(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
PHOENIX — Riding a five-game winning streak, Arizona State baseball has been playing some of its best ball over the last two weeks. The Sun Devils completed a sweep of UCLA last weekend for the first time since 2010, and Sunday offered ASU a chance to complete a full sweep of the LA schools for the first time since that same year.
However, after scoring 29 runs in the first two games, ASU’s (22-22, 12-12 Pac-12) offense was too little too late in game three, falling 11-6 to USC (21-23, 10-10 Pac-12) and failing to complete the sweep.
“We’re doing our best to not over emphasize one game and just go out and play, let the results fall where they may and play a certain way,” ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “If you win great, if you don’t, as long as you play the way you’re supposed to play and play hard then you can’t control the results all the time.”
Saturday night following the team’s 17-2 win, Bloomquist announced that senior right-handed pitcher Hunter Omlid would be the starter for Sunday’s game, but warming up before Saturday’s game, Omlid sustained an injury to his foot, forcing freshman righty Wyatt Halvorson into the start for the finale.
The last time Halvorson took the mound as a starter, he delivered arguably ASU’s best pitching performance of the season, going 5.0 innings and allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out 13 Titans. It was pure dominance, and Bloomquist was hoping for a potential repeat. But USC got on Halvorson early, plating two runs in the top of the first. After a single and a walk, freshman designated hitter Kevin Takeuchi lined a double into left center.
The day got worse for Halvorson in the third, but the freshman was hurt by rough defense. After the Trojans loaded the bases with one out, Halvorson forced a tailor-made double-play ball, but senior shortstop Steven Ondina, trying to be quick to end the inning, threw the third out straight into the Sun Devil dugout, allowing two runs to score.
“(Ondina) had to go for double play there,” Bloomquist said. “We had a big situation and he knew he had to be quick. He tried to turn it, tried to speed things up and be very quick. We had to try to get out of the inning right there and he sailed it trying to be too quick. To me that error was okay because he was trying to make a play right there.”
One batter later, an RBI-double from sophomore infielder Ethan Hedges knocked Halvorson out of the game. Junior lefty Matt Cornelius replaced Halvorson, but on Cornelius’ first pitch, freshman first baseman Dean Carpentier blooped a single, scoring Hedges. Halvorson’s final line was 2.2 innings pitched, six earned runs, six hits, two walks and one strikeout, leaving ASU down 6-0 after 2.5 innings.
“Today sped up on everybody a little bit with Omlid not being able to go last minute,” Bloomquist said. “That stung a little bit. Everyone was sped up, but we got to be better than that and overcome it. (Halvorson’s) command wasn’t where it needed to be today. He couldn’t land the breaking stuff consistently and when you’re one pitch guy you know those things are gonna happen.”
Offensively, USC starter junior William Watson held the hot Sun Devil offense in check, commanding three different pitches and allowing just two runs on five hits in his five innings of work. Junior catcher Ryan Campos stayed hot at the plate, mashing his tenth home run of the season, and sophomore outfielder Kien Vu extended his hitting streak to 10 games by way of an RBI single in the third inning.
Down 11-2 in the eighth inning, the Sun Devil offense began to manufacture some runs, loading the bases for a grand slam from freshman outfielder Brandon Compton, but the run production was too late for the team to get back into the game.
“We got a ton of talent,” Compton said. “Right now, guys are definitely swinging it, and you saw it coming. They weren’t just gonna go the whole season not doing their thing. So it’s like, just playing looser, but confident and just doing what they do. Let it all hang out, go play and have fun.”
Barring a meeting in the Pac-12 Tournament, this is the final time ASU and USC will face off on the baseball field. It is a rivalry filled with iconic memories, but for Bloomquist, one stands out above them all and sparks a deep hatred for the Trojans within the third-year head coach. The 21-14 defeat in the 1998 College World Series National Championship might be nearing 30 years old, but it is still fresh within Bloomquist’s mind.
“I wanted the sweep,” Bloomquist said. “There’s history here. I’m not satisfied with two or three.”
If ASU wants any chance to see that national stage again, the Sun Devils will have to continue their complimentary play. Across ASU’s five-game winning streak, they outscored their opponents 55-9. The offense and defense finally appeared to be on the same page, and the results began to show up. Good starts lead to close games which lead to more competitive at bats which should lead to more runs.
“If you look at the starting pitcher we’ve gotten the last five or six games and how the offense has responded when we have good starting pitching, maybe there’s a correlation,” Bloomquist said. “But as an offensive player, you don’t point fingers at the pitching staff, and the pitching staff, you don’t point fingers at the offense. We’re a team sport, but I do know that when you’re firing on all cylinders, one seems to help the other.”
