After Hairston’s home run, the Sun Devils were scoreless for 20 straight outs. Finally, in the seventh inning, PJ Moutzouridis advanced from third on a wild pitch to break the drought.
Two innings later, Dean Toigo clobbered his 12th home run of the season and his third hit of the game. The right fielder sent the ball over his typical spot in the outfield to give ASU a sliver of hope.
It wasn’t enough. The Sun Devils would end the game without another hit, but Toigo excelled despite the poor team performance.
“I think we’ve played baseball long enough to where it’s just the sport we choose,” Toigo said. “The great baseball players know how to stay consistent, no matter what.”
All four of those late-inning runs were scored off the arm of Mountaineer pitcher David Perez. Although the statsheet will show four earned runs, the tape shows 3.2 impressive innings from a freshman with less than 10 prior innings pitched.
After Hairston’s home run, the Sun Devils were scoreless for 20 straight outs. Finally, in the seventh inning, PJ Moutzouridis advanced from third on a wild pitch to break the drought.
Two innings later, Dean Toigo clobbered his 12th home run of the season and his third hit of the game. The right fielder sent the ball over his typical spot in the outfield to give ASU a sliver of hope.
It wasn’t enough. The Sun Devils would end the game without another hit, but Toigo excelled despite the poor team performance.
“I think we’ve played baseball long enough to where it’s just the sport we choose,” Toigo said. “The great baseball players know how to stay consistent, no matter what.”
All four of those late-inning runs were scored off the arm of Mountaineer pitcher David Perez. Although the statsheet will show four earned runs, the tape shows 3.2 impressive innings from a freshman with less than 10 prior innings pitched.
WVU only needed the duo of Perez and Chansen Cole to pitch nine complete innings.
ASU’s costly mistakes, particularly its poor baserunning, eased the burden of the Mountaineer pitchers. In the third inning, Toigo was caught trying to steal third base, taking out a runner in scoring position with the strength of ASU’s batting order due up.
“There were some blunders on the bases that I take responsibility for,” Bloomquist said. “Those are things that we’ve coached, but not coached well enough.”
On the other side, WVU celebrated five stolen bases, most notably in the eighth when Matthew Graveline stole home. Despite a great throw from Sean Fitzpatrick, the risky play paid off because the ball slipped through Briggs’ glove.
Fitzpatrick’s night was solid otherwise, with 3 strikeouts in 1.1 innings and no runs beyond the steal at home. He was one of five ASU players to take the mound on Sunday, and each of them gave up at least one run.
After exhausting much of their bullpen, the Sun Devils will have to dig deep for Monday’s game against San Diego State. That will be ASU’s ninth game in 10 days, before a short break followed by a road trip to rival Arizona.
“We’re in every game that we play,” Toigo said. “That’s the attitude that we got to go in thinking. We’ve seen what we can do when we’re clicking. We’ve seen what we can do when we’re not clicking, still got to find a way to win.”
