(Photo: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)
Hairston’s eighth-inning blast propels ASU to series-opening victory. – Jacob Fredericks
As the Sun Devils opened their first conference away series, they found themselves in a similar situation to their opening conference game against then-No. 17 TCU. In that game, while ASU was down 5-4 in the ninth inning, it had star sophomore left fielder Landon Hairston, who was 0-for-4 at the time, up on deck. Instead of him coming to bat, ASU got thrown out at the plate, resulting in a 5-4 loss to the Horned Frogs.
Just seven days later, against the Wildcats, ASU was in a similar scenario. Friday night’s game had many of the same elements, such as a start from junior pitcher Cole Carlon, a solo home run from junior shortstop PJ Moutzouridis, and a back-and-forth game where one team came from behind to tie the game.
While Hairston never got his opportunity to bat in a crucial situation last week, Friday night was a different story. When Hairtson stepped up to the plate, a fan in the crowd could be heard saying, “You are 0-for-4, it’s about to be 0-for-5”.
Instead of going 0-for-5, Hairston did what Sun Devil faithful had hoped he would the week prior. With the count at 0-2, the star outfielder was looking for a down-and-in fastball, and fortunately for him, that’s exactly what he got. As Hairston’s bat made contact with the leather, he immediately looked up. He knew it was gone.
Hairston’s home run proved enough to launch the Sun Devils to victory, even as they work on the same issues that have plagued their losses this season, with one of those issues being putting too many free runners on base. Identical to its only conference loss of the season, ASU sent out its ace in Carlon.
Carlon missed on multiple pitches, leading to giving up home runs in both of his last two outings, including two against the Wildcats. Although the home runs are a rare occurrence for Carlon, it isn’t the biggest concern for the southpaw. Carlon has walked eight batters in his last two appearances, forcing his pitch count higher, and allowing him to pitch just five innings rather than the six that head coach Willie Bloomquist wants to use him.
It isn’t just Carlon that has faced this problem, as the Sun Devils have walked a combined 13
opponents in their last two Friday matchups. Along with the six batters walked Friday night, senior left-handed pitcher Sean Fitzpatrick hit two batters in a row, leading to KSU taking the lead late.
While some clutch hitting and Hairston’s heroics allowed the Sun Devils to get away with their mistakes this Friday, they will want to clean them up before the results from last Friday turn into a run of losses.
Eight-run surge in top of the ninth helps ASU prevail in series-clinching thriller – Keenan Vaughn
Arizona State’s win over Kansas State on Friday evening was a perfect demonstration of the majesty that comes with a tightly contested baseball game. Trading runs back-and-forth, timely pitching and a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to ultimately take game one of the series.
However, if anyone thought that a contest couldn’t be any more intense than such a scenario, they were wholly unprepared for what transpired in Manhattan the next day. The Sun Devils’ opening up with a three-run frame was the starting gun to a high-flying marathon that saw them eventually fall behind 11-10 entering the top of the ninth inning.
In similar fashion to sophomore left fielder Landon Hairston’s heroics the day prior, ASU’s bats came through when the pressure was on. Junior outfielder Sam Myers brought the tying run home on an RBI single in a pinch-hit appearance before junior shortstop PJ Moutzouridis and redshirt sophomore third baseman Austen Roelling added insurance by drawing base-loaded walks.
If there was any doubt about the Sun Devils holding on for victory, fifth-year right fielder Dean Toigo closed out the eight-run frame with a towering grand slam over the left-center field wall to secure an 18-12 win and the team’s first in-conference road series of the season.
The UNLV transfer was near-perfect while in the batter’s box, ending up with four hits, two home runs and six RBI across five at-bats. Hairston was the other Sun Devil to notch four hits during the contest as he remained red-hot to the tune of two RBI and his 10th home run on the year.
Despite ASU’s offense providing late-game heroics once again, game two of the series also marks back-to-back instances of poor performance on the mound.
Junior right-handed pitcher Alex Overbay received the Saturday nod for a third straight week, but only lasted 1.1 innings due to putting nine men on base and allowing five runs. All seven Sun Devil pitchers that took the mound gave up at least one run while combining for 15 hits and seven walks.
The Sun Devils will walk away from Manhattan with a crucial Big 12 road series regardless of Sunday’s result, thanks to the men in the batter’s box, yet the same questions remain about whether or not the team’s arms can prevent games from coming down to the wire.
Leverage Moments Swing Wildcats’ Way – Aidan Hammond
Arizona State baseball dropped the final contest of their three-game series against Kansas State Sunday, suffering a 12-1 run-rule loss. Senior lefty Lincoln Sheffield went the distance for KSU in the seven-inning game, only allowing one run on five hits to the daunting Sun Devil lineup that scored 18 on Saturday.
Senior right hander Kole Klecker started for Arizona State opposite Sheffield and was credited with the loss, but gave ASU some much-needed length and preserved a bullpen that worked hard this weekend.
As ASU failed to complete the sweep on a windy Sunday afternoon, its ineffective two-out play took center stage. Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour in Tointon Stadium made it an odd fielding day for both teams, and the Sun Devils augmented their poor two-out pitching with some defensive miscues.
Junior infielders Dominic Smaldino and PJ Moutzouridis had multiple defensive hiccups, all coming with two men out and leading to Kansas State runs. Those two were charged with all three of ASU’s errors on Sunday. Misplays from the Arizona State outfield also directly led to two-out runs for their opponent, albeit on balls greatly affected by the strong winds.
Sophomore Landon Hairston and graduate transfer Matt Polk each misjudged balls hit towards them in the air and allowed them to drop safely, resulting in two doubles and four runs. In stark contrast, Kansas State committed no errors in the field despite the conditions and gave up only one two-out hit to ASU.
Before Sunday, the lowest amount of runs ASU had put up in a game was three. It was an unusual game not just because of the weather, but also a performance that was very out of character for the Sun Devils.
