Last weekend, ASU baseball suffered its first true setback of the season, falling to in-state rivals the Arizona Wildcats and dropping from ranked to unranked in three days. Despite the unfortunate series defeat, the Wildcats continue to be among the top teams in the Big 12, and because ASU managed to salvage the last game, they ended the series with some momentum ahead of their next conference matchup.
After a conference series against TCU, Kansas, and Arizona, ASU's remaining conference schedule did not include a single opponent with a Big 12 record above .500 entering Friday. Given the weight of their early competitive schedule, ASU's schedule looked to become more manageable as the season developed, with a weekend showdown against Cincinnati coming up.
So far this season, the Bearcats have performed as a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team, splitting their four conference matchups. For ASU, a series matchup represented a hopeful opportunity to recapture some of that momentum before facing Arizona. Instead, Cincinnati came out strong, stunning the Sun Devils. The Bearcats won two of three games, both in the late innings, as ASU's bullpen failed to hold on to what was a positive offensive weekend. For the second straight weekend in a row, ASU (23-13, 9-6 Big 12) dropped two games to Cincinnati (21-14, 8-7).
ASU led 6-3 in the seventh inning of Friday's game but ultimately fell 11-7. In Sunday's setback, ASU led 8-7 into the ninth inning but lost 9-8. It was one of those frustrating weekends where a sweep, or at least a series win, felt within reach, but the Sun Devils were unable to execute a complete weekend and will return to Phoenix with plenty of work to do.
The Sun Devil bullpen tossed 12.1 innings and allowed 13 earned runs over the weekend, for a 9.51 ERA in three games. The only bright spot of the weekend was senior left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon's continued dominance, as he tossed a four-inning save on Saturday and allowed only one hit. If you remove his outing, you can raise the weekend bullpen ERA to 14.10.
The weekend appeared to be off to a good start, as ASU opened the first inning on Friday with four runs, continuing where they left off against CSUN on Tuesday after scoring 20 runs. Junior left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs would go five strong, allowing just two earned. It wasn't pretty, allowing six hits and walking four, but he navigated his way out of trouble throughout the game, putting ASU in what should have been a strong position to win the series opener.
That is where the trouble began; after an RBI single by sophomore infielder Kyle Walker gave ASU a four-run lead, the Bearcats went on to score eight consecutive runs to steal the opener from the Sun Devils. Head coach Willie Bloomquist has been preaching to his pitchers all season to limit free base runners, and you’ll see positive results, but Friday saw none of that, as ASU's pitching staff walked ten, hit three, and intentionally walked one.
Although it's a challenging way to begin a series, they can always rely on senior right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez to set the tone and fight for a bounce back on Saturdays. The combination of Carlon and Martinez, two of ASU's most dependable arms, did just that. With ten additional strikeouts on Saturday, Martinez maintains his Big 12 lead in strikeouts, having established a season high of twelve against Arizona last time out.
On the back end, Carlon maintained one of the most dominant stretches in collegiate baseball right now. Carlon gave up his first hit since March 21st, surrendering zero runs over four innings of shutout work to seal the Saturday victory. Carlon had not allowed a hit in a while, and it has been even longer since he has allowed a run, dating back to March 16th.
Since his last earned run, he's gone 17.1 innings scoreless, allowing only two hits and striking out 29, including 10 in the previous weekend series against Arizona. The second-year Sun Devil has rapidly emerged as the bullpen's rock.
Not only was Saturday's game pitched well, but the bats scored enough runs for Carlon to come in and close the door with ease. Senior infielder Matt King led the way with four hits, two doubles, and three RBIs, along with six total weekend hits, which increased his average to .402, second in the Big 12.
King has undoubtedly been ASU's most productive bat recently. Since the series began against Utah on March 28th, King is 28 of his last 49 for a .571 AVG and 19 RBIs. His productivity resulted in his first appearance in the three-hole in the lineup on Saturday and Sunday, an elevation King may be able to maintain if he continues his offensive surge.
After a step back in the right direction, Sunday's game couldn’t have been further back in the wrong direction. Cincinnati started off the game holding scoreless through the fifth inning, holding a four-run advantage into the sixth. Although, once the sixth inning arrived, this game turned into a back-and-forth firefight.
ASU finally tallied their first three runs in the top half of the sixth; Cincinnati replied with a run in the sixth, extending the advantage to two. Then, in what appeared to be the swing of the weekend, freshman Landon Hairston smashed his first career home run, a two-run bomb and the first home run by either team in the series, tying the game at five. The fun was quickly over as the Bearcats retook the lead in the eighth, just as they had in the sixth, and extended their margin to two.
The ninth was the last chance for the Sun Devils, though the rally kids rallied. Walker led off with a home run, which sparked the momentum for a four-hit inning to score three and take the lead, the offense seemingly saving the day once again.
However, "saving" the day, or closing the game, has been the bullpen's Achilles heel this season. The nightmare that is two outs in the ninth for junior right-handed pitcher Lucas Kelly struck again. Kelly served up a middle-middle fastball to freshman infielder Quinton Coats, who hit his first career home run to tie the game. Kelly would subsequently remain in the game for extra innings, and the Bearcats would defeat the Sun Devils thanks to a safety squeeze.
It appears that every weekend, every setback, and every loss has a different culprit. Last weekend against Arizona, the offense struggled to find a rhythm, and Arizona's middling offensive performance was enough to win two games. This weekend against Cincinnati, the offense tried everything it could to retake leads and rally, but the ASU bullpen couldn't hold firm in the late innings.
The Bearcats are far from one of the Big 12's weaker teams, but following series victories against TCU and Kansas, ASU baseball should aspire to win series against lesser teams practically every time if they want to finish the season with a postseason trip.
ASU will now prepare for a midweek game against Purdue before their next conference matchup against Texas Tech. Purdue has a 22-13 overall record but is 2-9 in its last eleven games. Despite their 11-21 record, Texas Tech is 7-8 in the conference. Both teams are formidable, and ASU could either react and get back on track or fall farther into a skid.
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