Sun Devils overcome sloppy defense with walk-off grand slam

(Photo: Sydni Griffin/WCSN)

PHOENIX — If there’s anything head coach Willie Bloomquist’s team has shown throughout 2023, it’s that no deficit is insurmountable. No. 19 Arizona State baseball’s “never quit” attitude has resulted in countless close games this season — the most recent example being Friday’s 13-11 defeat in the series opener against No. 21 Oregon State — and many improbable comeback victories.

And on Saturday, they worked another miracle.

Entering the bottom of the sixth down 7-3 to the Beavers (26-12, 11-9 Pac-12), the Sun Devils (26-12, 12-4 Pac-12) put up a four-run inning to draw even at seven, a score that would hold until the last possible moment. With two outs and three runners on in the bottom of the ninth, freshman outfielder Isaiah Jackson faced Beavers’ redshirt sophomore closer Ryan Brown, who conceded just 1 earned run in 19.1 innings this year. Jackson got all of a 2-1 pitch, sending a walk-off grand slam over the right field wall and sealing one of ASU’s most monumental wins of the season.

“That at-bat, that’s every kid’s childhood dream,” Jackson said. “I blacked out, I didn’t know what was happening… There was a lot going on and it’s a great feeling.”

But the outlook for Saturday’s game wasn’t always positive. In fact, at certain points, it appeared ASU was well on its way to dropping a conference series for the first time in 2023.

A respectable start from junior right-hander Khristian Curtis was overshadowed by the Sun Devils’ sloppy defensive play. Curtis wasn’t perfect, ending his 4.1-inning appearance with five walks along with a throwing error. However, just two of OSU’s six runs with the Texas A&M transfer on the mound were earned, a result of three additional errors from ASU’s infield.

“Khristian Curtis threw the heck out of the ball, but got no support behind him,” Bloomquist said. “He threw a lot of unnecessary pitches, he should’ve been out of innings, that took its toll. In the first couple innings he had, in my mind, really good stuff to potentially go five, six, seven innings today. Just looked really good… but we just kicked it around behind him way too much and got his pitch count up way too high way too fast.”

ASU finished the night committing five total errors, with freshman shortstop Luke Hill accounting for three. The most detrimental of these miscues came in the fourth with the score tied at one and two outs already on the board. Hill botched a routine throw to first, extending the inning for the Beavers, who gladly pounced on the opportunity for a re-do, plating four more two-out runs via extra-base hits to take a commanding 5-1 lead.

However, Hill would make up for his defensive struggles at the plate. With his team down 7-3 during the sixth, Hill made it a two-run game with a two-RBI single, his second hit of the night, which began a two-out rally for the Sun Devils. Following a walk drawn by sophomore right fielder Nick McLain, junior second baseman Luke Keaschall scored two more runners with a base knock of his own, evening the score at five.

“We all saw [Hill] didn’t have a great game defensively,” Bloomquist said. “But he came up there in the sixth with two outs, and it looks like we’re going to come up empty… Luke Hill comes up with a big knock to put two runs across… The fact that he came through in that situation – left the defense out there and focused on his bat – was huge.”

ASU was also the beneficiary of another strong showing from its relievers on Saturday. When junior left-hander Timmy Manning got into a one-out, bases-loaded jam during the seventh, junior righty Blake Pivaroff entered and immediately retired the next two batters, ending the inning and keeping the contest tied. Pivaroff would put together a 1-2-3 eighth inning before junior right-handed pitcher Owen Stevenson held the Beavers scoreless in the ninth, setting the table for the Sun Devils’ offense to finish the job.

“[Our lineup] being able to swing it late in games, we just gotta give our team a chance to win,” Pivaroff said. “So just going out there, doing our job and for me personally, passing it to Owen. It’s been really huge knowing I have someone to pass it on to and these guys put up some pretty good numbers late in the game.”