Sun Devil Strengths flip in weekend series against Oregon

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

PHOENIX – The past two games against Oregon has displayed Arizona State baseball’s current identity. Over these games, particularly late in the game, it’s been shown that the outcomes are decided by which version of the Sun Devil offense and staff shows up.

For the first seven games of the season, the Sun Devils heavily relied on the offense. What ASU lacked in the pitching area, mainly the bullpen, was made up for with remarkable offensive production.

However, as of recently, it’s been the exact opposite. When comparing the Sun Devils first seven games to the most recent seven, there’s been a significant improvement in the pitching area. Over the most recent seven games, ASU has been averaging 4.7 earned runs allowed per game, a stark difference from the 8.9 figure over the span of the first seven.

“I think guys are starting to find their roles,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “I think those guys are starting to pitch well in the roles that we’re putting them in.”

The pitching improvement has been a pleasant surprise for the Sun Devils, but it’s been overshadowed by the in-season regression of the offense. Through the first seven weeks of the season, ASU had 69 runs and collectively hit a .345 batting average. These numbers have been cut nearly in half, producing 39 runs and a .242 average over the past seven games.

“We’re not getting as many baserunners as we were early on in the year,” Bloomquist said. “We were getting a lot of hits in bunches early on and a lot of baserunners everywhere creating havoc.”

What was once a normal for the Sun Devils, a stunning .345 batting average has become difficult to sustain. Over ASU’s last six games, only one resulted in a collective batting average over .300 for the Sun Devils. Part which has to do with ASU’s significant increase in competition, beginning in Arlington where ASU faced No.5 TCU and No. 7 Texas A&M then continuing with Oregon this weekend.

“[Oregon’s] a pretty dang good team,” Bloomquist said. “We’re getting tested, certainly, and so are they. They’re having to play their A game to beat us too.”

The weekend series has definitely been a contested one. On Friday, the Sun Devils narrowly won 5-4 on a walk-off groundout RBI from freshman Ethan Mendoza in the bottom of the ninth inning. Saturday, the score was 4-3 ASU from the sixth to the eighth inning until Oregon scored three runs at the top of the ninth. These runs were scored after the Sun Devils trotted out freshman pitcher Cole Carlon, but Bloomquist’s comments suggest that he views this as an outlier for Carlon.

“Cole’s been great in that situation so far,” Bloomquist said. “The kid threw the ball well and they put a couple good swings on it and got us. That’s just baseball sometimes.”

The bullpen collapsing late in the game was a recurring theme for ASU early in the season, but in a much different way than Saturday night. Earlier in the season, it was clear that the coaching staff’s approach was experimenting with the pitchers on the roster. Seeing as the team only had three returning pitchers and 11 freshmen arms, there was much uncertainty in this area.

The Sun Devils trotted out six or more pitchers in five of their first seven games. Whereas over the last seven, there have been only two games in which this has happened. Neither of those two were against Oregon.

“Us as coaches are starting to kind of learn what situations to put guys in,” Bloomquist said. “Early on, we didn’t know.”

While Carlon is responsible for the runs given up in the ninth, the offense didn’t provide enough of a cushion to feel comfortable in the ninth. After scoring four runs in the first three innings, ASU didn’t add any runs to the scoreboard in the remaining six. Oregon, on the other hand, put up five runs from the fourth to the ninth inning.

“We got them late yesterday, they got us late today,” Bloomquist said.