Tracy Smith arched his back, leaned his body -- still outfitted in ASU’s black uniform -- to the left side of the black mesh chair and peered over three rows of bodies. Smith’s Opening Day starter had sauntered in through the side door of ASU’s media room, waiting for his turn at the podium.

Answering the last of what was several questions about Justin Fall, he looked up, his words veering off from the cameras and toward his towering 6-foot-6, 240-pound ace.

“We are going to do a better job of not getting in those three-ball counts, aren’t we Justin?” Smith asked, referencing two 3-0 counts Fall escaped in the fourth inning.

“Yes, Sir,” a quiet Fall said from the back of the room.

Friday was Fall’s introduction to Arizona State, to baseball fans on the West Coast. In the Sun Devils’ 4-1 win over Villanova, the imposing lefty threw six scoreless innings, only allowing three hits while punching out a half dozen.

Aside from a bases-loaded jam, which he would work out of, in the sixth, there were few complaints about Fall. And even that bind, Smith was pleased -- impressed at how his even-keeled newcomer handled his first taste of adversity in Tempe.

“That’s a grow-up moment,” Smith said.

In total, Fall hurled 107 pitches. He wanted the ball for the seventh. Pitch count be damned, he felt comfortable on the mound. He often does. To those that know him, his desire to keep throwing regardless of the situation is no surprise.

Him not knowing, or caring about, the pitch count, however, that wasn’t always the case.

****

Just before Fall began his senior campaign at Toms River South High School, New Jersey instituted a pitch count rule that mandated every pitcher in the state could only throw 110 pitches in a five-day stretch.

In the beginning, it didn't matter. Fall did his job -- going 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 54 innings his senior year -- and the rest of the arms on Toms River South’s roster were fresh. Head coach Kenneth Frank -- the winningest coach in New Jersey high school baseball history -- had options.

The state tournament was a different beast. More games. Better teams. Higher stakes. In the sectional finals, Fall was again on the mound tossing a one-hitter. They were winning 3-0, but Fall’s weekly pitch count, which was about 60 for the day, had expired. Toms River South would lose 4-3.

“(The) 110 pitch count my senior year cost us a state championship,” Fall bluntly said.

Frank has come up with quite a lot of sayings in his 45 seasons of coaching. Before Fall flew back to Tempe from New Jersey this winter, Frank asked his big left-hander which one of his coach’s sayings he would remember most.

“Hey, you always told me you never know who’s watching me,” Frank recalled Fall telling him, “and here I am throwing a bullpen at Arizona State and I’ve got 13 guys behind me with a radar gun.”

****

Fall isn’t one who invites the attention. In some ways, he almost loathes it. He’s quiet. Reserved. He’s on a mission when it comes to baseball -- to get better and eventually swoop his long left arm from a major-league mound. Some people take it as arrogance. In reality, those around him say, he’s guarded.

Other things -- like scouts -- are often seen as distractions.

But they will help him reach his dreams. So he abides and puts on a show.

After his freshman season at Brookdale Community College, he was ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Atlantic Collegiate League following a summer where he posted a sub-1.00 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 20 innings of summer ball.

So, naturally, scouts flocked to the small college in New Jersey, their radar guns at the ready to observe Fall’s opening day bullpen session. The hoard crowded in a circle around Fall. With different hats representing different affiliations, they watched Fall, then peeked at their radar guns.

“I’ve had a lot of guys get drafted and out of all the kids I’ve ever had, he handled it better than anybody,” Brookdale head coach Johnny Johnson said. “He didn’t show any emotion. I could tell it was bothering him because he’s a quiet kid who keeps everything aside.”

Really, it seems, he’ll just do anything to succeed.

One season, Brookdale trekked south for a Florida tournament. Not only were the Jersey Blues playing stiffer competition amidst the sunshine and palm trees, but a considerable amount of MLB cross checkers were going to be observing Fall. Johnson told them his best pitcher was going to take the mound the next day, Friday, at noon.

He handed out the meal money that night and told his guys to stay home. But this was Florida, that wasn’t going to happen. The team decided to dine at a local fish restaurant. A few hours later, a few players knocked on Johnson’s door.

Fall had gotten food poisoning. He had been vomiting the whole night.

They went to the doctor the next morning. Even if he filled his body with all the medicine and electrolytes in the world, he wasn’t going to be 100 percent for the game. Johnson got ready to alert the scouts that Fall wasn’t going to be taking the mound.

“He said, ‘Coach, no. These scouts flew out here, I want to pitch for them,’” Johnson recalled Fall telling him.

So Fall’s start was pushed back from noon to 5 p.m. That evening, the 6-foot-6 left-hander tossed five no-hit innings with consistent velocity in the low-90s.

“He didn’t show anything. (Afterwards), he went home and puked more of his brains out,” Johnson said. “I wanted to take him out after three (innings) but he said, ‘Coach, I’m good. I’ll stick it out for two more.’ (He did that) because scouts always told him his velocity decreased after the fourth inning.

“I wanted him to have a chip so I told him, I go, ‘F--- these other schools that didn’t want you … You’re going to Arizona State -- they all could have had you … Go with the mentality of screw those guys.’”

****

Fall’s coaches are rarely surprised by the things he does. His decision to leave the tri-state area to go play baseball 3,000 miles west was just another sign that Fall will do anything to further his pitching acumen and baseball career.

Already, he believes he’s made strides. Warm weather nine months out of the year helps. So, too, does a pitching coach. Like most junior colleges, Brookdale didn’t have a pitching coach. Johnson implemented a throwing program, but couldn’t devote all his time to his arms.

ASU pitching coach Jason Kelly can -- and Fall has taken full advantage of it.

“JK has been one of the most influential people just in five months on my baseball career already,” Fall said. “He is way more knowledgeable than anyone I’ve been surrounded with. I’ve been surrounded by great guys but he knows ins and out and things that I’d never heard of that have really helped me.”

Added Kelly: “He wants to work on everything, so the laundry list with him is long because those are things that he wants to do … He’s a worker man and really wants to be great.”