A lot can change in the span of just a few weeks.

When Willie Bloomquist and Arizona State woke up on Monday, April 24, they had just taken a series from Oregon State in dramatic fashion and were ranked No. 12 in the nation by Baseball America and No. 16 by D1 baseball dot com. That was precisely the last time this team had any positive momentum. Later that week, they split a two-game midweek series with Cal State Fullerton. No harm, no foul; that’s a good club. Then, they dropped two of three at Oregon, salvaging a win in the series with a Sunday comeback.

That Sunday victory on April 30 is still the last time ASU slapped hands congratulating each other at midfield.

Two weeks and six rough Pac-12 losses later, a once-promising campaign that had fans and pundits alike considering the possibility of not only qualifying for postseason play but also hosting a regional has taken a nosedive at the worst possible time.

ASU was swept by Stanford at home last weekend, vaulting the Cardinal to the No. 4 national ranking and a clear path to the regular season Pac-12 title that they clinched this weekend at home against Arizona. Although it was a tough pill to swallow, losing three close games to the Cardinal was still a testament to the improvement of this ASU squad. Yet, any semblance of positivity that this team left the Stanford series with completely evaporated this weekend in Los Angeles, as a reeling Sun Devil squad was swept by USC in the most frustrating way possible.

Since the season took a southward turn about a month ago, ASU’s starting pitching and middle relief have been the crux of their downfall. The inability to put together quality starts against increasingly tough Pac-12 foes repeatedly bit the Sun Devils. Even a lineup as potent as Arizona State’s couldn’t keep pace with the holes being dug by the arms.

This weekend, though, that script has been flipped on its head. ASU got three tremendous outings from Timmy Manning, Khristian Curtis, and Ross Dunn, but the league’s top-scoring offense looked like a shell of itself over the weekend. USC came out victorious to the tune of 4-1, 2-0, and 5-1 scores. Late eighth-inning runs for the Trojans on Friday and Sunday made the margin of victory deceivingly wider.

Manning was masterful for most of his outings on Friday. He went five innings, allowing two runs to score in the fourth inning. Khristian Curtis turned in his best start as a Sun Devil on Saturday, making the 2-0 loss all the more painful for a program desperate to get back in the win column. He went seven shutout innings, striking out five and walking just one. Ironically, he has previously earned wins in far worse outings this season. Finally, Ross Dunn was good, if not great, in the finale. He worked his way in and out of trouble for most of the afternoon, ultimately being responsible for two runs in six-plus innings.

If you’d been told before the series began that ASU would get quality length from each of its starters and give up just a total of 11 runs, predicting a sweep would hardly sound outrageous when figuring in the normally explosive Sun Devil bats. Instead, the Sun Devils scored two total runs over the three games. They were held scoreless in 25 of 27 innings, hit zero home runs, and only tallied three, yes THREE, extra-base hits on the series.

To say that ASU’s best hitters didn’t show up this weekend would be a gross understatement. Luke Keaschall, a Pac-12 player of the year candidate coming into the series, went hitless in all three games. Nick McLain, arguably ASU’s most talented hitter in this loaded lineup, was also held without a hit. McLain began his collegiate career with an 11-game hit streak one month ago; he hadn’t gone more than a game without a knock prior to this weekend.

For the second weekend in a row, the back end of the bullpen was not nearly as rock solid as it had been for most of the season. The tried and true duo of Blake Pivaroff and Owen Stevenson showed signs of mortality against Stanford, with each right-hander taking a rare loss against the Cardinal. On Saturday night at USC, Owen Stevenson was again not his usual dominant self. Command issues in a two-run eighth were the difference, as USC plated both of its runs in the shutout win in that frame. The irony of this weekend is not lost on me. Arizona State’s strengths, scoring runs early and often, and its back end of the bullpen were its downfall in Los Angeles.

So. What now?

The reality of a doomsday scenario in which the Sun Devils miss out on the NCAA tournament entirely has gone from an infinitesimal possibility to one that nearly feels likely, given how the team is playing. Three regular season games remain, a home series against UCLA who is also struggling mightily as the regular season comes to a close. If ASU loses that three-game set and then fails to advance to the semi-finals at the Pac-12 tournament, which will be played in their backyard of Scottsdale Stadium, they will more than likely be left at the altar on selection Monday (May 29), and the debate of how historical of a collapse will begin.

This team has been a light in a generally dark time for ASU athletics for most of this year. The character of this locker room has taken a brutal punch after punch over the last three weeks. From here on out, It has become beyond desperation mode for the Sun Devils looking to change the narrative, rekindle the positive vibes around the program, and avoid the disappointment of missing out on the field of 64.

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