Ethan Long and the bullpen mound are unfamiliar with each other. The local Gilbert, Arizona product had thrown five and a third innings in his first season as a Sun Devil, but he’s still acclimating himself to the bullpen mound itself. Growing up, most of Long’s pitching appearances came fresh off him playing another position on the field. Whether it was first base or center field, Long would come in already involved in the game, rather than watching from the bullpen afar.
So, when Arizona State head coach Tracy Smith laid out the plan Saturday for Long to get some work on the mound while being in the lineup at some point as well, the Sun Devil freshman was made all the more comfortable in a situation that would make most uncomfortable.
“To be honest, I was excited. At the start of the inning, I wanted the ball,” remarked Long. “The first time that I got to warm up (in the bullpen) was my first outing in college. In high school, I came straight from center field, straight from right field, straight from first base, third base, wherever I’m playing, I’ve always come straight in.
“I’ve never been a big bullpen guy. So, it was actually weirder for me to go out to the pen before I came out to pitch than it was to come straight from first base to the mound. I’ve been doing it my whole life, so it’s second nature now.”
Inheriting a one-run lead with two outs and two runners on base Long threw three straight curveballs to strike out the first hitter he faced.
“We sat down before the game and said, ‘we are going to split the game with you and Jack (Moss) at first because we want to see how you respond coming off the field in a close situation,’” Smith explained of the move. “Truth be told it worked perfectly to what we wanted to do because we wanted to learn how he would handle that.”
Long passed the test and helped Arizona State secure the series in a 6-4 win over Cal State Fullerton, securing his fourth save of the season in the process.
“There’s nothing really traditional about this year, so we’ve been preaching that to our kids to be ready for anything,” Smith said.
In the eighth straight win of this Arizona State winning streak, Smith, would use six different arms for the second straight night. Tyler Thornton gave the Sun Devils five-plus innings of work, but allowed three home runs in the process, leaving with ASU trailing 4-2.
Offensively, the Sun Devils were fueled by right fielder Kai Murphy, whose two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning cut the ASU deficit in half. Later in the afternoon, Murphy’s base-running would play a vital role in the comeback effort as the redshirt freshman tagged and scored to tie the contest with his speed in the Sun Devils’ three-run bottom of the seventh inning.
The quality at-bats continued after Murphy scored the game-tying run, as freshman third baseman Hunter Haas gave Arizona State its first lead of the afternoon when he laced a single into left field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, redshirt freshman second baseman Sean McClain lined his second home run in as many days over the left field wall to give Arizona State an insurance run.
“All it takes is three good at-bats, and we’re back in the game,” said Murphy of ASU’s offensive mentality while trailing by two runs. Murphy finished the afternoon with a 2-for-4 performance, adding a home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. “It was five great at-bats, but that’s all it takes. We knew we were going to get them back, and all it took was a good focus for an inning.”
“What you’re seeing is guys getting comfortable and realizing guys are going to have to step up,” said Smith of the collective effort on display this weekend. “Sometimes when you know ‘I’m the man now, and I have to do it,’ it creates a little bit of a different mindset. You’re not always looking over your shoulder.
“What I’ve noticed is that they’re calm, they’re comfortable, they’re not necessarily worried.”
Thornton’s five innings of work were complimented by Smith as productive to ASU’s winning cause. But, as the Sun Devils improve to 10-2 on the season and set up an opportunity to sweep the Titans Sunday, they could do it with another bullpen effort, something McClain expressed great belief in.
“I think our bullpen and our pitching staff, in general, is the best in the Pac-12,” said McClain, whose hitting .409 after Saturday’s contest. “It’s cool to see guys step up.”
That collective group effort comes from the competitiveness of the ASU bullpen, which Long said is something he thrives in.
“We’ll have competitions with each other that just keep up our competitiveness for when we actually go on the mound,” Long explained. “But all of our pitchers just have a killer mentality where we want to go out there and just shove it down their throat. We don’t want them to step on the same field as us.”
