(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)
PHOENIX — On Friday night, sophomore left-hander Ben Jacobs was put in a spot he hasn’t seen very often. With freshman righty Thomas Burns out with shoulder tendinitis for what would have been his typical Friday start, Jacobs got the reins in his place.
Arizona State’s (13-14, 5-6 Pac-12) 10-9 win over California (15-9, 5-6 Pac-12) came from the underdog story of not just Jacobs in his rare start but the heroics of a player who hasn’t seen the field often this season.
“I try to preach to these guys to stay ready and be ready,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “You never know when your number is going to be called and we’re going to need you. So stay available and try to stay sharp even though you might not be getting the playing time you want, but you never know when your opportunity is coming.”
Jacobs’ start for Arizona State had a rocky beginning with him quickly giving up a run in the top of the first inning, and it didn’t get much easier as he loaded the bases with one out. Then, the tide shifted with Jacobs securing two crucial outs to strand the bases loaded.
“The first innings has been giving us some fits as of late,” Bloomquist said. “But he was able to keep it small in the first and I thought that was big. We had a chance to let that unravel and he was able to keep it to one run and make big pitches when he had to.”
ASU scored in the bottom half of the inning, and the momentum had shifted back to the Sun Devils. Jacobs breezed through two scoreless innings and was headed to the top of the fourth with a 2-1 lead.
Seemingly poised for a deep start after emphatically coming off the mound in the second and third innings, Jacobs missed on a pitch in the fourth inning to the nine hitter — Seth Gwynn — who took him deep for his second homer of the year. The home run to left-center scored two for Cal.
“It wasn’t his most electric performance but he did enough to keep us in the game and give us an opportunity to take the lead.” Bloomquist said. “Overall he was solid.”
A serviceable four-inning start from Jacobs wasn’t going to be enough to win the game though. The offense would need to step up, and sure enough, it did in the grandest way possible.
With sophomore third baseman Nu’u Contrades out for significant time with a back injury, senior Mario Demera, the fill-in third baseman, stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. With five hits in 29 at-bats this year coming into tonight’s game, Demera delivered with a two-out grand-slam to left-center.
Demera was just 3-for-25 at the plate headed into this series, and he’s already bested that total this weekend alone with two in Thursday’s 14-8 win and another two on Friday.
“I was trying not to be so results-oriented,” Demera said. “I felt like I was putting good swings on balls throughout the year leading up to now and I was just able to get a couple tonight to help the team win.”
As ASU tacked on more runs and closed the door in the ninth to secure the series win over the Bears, the credit can be handed to the guys that stepped up when their name was called such as Jacobs and Demera. It’s a good sign for Bloomquist that he has guys waiting in the wings in case key starters go down.
“(Demera) with a big hit there after it looked like we were going to squander a big opportunity with the bases loaded no outs,” Bloomquist said. “He put a charge into one which was huge.”
