(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Walking out to make his fourth pitching change of the day, Arizona State head coach Willie Bloomquist was quickly approached by the home plate umpire just a few seconds later, looking to break up the mound meeting.
But, with his blood boiling after a potential missed strike three call, Bloomquist didn’t greet home plate umpire Jason Venzon with kind words, and with his team down 18-17 in the eighth inning, Bloomquist was ejected. Down one run in an arguably must-win game for their postseason hopes and now without their head coach, the Sun Devils were on the ropes, but there was never a question inside the dugout.
“Everyone was confident that we were gonna go out there and score runs,” freshman infielder Ethan Mendoza said. “I don’t think anyone had any doubt we were winning.”
Mendoza made good on his word in the bottom of the eighth, clubbing a three-run homer to finally put the Sun Devils ahead for good. In a game that saw 39 runs scored, 45 total hits, seven home runs and 11 different pitchers, ASU (26-23, 14-13 Pac-12) had the last swing, beating Washington (18-21, 9-15 Pac-12) 21-18 and taking a crucial series win.
“Sometimes you’re going to have ugly games like today, but it’s better to be ugly and on top when you win than to come out on the losing end,” Bloomquist said. “Our guys battled every inning of every game this series.”
Phoenix Municipal Stadium is one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in college baseball, and as the weather warms up, the park turns even more advantageous towards batters. However, on Sunday, the wind was blowing straight out to center field, resulting in an offensive explosion.
The first inning provided a sneak peek into what the rest of the afternoon was going to look like. Senior right-handed pitcher Hunter Omlid got the start for ASU, but after a one-out walk, junior outfielder AJ Guerrero jumped on a 3-2 pitch for an early two-run homer. By the end of the first frame, Omlid was at 52 total pitches, and the Huskies were up 4-0.
However, in a weekend full of resiliency and fight, the Sun Devils wasted zero time at snatching the lead back. The first six hitters in the ASU lineup reached base, and freshman designated hitter Brandon Compton took advantage of that dead center wind, poking a 2-0 pitch over the center field wall for a grand slam and snatching the lead back with still no outs in the first.
“We’re following all our roles and we’re doing what we’re supposed to do as a lineup,” Compton said. “I’ve said it before as it gets hotter more wind happens and Muni gets even crazier. More balls are going to leave and you saw for Washington as well. I mean, it gets fun, baseball gets fun.”
The second inning saw both teams put up a zero, but that was the last time either team would put up a scoreless frame until the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the fourth, the Sun Devils seemed to finally put some distance between them and the Huskies. Compton launched a 467-foot homer for his second of the day, and ASU batted around the order, scoring six runs in the inning.
Not to be outdone, the Huskies answered with seven runs of their own in the top of the fifth, taking the lead back 14-13. Senior righty Matt Tieding entered the game for freshman southpaw Cole Carlon with two outs in the inning. The next five Husky batters went single, double, triple, walk, single before Tieding retired sophomore catcher Colin Blanchard with a pop out to get the final out.
“The biggest thing is to just try to keep them confident, like not looking at the numbers,” Bloomquist said when asked what he told his pitchers. “Just try to execute your pitches, and don’t beat yourself. We’ve tried to preach to our pitching staff, ‘We don’t have to be the best pitching staff in the country. We just got to be better than that pitching staff today.’”
Bloomquist said after the game that the most underrated performance of the game belonged to sophomore lefty Sean Fitzpatrick. The Arkansas transfer entered the game at the top of the sixth as the game’s strongest pitcher for the next six batters, including striking out the side at the top of the seventh for the game’s first scoreless frame since the second inning.
Fitzpatrick’s performance settled the game down enough for ASU to grab a 17-15 lead entering the top of the eighth. After getting the first batter to ground out, Fitzpatrick allowed his first two baserunners by way of a walk and a single, allowing Guerrero to come up to the plate with runners on first and second.
Guerrero was the largest catalyst for Washington this weekend, finishing the series with 10 hits and 13 RBI, and Fitzpatrick appeared to strike him out looking with a fastball on the outside corner, but Venzon called it a ball. One pitch later, Guerrero slugged his fourth homer of the series, and second of the day, to give Washington the lead once again.
“I just told (Venzon) he missed it, and he didn’t think so; it is what it is,” Bloomquist said. “I’m going to stand up for my players and they all thought it was a pretty good pitch. End of the day, it is what it is. It’s baseball. You can have disagreements in baseball. It’s okay. I had to hit the showers early, and that’s okay. But my boys picked me up and I’m happy for that.”
Earlier this season, ASU flirted with missing the Pac-12 Tournament, but this win puts them seventh in the conference, firmly inside the nine spots that qualify. However, next week, the Sun Devils will have a special opportunity. Last year’s midweek game against Arizona resulted in a 20-0 ASU loss, a loss that the committee took into consideration when deciding to put the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament over the Devils.
Now, one year later, Arizona is the ranked team, and ASU is the team beginning its hot streak late in the season with a chance to play spoiler.
“I would anticipate it will be a pretty good one,” Bloomquist said. “I’m excited for it. I know our guys are excited about it. There’s obviously the history. I don’t need to bring that up, but it’ll be a fun one. I think our guys will be ready to go.”
