Just over 12 hours after Arizona State left the diamond at UFCU Diesch-Faulk Field in Austin following a humbling loss at the hands of the No.2 Texas, the Sun Devils returned to the field to take on the Fairfield Stags in a rematch of Friday’s contest in the Sunday sunshine.
Keen to avoid any early deficits, the ASU offense came out of the gates firing, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the third; however, Fairfield pieced together an incredible comeback over the middle innings, outpacing the Sun Devils in the second elimination game of the Austin Regional 9-7, ending ASU’s tournament and season. The Sun Devils conclude the 2021 season with a 33-22 record (16-14 Pac-12).
The Arizona State offense got underway in the second as freshman third baseman Hunter Haas reached base on a walk and moved all the way to third after a wild pitch and ensuing groundout. Redshirt freshman outfielder Kai Murphy singled through the left side to score Haas. Redshirt junior shortstop Drew Swift added to the flurry of scoring with a two-out triple, his fourth of the year, to score Murphy. Redshirt junior outfielder Hunter Jump singled up the middle to score Swift.
In the third, redshirt freshman catcher Nate Baez put a bow on the offensive output, sending a ball high over the wall in left-center to notch two more runs for Arizona State. The knock was his second of the postseason.
“We knew we were going to have to score,” Sun Devil skipper Tracy Smith said. “We jumped up to a lead early, but we knew (Fairfield) was going to chip away at that… We were spread super thin on the mound, so we just thought to keep a lead and exchange punches.”
The gloves came off for Fairfield in the bottom half of the third, as grad student first baseman Sean Cullen put a charge in a ball and sent it off the batter’s eye in center field for a two-run bomb.
Arizona State jabbed back with an additional run in the fourth, as Jump and freshman designated hitter Ethan Long pieced together hits to set themselves at the corners with two outs. Freshman first baseman Jack Moss fired a single up the middle to put the ASU lead up to four.
Eager to avenge Friday night’s walk-off loss, the Stags continued to grab base hits to chip away at the Sun Devil lead. Junior outfielder Mike Handal hit the third of three singles in the fourth to score two and bump the ASU lead back down to two.
Handal’s hit was also the final batter for freshman righty Jared Glenn who started the game on Sunday for the Devils after pitching two and a third innings on Friday night. Glenn allowed nine hits, four runs (all earned), and struck out one on 54 pitches. Redshirt junior Brady Corrigan, the only ASU reliever to throw in all three of ASU’s games in Austin, came in to put out the fire but found little success.
In the fifth, another two runs crossed home plate for the Stags, this time via the bat of sophomore outfielder Ryan Strollo, the second hit and third baserunner of the frame.
The Fairfield resurgence was capped off in the sixth, as the first two baserunners reached on a walk and single respectively. On the first pitch of the fourth at-bat, junior infielder Justin Guerrera took Corrigan deep over the left field wall, giving the Stags their first lead of the game, one which they would not relinquish.
“It wasn’t like we kicked it around or walked a bunch of people tonight,” Smith said, referring to Friday and Saturday night’s pitching collapses, also praising Fairfield’s effort. “They hit some home runs and earned their runs, so you tip your cap to them. They’re guys that know how to win.”
Arizona State’s best chance at a rebuttal to the three-run Fairfield lead came in the sixth, courtesy of one of the most bizarre moments ever in college baseball. Swift reached base on a walk to lead off the inning before moving to third on a Hunter Jump double. Redshirt freshman Sean McLain, Friday night’s walk-off hero stepped up to bat with no outs.
On the first pitch of his at-bat, McLain watched a pitch up and in go by him. The baseball suddenly seemed to disappear amongst the confusion. Home plate umpire Derek Mollica then proceeded to pull the ball out of his front shirt pocket before waving the runners to advance. The play was scored a wild pitch, and the Fairfield lead narrowed to two. The Stags proceeded to escape the inning without any further damage, stranding Jump at third.
“We left a runner on in the sixth,” Smith noted. “We had (Jump) all the way to third with nobody out, but couldn’t get him in. We kind of figured that might come back to haunt us in a game like this, which it did.”
Arizona State’s 2021 season comes to a close with a final record of 33-22, 16-14 Pac-12. The Sun Devils won four of their last five Pac-12 series and showed immense promise with the young core of freshman that contributed this season, but the initial losses of three weekend starters and two relief arms proved to be too tall of a task to overcome for Tracy Smith and his staff.
“When you've got guys that are out there given everything they've got, and they've done that, honestly the entire season under some unique circumstances, it's just tough,” Smith rationalized. “You’ve got a young team, and the strength of this team was the pitching, but that was taken away from us in the first three weeks. Yet, you still find yourself battling and winning weekends.”
Six Sun Devils received conference honors this season, with Long garnering national attention as a second-team All-American selection by Collegiate Baseball News, he was also first-team All-Pac-12. Swift was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and will likely move on from the program after this season.
“I wouldn’t change my experience here for anything in the world,” Swift said emotionally. “Everything about this university is awesome... I have nothing left to hang on to. I’m so proud of everyone on this team - pitchers, offense, defense - we made a huge step from the beginning of the year to now.”
While Smith and the Sun Devils may return to Phoenix empty handed without a berth in Omaha, Arizona State can still find solace and peace in the future. Smith believes that the opposition and troubles his team faced are some of the hardest experiences he’s ever been a part of in his long baseball career. While it may take time for the wounds to heal, with the crop of young talent, there’s no doubt the Sun Devils will be back in contention come next spring.
“It’s been a challenge all year,” Smith stated. “This will be one of the most memorable seasons for me because it was one of the most challenging. While it was challenging, it was also rewarding, even if we didn’t get what we wanted in the end.
“If you told me the third week of the season, given everything, losing and all those arms, and you said we would be playing in a regional in Austin, Texas, I would have said I'll take it. I'm proud that we got here, I'm disappointed that we didn't extend our season, but it was a hell of an experience and a hell of a ride.”
