Jaden Alba pitches five strong innings in Sunday win

(Photo: Nickolas Montei/WCSN)

PHOENIX — Sophomore right-hander Jaden Alba, Arizona State baseball’s Sunday starter, took his time getting on top of the mound in the first inning to face Oral Roberts’ four-hole hitter, junior catcher Wailele Kane-Yates.

He had fallen behind and walked the first two batters he faced Sunday before allowing a looper to left field to load the bases with no outs. Fans in attendance would’ve been forgiven for thinking that the Sun Devils’ Sunday starter problems in years past might still be kicking around.

Alba’s back was against the wall and he had to find composure before toeing the rubber again to face the Golden Eagles’ backstop.

“It’s just stepping off the back of the mound, taking a deep breath, knowing I’m here for a reason, and my teammates are going to have my back,” Alba said.

From that point on, Alba went on the attack. He got ahead of Kane-Yates, working a 1-2 count before inducing a soft line drive that found the glove of junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades, before striking out two batters to escape the inning unscathed, setting the rest of his day up for success.

Alba recorded 12 more outs and allow just two earned runs in the hitter-friendly environment of Phoenix Municipal Stadium to help Arizona State (6-1) beat Oral Roberts (4-2) 9-2, taking the rubber match of the weekend series. Alba escaping the first-inning jam he found himself in was key for the Sun Devils offense to come out hot and support their pitcher. For Alba, the key was not trying to do too much.

“That’s a stressful (inning) at the beginning,” Alba said. “You just got to keep your composure … I wasn’t even thinking about trying to get out of there with a zero. I was just thinking how can I minimize the damage I put on myself and just go right after (Kane-Yates).”

Alba turning the page in the first inning bled to the offensive side of the ball. Contrades led off the bottom half of the first inning with a home run and head coach Willie Bloomquist’s offense scored in all but one inning.

“Tip of the hat for Jaden Alba for kind of buckling down right there and getting a soft line out and then punching the next couple of guys out to get out of that,” Bloomquist said. “That really started the momentum, I guess, on our side after it could have really gone south.”

The high-powered offense is not only capable score runs, but it helps put pitchers to ease as they know that they don’t need to be perfect to win games.

Pitchers don’t need to nibble the strike zone and be so worried about making mistakes that they inevitably make one. The Sun Devils’ arms can go out on the mound and battle.

“With our offense being able to score runs at any time, at any point, it just makes you feel like you just got to go out there and attack the other lineup and whatever happens, happens because (our offense is) going to put up crooked numbers every time,” Alba said.

You can’t just have a good mindset though, you have to have good stuff and the knowledge of how to pitch. Alba’s ability to mix his offerings has created success for him.

After starting the game by issuing a walk to senior right fielder Will Edmunson on four fastballs that failed to find the zone, the righty started incorporating more of his arsenal. One of those weapons was his devastating curveball, a pitch that he used to get multiple strikeouts, including the final strikeout of the first inning. It’s a pitch that Alba isn’t afraid to throw at any time.

“Using that off-speed pitch to just be able to steal a strike, it adds a lot more confidence to yourself,” Alba said. “It’s also to open up the whole at-bat to go to whatever pitch you want.”

Alba started to find better success with his fastball too, using his sinker to try and induce ground balls and using his fastball as a strikeout pitch. He ended up striking out six batters on a mix of fastballs and off-speed pitches. Alba ran into some trouble in the third and fourth innings, but he limited the damage to just one run in each frame.

Despite limiting damage through four innings, Alba’s pitch count had reached 83. Bloomquist didn’t realize just how high Alba’s pitch count was when he sent him back out there for the fifth inning, but the sophomore didn’t make his head coach regret the decision. Alba struck out two in his final frame and got the only other Oral Roberts batter he faced that inning to ground out.

“I was really excited that he was able to get through five and get the W,” Bloomquist said. “From a selfish standpoint, get him the win. He deserved it and gutted it out, so that was neat for him.”

At times in recent history, Arizona State’s starting pitching depth has been somewhat of a question mark. You need to be able to rely on multiple arms to get through a weekend and midweek games. Not having a guy that the head coach can pencil in every Sunday and feel good about it makes his job that much harder.

Fortunately from Blomquist, that doesn’t seem like it will be an issue with Jaden Alba. There are still things to work on, but his future as a starter for the Sun Devils could be a bright one.

“He’s been great,” Bloomquist said. “He hasn’t been as sharp as he wants to be but (the) ball’s coming out pretty hot today. First inning he was mid 90s, 94-96, and I don’t know if he was a little amped up but that’s the arm strength that the kid has. But now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning, and if he does that he’s a pretty good Sunday guy,”