(Photo: Zina Garcia/WCSN)i
PHOENIX – Arizona State baseball senior right-handed closer Will Koger worked himself into an unenviable situation in the ninth inning of Friday night’s game against Oral Roberts.
The Louisville transfer entered the top of the ninth inning with a two-run cushion, needing three outs to secure his third save on the young season and the fifth straight win for the Sun Devils, however, unlike his two other save attempts, Koger wouldn’t come out on top this time.
With two outs, Koger allowed a two-RBI single to center field off the bat of junior center fielder Makani Tanaka, tying the game. From there, things only got worse. The following at-bat, junior catcher Wailele Kane-Yates sent an 0-1 pitch back up the middle into center field, sucking the life out of the Phoenix Municipal air and bringing in the Golden Eagles winning run.
After controlling the game since the third inning, Arizona State (4-1) lost control in the top half of the ninth and couldn’t put up a crooked number against Oral Roberts (4-0) in the bottom half, losing to the Golden Eagles 8-7. For the first time on the early season, Willie Bloomquist’s team found itself on the wrong side of the win-loss column and it was Koger whose name was front and center.
“(Koger’s) a great kid,” Bloomquist said. “He’ll get it right, I don’t think anybody wants to finish off a game more than he does. He cares. He’s out there doing everything he can to try to close that out. Just (at) times we got to work ahead a little bit more.”
Koger found himself working behind for much of the ninth inning. He walked senior second baseman Jack Schark to lead off the inning after falling behind 2-1. Koger was then able to record two outs, but immediately fell behind to senior second baseman Martell Davis, 3-1, in a plate appearance that ended in a walk.
Even when Koger found himself ahead in the count it didn’t always go his way. After he walked Davis, he wasted a 2-0 count to senior right fielder Will Edmunson, throwing four straight balls to walk the bases loaded.
Koger needed to find the zone, but the Golden Eagles bats showed composure to not go after some of his misses.
“Credit to their hitters,” Bloomquist said. “They laid off some really tough pitches that, from the side, it looks like ‘man, how are they not swinging at that? That looks like it’s a tough pitch to lay off.’”
With the bases loaded Koger fell behind once more. Tanaka was in the driver’s seat with a 2-0 count when he got a pitch he lined into center field, bringing in two of those walks to tie the game up and setting Kane-Yates up for what ended up being his game-winning hit.
The Sun Devils had a chance to score in the bottom half of the inning but couldn’t come through. With two outs, freshman designated hitter Landon Hairston and sophomore shortstop Jax Ryan reached base, representing the tying and winning runs respectively.
Redshirt junior second baseman Kyle Walker stepped into the right-handed batters with the chance to extend or finish the game. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Walker took a big swing and drove the ball to left field, but senior Cooper Combs caught it in foul territory to end the contest.
“(The) situation can’t get too big,” Bloomquist said. “There in the ninth, I think (Walker) tried to end it with one swing right there a little bit, and got a little bit reckless with that swing instead of staying through the middle of the field.”
It was a disappointing loss for the Sun Devils. Left-handed starting pitcher Ben Jacobs had tied his single-game high in strikeouts with 11 across five solid innings and ASU baserunners wreaked havoc on the base paths, all just to fall short. Wins create momentum, but a loss like this can create motivation.
“This is going to light a fire under our butt,” Jacobs said. “We’re gonna be ready to go tomorrow. We all know that we’re keeping our heads up and keeping our tunes up. We’re ready to go tomorrow and now we know what we got and we’re going to take this series.”
Koger is a key piece of Bloomquist’s bullpen and like the rest of the team, he’ll need to bounce back strong. He has all the tools to succeed as a high-leverage arm, but it’s up to Koger to not dwell on the inning and stay confident to bounce forward.
“(Koger) runs a fastball up there pretty good and has an electric slider, he just got beat tonight,” Bloomquist said. “It’s ok, happens, just bounce back. If you’re going to be a back-end guy you got to have a short memory.”
