing appearances, but before his appearance in Eugene, he hadn’t pitched more than two innings since March 14.

Like many times in 2023, Stevenson nearly got ASU out of the final innings unscathed, allowing one hit in 2.2 innings of service, which would have placed the offense in a one-run ball game. But following the second out of the ninth, he started to spiral, granting a standup double to junior third baseman Tommy Troy and two home runs, good for a four-run frame.

“We’re in need of a couple more shutdown guys, length from starting pitching is a necessity,” Bloomquist said. “That puts a lot of taxation on the back end of the bullpen, Owen and in [Pivaroff] have been workhorses all year we’re gonna need a couple more pieces that are gonna have to step up in order for us to make a run.”

Hosting a 2023 regional at Muni is looking unlikely, as the conference usually receives only one to two host sites, but the hope could be alive. Depending on ASU’s performance in its weekend series at USC and a home series against UCLA, a deep run in the Pac-12 Tournament could be enough to bolster its resume.

And for a Sun Devils squad that fought hard versus a top-10 team in the country, any outcome is possible.

“Our guys aren’t gonna quit. They’re gonna battle,” Bloomquist said. “At the end of the day, again that’s the standard here. If you’re gonna give in and throw in the towel you’re not gonna play at Arizona State. So they did fight, they did battle — but like I said — at the end of the day, that’s three tough losses. That’s gonna sting a little bit, and we got to be able to turn the page and get back to playing winning baseball next weekend.”