Relief pitching falters as ASU drops extra-inning marathon against New Mexico State

(Photo: Connor Gleason/WCSN)

PHOENIX — Just when Arizona State baseball was on the brink of flatlining, new life was seemingly breathed back into the team at the very last moment.

 

Facing a two-run deficit and with only one out to spare in the bottom of the eleventh inning, redshirt junior Nu’u Contrades skied a ball deep enough towards the centerfield wall at Phoenix Municipal Stadium that it just missed the glove of New Mexico redshirt junior center fielder Jonatan Clough.

 

Senior right fielder Dean Toigo dashed from first base to home plate while Contrades advanced to second. A last-minute chance to either even the score or pull off a miracle walk-off finish was placed in the hands of graduate left fielder Matt Polk.

 

All it took was one pitch for Polk to hit into a groundout that sealed No. 25 Arizona State’s (28-14, 11-7 Big 12) fourth midweek defeat of the season in a 10-9 extra innings loss to New Mexico State (17-22, 7-11 CUSA) Wednesday night.

 

“I’ve never been one for shying away from my own responsibilities and I’m not gonna shy away from this one,” Bloomquist said. “This one stings probably as much as any loss that I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

 

As a unit, the Sun Devils’ bats were plagued by inconsistency and not executing late in the contest. Six runs in the first four innings of play were followed up by putting up five hits and stranding five base runners the rest of the way, putting moments like Toigo’s game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to waste.

 

To further stoke the fire, an in-game mistake in the bottom of the second proved to be costly in the long run. Junior shortstop PJ Moutzouridis managed a single in a bases-loaded situation that allowed Polk to score, but also led to junior first baseman Dominic Smaldino getting caught easily at home plate after receiving the green light at third. 

 

“I’ve said it from the start, the midweek games, they’re always tricky,” Bloomquist said. “They’re always tough. Up until recently, we’ve had pretty good success in the midweek games. The last few, we scuffled and that’s been a sign of overall, just the attention to things that were really good at early on or just starting to fatigue a little bit.”

 

In the case of an ASU victory, the contest could’ve been remembered for sophomore center fielder Landon Hairston continuing his pursuit of program history.

 

After a four-game streak of not leaving the yard, Hairston crushed a home run of 400 feet or more in each of his first two at-bats to reach a new season-long total of 25. 

He not only reclaims the title of the most home runs of any player across the country, but is now just two away from tying Mitch Jones’ single-season record of 27.

 

The Aggies refused to take any chances for the remainder of the game, intentionally walking him three consecutive times before letting him escape on a full count to open up the bottom of the eleventh.

 

However, Hairston also never touched home plate again after his second home run. ASU failed to capitalize on having a free base runner in four different frames due to the next three batters behind him combining for three hits across 16 at-bats.

 

“We gotta put somebody to protect him a little bit better,” Bloomquist said. “I (was) screaming and yelling a couple times tonight on guys that are doing what they’re supposed to do and tagging on deep fly balls and moving up. But Hairston’s coming up behind him, and that leaves that base open for them just to walk him.”

 

“We have to either mix the lineup up a little bit or put somebody with a big threat behind him so they can’t just walk him, and if they do, there’s gonna be somebody behind him that can hopefully make them pay.”

 

Trouble had already begun brewing for the Sun Devils right out of the gate when the recurring issue of starting pitching woes returned for another go-around. 

 

By the time freshman right-handed pitcher Austin Musso recorded his first out on the bump, the Aggies had already taken a 2-0 lead. He only made it as far as 1.1 innings before Bloomquist turned to the bullpen, finishing with zero strikeouts while allowing five hits, two walks and four earned runs.

 

“Just behind everybody, and you can’t live like that,” Bloomquist said. “Walk the first guy on four straight pitches, and it’s like, come on man. We gotta set a better tone than that. I know you’re a freshman, but you’re not a freshman anymore. You’re at the end of the year. You’ve gotta be better than that.”

 

Musso’s early exit left the game in the hands of the bullpen’s inning-by-inning unpredictability. Junior righty Jaden Alba headed up to the bump next, and despite allowing two runs to score, his appearance spanned 3.2 innings thanks to a season-high eight strikeouts.

 

A scoreless frame from graduate righty Colby Guy immediately after extended the streak of stability until junior righty Alex Overbay took over at the top of the seventh. Given a 7-5 lead to work with, the UNLV transfer surrendered a run as a result of surrendering a walk and two hits to start.

 

Sophomore righty Finn Edwards continued the downward slide the following inning when he got tagged with a game-tying RBI double. Even as he rebounded to put himself one out away from escaping any further damage, he tossed a pitch past redshirt sophomore catcher Brody Briggs to put the Aggies back in front. 

 

The ultimate nail in the coffin came courtesy of junior righty Derek Schaefer’s efforts in holding New Mexico State scoreless from the top of the ninth to the tenth falling to the wayside. Bloomquist’s subsequent decision to pull senior lefty Sean Fitzpatrick after just 0.1 innings of work for sophomore righty Taylor Penn paved the way for a 2-RBI base hit. 

 

“I trust our guys, 
I think they have good stuff,” Bloomquist said. “But we gave up 10 runs tonight to a team that we probably shouldn’t have, and there’s really not an explanation other than they put bat on ball and swing the bats well against us.”

 

Although 14 regular-season games remain on the schedule, a loss to a New Mexico State team that ASU had already defeated on March 25 and had come into the contest ranked No. 235 in RPI may cause serious damage to the team’s postseason ambitions if the Sun Devils don’t get back on track in an upcoming home series against Baylor. 

 

“We can’t afford to lose games like this,” Bloomquist said. “The emphasis has got to be on conference games now, of course, but this one stings. But we gotta turn the page and move on and get ready for Baylor.”

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