No. 24 Sun Devils struggle to find offense in 5-3 loss to Arizona

(Photo: Nickolas Montei/WCSN)

PHOENIX – After Arizona State dropped the first game of its weekend series against Arizona, the Sun Devils would have wanted a clean start to game two. Instead, after just one batter, the maroon and gold ball club was down once again.

Senior right-handed starter Jack Martinez started strong against the senior second baseman Garen Caulfield, the Wildcats’ leadoff batter, getting ahead 0-2, but the good start didn’t last. Despite the pitcher’s count, the 2024 Pac-12 All-Conference selection took the third pitch he saw on a ride to deep left-center field, where it sailed over the wall by the retired number signs at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Martinez settled down for a number of innings after the solo shot, but the Sun Devil offense wasn’t able to pick him up. With an anemic offense, his blow-up three-run sixth inning was the final nail in the coffin for No. 24 Arizona State’s (20-11, 7-4 Big 12) 5-3 loss against Arizona (22-8, 8-3) Saturday night, sealing the Territorial Cup series win for the rival Wildcats. These losses have been a difficult pill to swallow for the Sun Devils because despite giving up a handful of runs, the pitchers haven’t been beating themselves.

“(The) last two days have been tough,” pitching coach Jeremy Accardo said. “One crooked one in an inning kind of sealed the deal. It wasn’t always self-inflicted. Sometimes they’re making good swings, sometimes you tip your cap.”

On Saturday, one multi-run inning was the difference between winning and losing. From the second batter of the first inning through the completion of the fifth inning, Martinez was cruising. He only allowed two hits and one more run on another solo home run in the fifth to junior designated hitter Maddox Mihalakis before running into trouble in the sixth inning.

The Wildcats started the frame with a leadoff hustle double to left-center field off the bat of nine-hole hitter, freshman right fielder Gunner Geile. From there, things started to spiral out of control. Martinez allowed a walk, a triple and a single before getting out of the inning, and by then, three runs had come across to score, giving Arizona a 5-0 lead.

“I think we can do a better job of taking a step back, taking a deep breath, wiping it clean and getting back to attacking,” Accardo said. “When something negative happens before, it usually tends to affect the next pitch, snowball down a mountain, tumbleweed on a windy day. … This is a very good learning moment for our entire staff, not just (Martinez) in general or (junior left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs) yesterday when he had that one rough inning.”

At hitter-friendly Phoenix Muni, giving up five runs isn’t necessarily an indicator of a bad outing. Martinez had bright spots on the day, he struck out a career high 12 batters and held a good team to just two runs on three hits through five innings. Unfortunately for Martinez, his opponent, right-handed sophomore starter Owen Kramkowski, was even better.

The Sun Devils offense had no answer for the Arizona native. They were held scoreless through the first six innings for only the third time this year and couldn’t string offense together for the majority of the game. Seven batters recorded at least one hit, but every time a Sun Devil reached base, Kramkowski found another gear and shut down the lineup.

“I wasn’t real thrilled with the offense today,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “Even though seven of nine guys got hits, they were meaningless hits. … We couldn’t really string anything together, it’s like we get one hit an inning and that’s it.”

The issues started early. In the first two innings, the ASU offense shot itself in the foot on two different occasions. In both frames, the offense was able to get runners on base but grounded into two double plays to destroy any momentum that was being built.

“(Double plays are) part of the game,” hitting coach Jason Ellison said. “With this lineup, you’ve seen what we’re capable of so I don’t think we ever really get down, but we kept falling in the same trap over and over and it bit us today.”

The Sun Devils’ bats were aggressive early on and struggled with Kramkowski’s slider, something that led to the team hitting 24 balls on the ground over the course of the game. Despite his dominance, Kramkowski only struck out five hitters. The ability to induce contact and rely on his defense was his path to success.

Arizona State managed to score a run against the Kramkowski in the seventh, but it wasn’t until he was nearing 100 pitches with two outs in the ninth inning that ASU was able to have a string of sustained success. Junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades reached base on an infield single and scored on a single from redshirt sophomore left fielder Brandon Compton. Compton later scored on a single from junior center fielder Isaiah Jackson to make it a 5-3 game and bring the winning run to the plate.

“I think (Kramkowski) got a little tired (in the ninth inning) and we actually got back to what the plan was supposed to be today,” Ellison said. “I think starting off we were overly aggressive on pitches (in zones) that we weren’t hunting and it kind of bit us in the butt today.”

After Jackson’s single, Arizona head coach Chip Hale made the call to the bullpen, bringing in junior right-handed closer Tony Pluta to close out the game. He only needed to face one batter to record his fifth save of the season, striking out graduate catcher Josiah Cromwick to end it.

Losing hurts, and losing to your rival hurts even more than a regular loss. Bloomquist — who has experienced this rivalry as both a player and a head coach — wasn’t happy with his ball club following one of the worst offensive performances of the season. The fourth-year skipper didn’t mince words postgame and wasn’t looking for excuses, despite many members of his team feeling ill.

“I’d like to bench some of them, but I can’t because we got half our team sick right now,” Bloomquist said. “That’s no excuse for anything, but I’m not going to put guys (in the game) that are having trouble putting their spikes on right now because they’re under the weather.”

The Sun Devils will search for their first win of the season against Arizona as they attempt to avoid the sweep. Between losing a non-conference midweek in Tucson and the first two games of the conference weekend set, it’s been a tough year on the diamond against the Wildcats for ASU. Despite what the performances on the field might suggest, it’s not for a lack of trying. This rivalry means an indescribable amount to all participants in it and the Sun Devils will attempt to come back with a vengeance.

“This rivalry and what we’ve made it is very, very important to every person in that room, as well as everybody in that other damn side,” Accardo said. “These games tend to show you some flaws and some chinks in the armor and we just have to go out and sharpen and polish. And that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to do that s— tomorrow, we’re going to come out here swinging because we’re not going to roll over, that’s just how we act.”