After a disappointing Sunday defeat marred by their own mistakes, Arizona State (23-22) bounced back with a vengeance 48 hours later. They turned the tables on their opponent, capitalizing on every mishap to secure a convincing victory.
In typical baseball fashion, the Sun Devils reclaimed a missed opportunity for a conference sweep over the weekend in time to run rule a talented UC San Diego (26-15) side on Tuesday, 15-5, thanks to seven Triton walks and a plethora of wild pitches.
“The boys got on base, and they made some mistakes that we were able to take advantage of,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said postgame. “We kept the pressure on them for most of the game, which was good. A lot of baserunners, so a lot of things going on. You get baserunners, good things happen. We were able to take advantage of a couple of miscues, passed balls, etc., that we were able to score upon.”
Put under pressure in the first inning due to the Tritons’ Michael Crossland bringing in a run, ASU refused to crack. At least, none of the players did. A previously struggling Nick McLain may have put a new one in his bat after launching a 415-foot two-run blast in the bottom half of the inning to take the early advantage.
McLain’s fifth home run of the campaign, part of his three-hit evening, was a welcomed sight for Bloomquist, who called upon his star slugger to reach his usual level of productivity at this point in the season.
“Mac’s too good a player not to have good things happen to him,” Bloomquist said. “He’s real close to hopefully busting out in a big way and being able to help us down the stretch…When he does what he’s capable of doing, we’re a lot better team.”
“I needed it,” McLain continued. “Good to see one leave the park. Obviously, this year hasn’t been awesome for me. But today I kind of woke up and said ‘pretend ike the last hundred at-bats didn’t happen.’ Ended up a decent day; nice to finally have that. Tired of hearing of it from my brothers.”
Not to be outdone, UCSD answered with two runs on one swing from Andy Ambriz in the second off of Adam Behrens, who lasted 2.1 innings in a bullpen day. The Tritons added to the homer in the third when Matt Cornelius lost hold of a curveball on a wild pitch, putting the Sun Devils two runs behind entering the bottom of the third.
After reigning Pac-12 player of the week Ryan Campos walked to open the frame, Kien Vu extended his hitting streak to 11 games to put the tying runs on. McLain wore a pitch inside to load the bases, a sign of things to come for UCSD starter Zack Ernisse. Ernisse would misfire twice in the dirt and issue a walk to hand the Sun Devils three runs in the inning, with a fourth coming home on an RBI groundout from Brandon Compton.
Being given the lead, ASU earned its victory in protecting and ensuring it. Cornelius and Matt Tieding would hold the Tritons scoreless in the middle three innings, as ASU brought five runs around in the same time frame. Ernisse allowed another run on a wild pitch in the fourth before being relieved, and his successor, Devon King, got bit by inaccuracy in his own way. With two out in the fifth, King served up a breaking ball over the plate, which Brandon Compton sent 449 feet to dead center for his first home run since April 5. With Ondina tripling in a run two batters later and scoring on another awry fastball, ASU’s lead ballooned to 11-4.
Adding to the given advantage throughout the later innings, the Sun Devils' grip would not loosen in a decisive midweek win via run rule, despite it not being the prettiest victory in Bloomquist’s eyes.
“I’m surprised we had 13 hits because I don’t think we swung it as well as I would like us to with the pitches we had to hit,” he said. “With guys in scoring position, we had some strikeouts in those situations, where even you put the ball in play and you get runs. Come away empty on a couple of those and then scoring on wild pitches and passed balls. You score, you score, but I like to earn it, have our guys get in the habit of earning those runs. Never going to complain about a W, but on the same token, we left some runners out there.”
Bloomquist will look for his bats to continue to put runs on the board, but in a more fulfilling fashion, as he tabs Cole Carlon to start the second tilt with UCSD on Wednesday.
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