(Photo: Austin Hurst/WCSN)
The Gold team’s spirtis were as high as the gold sun in the sky as they won the first game of the Arizona State baseball’s Maroon and Gold World Series, utilizing some first-inning small ball in a beautiful afternoon game.
Despite the typically gorgeous Arizona weather that usually boosts offesne at Phoenix Municipal stadium the Gold team scored all three of their runs by way of just one hit claiming an early lead in the first that they would never relinquish as they went on to win 3-1.
There were signs of spirits ball rust with both teams comitting multiple errors. The first run was scored on what should have been a double play but sophomore first baseman Cole Carlon could not pick freshmen second baseman Beckett Zavorek’s throw out of the dirt. On the next batter, Zavorek could not come up with the ball on a tough play, allowing another run to score. These two errors led to a run to score apiece. These errors were a part of the reason why the Maroon team lost.
The Gold team had an error in the middle infield as well. In the second inning, sophomore shortstop Jax Ryan collided with redshirt junior second baseman Kyle Walker who was trying to make a play. Walker went down but stayed in the game. Unlike the Gold team, the Maroon team was unable to capitalize on the error.
Pitching was dominant for both teams as they each had only one earned run apiece. Both teams’ starters did not allow an earned run. Sophomore Wyatt Halvorson looked dominant for the Gold team as he tries to earn a slot in the weekend rotation. He topped out in the low nineties in his four innings and only allowed two hits including one home run and four strikeouts. Senior Jack Martinez looked solid for the Gold team in two innings. He allowed only a walk and a hit, and two runs but both were unearned due to the errors.
“Our pitching staff is, I believe, in a pretty good spot moving forward and continuing to improve,” Arizona State manager Willie Bloomquist said in a press conference on Monday.
The bullpens looked impressive as well. The Gold team’s bullpen of freshman Max Alrich and senior Will Koger did not allow a hit. Alrich only had a walk in his two innings and Koger had a clean inning. Alrich notched two strikeouts as well. For the Maroon team, sophomore Alec Belardes allowed only a walk in his two innings and sent three batters down on strikes. Flamethrower junior Lucas Kelly had Gold team batters completely fooled in his inning striking out two of his three batters. Southpaw junior Sean Fitzpatrick only allowed a solo home run in his inning.
Each team had a solo home run. Senior infielder Jacob Tobias hit a bomb to right field late that extended the Gold team’s lead. The other homer wasn’t as obvious. Graduate Student Josiah Cromwick hit a ball down the left field line that was initially called foul but Bloomquist overturned the ruling. The homer was Cromiwick’s 11th of the fall, and he is the only Sun Devil in double-digits.
“He’s just been on an absolute tear,” Bloomquist said.
The rest of the offense was not as good. Seven of the nine Maroon batters failed to reach base and the bottom four batters of the Gold lineup did not reach base and only four batters reached base on a hit, three from the Maroon team.
The Maroon and Gold squads face off three more times this week with games on Wednesday at 6:30, Friday at 1:30, and Sunday at a time to be determined. All games are free and open to the public.
