(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Arizona State’s pitching staff has had its fair share of struggles, but it continues to get high-level relief arm performances through various points this season.
At first, it was sophomore left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs, who proved early in the year he could pitch multiple innings effectively, especially in a spot start when he notched eight strikeouts in 4 ⅔ innings against Ohio State on Feb. 22. Then it was junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Schiefer, who came out of nowhere and tossed three scoreless innings with five strikeouts against then-No. 5 Texas A&M.
Tuesday might have been the moment for senior righty Hunter Omlid after he threw 5 ⅓ innings with 11 strikeouts and no runs to carry the Sun Devils (10-10, 3-3 Pac-12) to a 5-4 victory over Utah Valley (7-13, 4-2 WAC).
Omlid carved through the UVU lineup his first time though the order, recording all of his first seven outs via the strikeout. The GCU transfer consistently threw his fastball 92-94 mph in different areas of the strike zone, which allowed him to play his low 80’s mph slider off the heater and confuse the batter with his pitch mix.
It seemed like Omlid was in uncharted territory, as his previous season-high for innings pitched was two frames against UT Arlington on March 5, but he mentioned how he has experience as a starter and the ability to extend his innings. This makes sense considering that ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist felt no reason to take out the hot hand when he was dealing.
“I’m begging for another starter to step up,” Bloomquist said. “He threw the ball outstanding. We stretched him out probably more than we wanted to tonight, but he’s a strong kid. He’s a senior. He knows what he’s capable of doing and like I said, I didn’t see any breakdown in mechanics. Any breakdown (with) just the life on the ball coming out of his hand and I’m just going to keep riding with him and he said he felt great. That was one of those situations that you trust your guy and let him keep going.”
Bloomquist admitted that he needs starters to step up, but he is certainly getting bullpen arms to do their part, as it takes every pitcher different amounts of time to progress throughout the season.
For Jacobs, he started off hot and has not looked back since. Schiefer did not get much action early in the season, but seized the opportunity in Texas and has pitched multiple innings in every outing since.
Omlid struggled to start the season, allowing five earned runs in his first three outings, but he only allowed one earned run in his last six outings, including Tuesday. It is expected that a reliever will get a better feel for his stuff as the season progresses, but the righty has built a stronger connection with his coaches over the course of the season to give him more conviction.
“Me and (pitching coach) Sam (Peraza), throughout the year, we started to get really good at being on the same page,” Omlid said. “We kind of started off a little rocky, but getting on the same page. It’s been really well the last couple outings. Just trusting each other and communicating and being open to what you think is just the important thing for us to do and me and him are doing really well. Really good job.”
“I love the fact that he just kept ‘here it is it, hit it,’” Bloomquist said. “There were a couple of times (Peraza) called slider and he swiped,‘no, I want the heater and I’m going right after these guys.’ So to me, that tells me he’s in the right frame of mind and is not pitching scared. He’s coming after them. He knows his fastball has life on it and he was going to go with it.”
With a lot of new pitchers on the staff, it’s not surprising to see some of these transfers require time to adjust with coaches they have not worked with before. That trust developed over time between Omlid and his coaches, which has now blossomed into Tuesday’s magnificent outing.
Omlid was one of the names Bloomquist mentioned before the season to be in that closer mix, but his struggles early on and freshman southpaw Cole Carlon’s early success made it seem like he was not going to be in that role. However, the tables have turned as both pitchers have gone in opposite directions, and there is still no defined roles for those arms.
The former Antelope can be another starter in the rotation or he can close out a game like he did against the Wolverines, but what is known is that he will be ready no matter what.
“Don’t expect to be taken out after one inning and to be open-minded about it,” Omlid said. “You want to be able to do whatever you can for the team…so you have to hold yourself accountable. Being able to be versatile and pitch in different parts of the game and for longer or shorter is up to you to do that when you do it during your throwing program in your preparation.”
Accountability is a word that was talked about a lot after the New Mexico loss on March 12, especially in terms of the culture with players needing to lead their peers out of the skid. Bloomquist said that players like redshirt senior left fielder Harris Williams and junior catcher Ryan Campos have stepped up in that regard.
However, there is also the accountability of snapping out of a funk when someone else is doing their part. The lineup did provide Omlid a lead, but they could not provide any insurance runs in the later innings despite the reliever matching zeros on his end. Bloomquist called the overall team performance “dismal”, but he envisions what it could be like if the team was able to hold each other accountable on the field and collectively perform better.
“I do know that if we could ever put it all together, on both sides of it, on the flickers that we’ve shown, we got a shot to be pretty good,” Bloomquist said. “There’s been times where this offense has been lights out. There’s been times where the starting pitching has been lights out and there’s been times where the bullpen has been lights out.
“The potential is there if we can put it all together and I’ve kind of made reference to that. We just haven’t hit on all cylinders yet, which is okay, but hopefully we hit on all cylinders as the season progresses and we get firing when it becomes crunch time toward the end of this thing and hopefully into the, hesitate saying postseason, but obviously that’s the goal. If we can get hot going into that, then April will be a dangerous team.”
