For the first 12 innings of the weekend, Arizona State was clearly the better team on the field. ASU dominated the 2021 national champions in Friday night’s series opener and led 1-0 into the third inning of Saturday’s game two. From that point on, Mississippi State flexed its championship muscles. The Bulldogs outscored ASU 20-3 over the final 14 innings of the series, flipping the script from Friday night and emphatically earning the series victory over the Sun Devils.
The result will disappoint the team after the way things started on Friday, but keeping perspective is important. Mississippi State has made its way into the echelon of college baseball blue blood, and ASU certainly earned their respect this weekend.
Sunday’s finale, a 16-3 drubbing, got out of hand early for ASU. Although they led 1-0 in the top of the first, Willie Bloomquist’s squad was ambushed for the rest of the afternoon. Mississippi State scored three in the first to answer ASU’s brief lead, then delivered the knockout blow in the home half of the fourth when a six-run inning was capped by a Colton Ledbetter grand slam.
ASU starting pitcher Timmy Manning, who was dominant in his Sun Devil debut against San Diego State last weekend, appeared more mortal on Sunday. He left halfway through the fateful fourth, and was charged with six runs on as many hits, two walks and three strikeouts. The starting pitching that hadn’t allowed a run in the first five games heading into Saturday, took its lumps in the final two games.
It was Khristian Curtis Saturday, losing the strike zone and allowing Mississippi State to put together a four run fourth that would end up as the difference. Curtis has electric stuff, working with a mid 90s fastball and a dirty two pitch mix. The stuff was alive into the middle innings Saturday, but the fastball command was not there. The Texas A&M transfer right-hander was consistently missing low with the heater, forcing him to rely on the breaking ball and change up more than he would have liked. MSU was able to exploit this, ambushing Curtis in the fourth and holding the lead with ease the rest of the way.
A clear positive from Saturday night was the bullpen. After Curtis was lifted for Bodlovich, ASU didn’t allow another MSU run the rest of the way. They weren’t protecting a lead, sure, but that kind of continuity is exactly what the team lacked in 2022. If the bullpen can show that they can be effective in covering 5+ innings if a starter doesn’t have it, Bloomquist will feel a lot more comfortable pulling the trigger more quickly if the starter falters early in conference games.
It was feast or famine at the dish for ASU all weekend. The feast, the all-you-can-eat buffet, the king’s dinner, insert your own term, came on Friday when the Sun Devils put up 13 runs. The run total was incredible, but it came on just 12 hits. ASU took advantage of a ghastly evening on the mound for MSU, as they were issued 12 walks and plunked by two pitches. When the Bulldogs pitchers buckled up and found the zone, there was much less of an offensive threat on the side of the Sun Devils.
Series Notes:
Luke Hill continued to show he belongs. The Louisiana native punctuated a nice pseudo homecoming weekend with two hits on Sunday, including an opposite-field home run for the first long ball of his collegiate career. As good as his bat has been, his defense is probably what has been the most impressive part of his game so far. He turned in another clean report card at short this weekend and made several eyebrow raising plays that showcased his glove and his arm.
On the other side of the freshman spectrum was Isaiah Jackson. No Sun Devil is more eager to leave the Magnolia State than Jackson. He went hitless on the weekend, striking out six times. He was pulled in favor of Kien Vu late Saturday and was given the day off by Bloomquist on Sunday before striking out late in a pinch hit appearance. Jackson will be fine, but the rough stretch early is probably jarring for someone who has succeeded at every step of the way as he has.
Wyatt Crenshaw continued his hot start with a nice weekend. He homered Friday and collected at least a base hit each of the next two games. If you bet on him as one of ASU’s most impactful transfers over the first two weeks of play, cash your tickets.
We’ve heard a lot about freshmen pitchers Austin Humphres and Ryan Hanks. Each debuted this weekend, Humphres on Saturday and Hanks on Sunday, and each had a soft landing. Humphres tossed a shutout inning in the eighth with ASU trailing on Saturday night, while Hanks struggled a bit in mop up duty in the eighth inning on Sunday. Hanks got barreled up a few times, but the arm and physicality are evident. It is clear why Peraza and the entire pitching staff are high on him.
All in all, Arizona State never really seemed overmatched this weekend. Sunday’s finale got away from them as the product of one big two-out swing, but for the most part, the Sun Devils were competitive all weekend long, which was the minimum expectation for the team. Fans should be disappointed at how the series turned out, given Friday’s result, but overall, the trip was far from a failure.
Get on the plane, find Ryan Campos’s gray pinstripe jersey, and take care of business for the rest of the non-conference slate.
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