(Photo: Samantha Maxwell/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Head coach Willie Bloomquist has continually harped on one thing despite Arizona State baseball’s 25-win start — free bases.
Entering No. 19 ASU’s (25-12, 11-4 Pac-12) highlight anticipated ranked matchup against No. 21 Oregon State (26-11, 11-9 Pac-12), walks looked to play a huge role. The ASU pitching staff’s 144 walks entering Friday night ranked third most in the Pac-12, while the Beavers topped the conference in drawing walks with 209 bases on balls.
But, the Sun Devils walked eight batters, including six from junior starter Ross Dunn, en route to a 13-11 loss that saw the Beavers take a two-run lead before a single out was recorded, snapping ASU’s 12-game winning streak at home.
“You can’t come out and walk that many guys and set the tone that way,” Bloomquist said. “Your Friday night guy has to come out and throw strikes down the zone and get your defense involved. Right now, it’s not happening.”
Friday was the second straight start for Dunn that went awry early. Last week against Washington, Dunn surrendered eight runs in just 4.0 innings pitched and walked five batters.
Looking to bounce back from the team’s 20-0 loss against rival Arizona, Dunn looked as if his control was still an issue as he was constantly giving the hitter the advantage with three-ball counts. In the five-run first inning, the Beavers saw five three-ball counts, including two walks, one on four pitches.
“It just seemed like he wasn’t getting on top of his fastball and was letting it live up a little bit,” senior catcher Bronson Balholm, who started in place of the injured Ryan Campos, said. “Getting hitters and three one counts to one counts, it gives them more confidence when they’re out there. If he attacks, and he gets a little bit more ahead, he would be more dominant.”
Dunn allowed another run across in the top of the second before throwing a scoreless inning in the third, finally ending a streak of 11 innings that ASU had allowed a run that dated back to the eighth inning of the final Washington game. Dunn finished the night throwing 4.0 innings, surrendering six earned runs, walking six, and striking out eight.
“That situation, we’ll talk as a staff and see if it’s better moving forward to make a change. The question becomes who,” Bloomquist said about a potential switch up to the Friday night starter. “We need (Dunn) to pitch the way he’s capable of because he’s better than that. He knows that. The staff is outstanding, but it doesn’t do a whole lot of good if you’re gonna walk a lot of guys and fall behind hitters.”
Following Dunn, was junior righty Matt Tieding, and the pitching struggles continued. Tieding surrendered three straight singles in the top of the fifth before a sac-fly and a three-run home run from junior infielder Garret Forrester put the 11-1.
ASU has displayed at many points this year that they are a team, and especially an offense, that fights back. Once again, the Sun Devil offense was tasked with trying to get ASU back into the game, and they almost pulled it off again.
Freshman outfielder Nick McLain got the first Sun Devil rally going with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth for already his third home run in just five career college games. Junior infielder Luke Keaschall doubled following McLain, and sophomore infielder Jacob Tobias drove him in for his team-leading 38th RBI.
McLain and Keaschall would come up huge once again in the bottom of the eighth after the Beavers scratched across two more runs to make the score 13-5. Down to their last six outs, the Sun Devils scored two runs thanks to some small ball before McLain laced a single into right field, driving in two more for his career-high fifth RBI.
“We’re obviously lucky (McLain’s) gotten healthy and is producing it, especially with Campos going out,” Bloomquist said. “That’s a big blow to our offense, and I look forward to the day when they’re all healthy, and we can put the guys where they’re supposed to be in the lineup instead of moving them around.”
With Campos out, Keaschall has had to step up himself, and, with McLain on second, the San Francisco transfer crushed his second home run of the game over the left-center field wall to cut the lead to two, where it would stay.
“We keep proving that we can come back from any deficit,” Keashall said. “Every guy in the dugout believes that they can do it, and no one’s a selfish hitter. Everyone just tries to have a good at-bat and pass it to the next guy, and it leads to big innings. I mean, it’s as simple as just not trying to do too much and get on base.”
Putting up 11 runs on the Pac-12’s best pitching staff is an encouraging sign for the Sun Devil’s chances going forward. But, the ASU pitching staff must find a way to limit early runs so that the potent Sun Devil offense can put the opponent on the comeback trail and not the other way around.
“The tone has been set early in the game these past couple games,” Bloomquist said. “You’re down nine nothing after two on Wednesday, and you’re down six nothing after two today, and that’s not exactly the way you want to start a game. It’s like, man, just give us a chance to get rolling here. We can’t be chasing those kinds of runs against good teams.”
