Sun Devils play familiar game in 9-8 win over Ohio State

(Photo: Austin Hurst/WCSN)

TEMPE- A season ago, Arizona State baseball thrived on its offense creating huge performances while trying to fight through rough pitching performances. Today in front of its packed Phoenix Municipal Stadium opening-day crowd it was the same story.

The Sun Devils (1-0) had a chaotic come-from-behind 9-8 victory over Ohio State (0-1) that saw seven different lead changes and was capped off by a double-play where the umpires had to trek up to the press box to make the game-deciding call.

“I’ve never seen that before,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “I guess you’d never get too comfortable.”

In the bottom of the ninth, Ohio State designated hitter Mason Eckelman lined out to ASU junior second baseman Kyle Walker who tossed the ball to senior shortstop Matt King. King than made the force out at second, securing the final out of the game. But a review was necessary from the umpires to confirm.

The chaos began when the umpires went to review the play at second base and encountered technical difficulties. The monitor they use down the third base line was not working so, they were forced to head to the press box, where they looked at replays for a few minutes before returning to the field. They upheld the call, giving the Sun Devils the victory.

“We were thinking they were going to confirm the targeting call,” Bloomquist joked after the game.

Offensively the Sun Devils shined scoring nine runs. Senior catcher Josiah Cromwick and senior first baseman Jacob Tobias each hit crucial no-doubt home runs off of junior Ohio State starting pitcher Blaine Wynk, scoring five of the nine ASU runs.

Tobias shined once again. For the fourth year in a row, he reached base safely on his first at-bat of the year, and for the second consecutive year, he hit a home run. His home run tied the game 3-3 early. After not getting drafted last season, Tobias returns to the four hole in the lineup with something to prove.

“He’s [Jacob Tobias] got a chip on his shoulder,” Bloomquist said. “You get a chance to come back and make one more run at this thing and let’s do something special together.”

After Wynk exited the game, junior pitcher Hunter Shaw pitched three perfect innings. However, when the southpaw started his fourth, he faltered, allowing consecutive Sun Devil batters to reach base safely on hits before being pulled.

Walker started the inning with a double-digit pitch at bat that resulted in a doubles, a crucial at bat that set the table for the remainder of the inning, tiring out Shaw. Four of the seven batters in the ASU seventh recorded a hit or drove in a run with two strikes including the game-tying groundout from Tobias and game-winning double from Cromwick.

Cromwick, who showed massive improvement throughout the offseason after receiving another year of eligibility, had a great game with two key game-leading RBI at-bats.

“Those guys came up big and big games,” Bloomquist said.

Like the three previous years under Bloomquist, poor pitching reared its head for the Sun Devils. It started with junior lefty Ben Jacobs, who looked rocky in his four innings, allowing four runs and topping out in the mid-90s.

“I’m not worried about Benny,” Bloomquist said. “He’s gonna be just fine.”

The bullpen looked iffy tonight with the only runs coming in a 4-spot in the seventh. Junior southpaw Sean Fitzpatrick was not effective as in the four batters he faced, he allowed a run to score or a batter to reach base safely allowing three runs plus an inherited runner scoring. Junior righty Lucas Kelly did not allow a run, but two inherited runners from Fitzpatrick scored.

Senior right-handed-pitcherJonah Giblin looked decent in his two innings of work. He pitched a clean fifth and sixth giving the Devils needed length before allowing a walk to start the seventh before being pulled for Fitzpatrick.

Sophomore Bradyn Barnes pitched a quality two-thirds of an inning that featured a successful pickoff and no baserunners allowed before leaving the mound fired up as he ended the top of the eight.

“I knew firing the team up would be huge,” Barnes said.

Senior right-handed pitcher Will Koger pitched a scoreless ninth allowing two baserunners before the crazy game-ending double play. ASU looks to get two more wins against Ohio State this weekend. They will face off tomorrow and Sunday with both games at 1 PM.

“I think it was pretty cool to go out there that way and set the tone for the rest of the weekend,” Cromwick said.