College baseball is the epitome of the adage “any given weekend.” Ohio State has shown that to Arizona State the hard way thus far this weekend. Despite hitting barely above the Mendoza line as a team through their first weekend, the Buckeyes have now rattled off multiple double-digit scoring games, including one on Saturday, as ASU left 11 men on base to go down 13-4.

Early on, the Sun Devils matched the Buckeyes at every turn, answering a run in the first with two of their own and then protecting its pitching to take a 4-2 lead into the sixth. After five standout innings from Connor Markl and some tightrope walking by Matt Tieding and Sean Fitzpatrick, the floodgates would open on the back end of the bullpen for 11 runs in the final three innings, while ASU couldn’t capitalize on several scoring chances to drop the Saturday swing game.

“That’s something we have to figure out,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said of the pitching implosion late. “It’s not piecing together how we want it to on that back end right now. That’s something we’re going to have to evaluate: who are our arms that can get it done? One thing we’re finding out is who can’t.”

It’s been no secret the Sun Devil bullpen has struggled early on, but what’s even more alarming about it on Saturday was their inability to back up a quality start. After a shaky debut last week, Connor Markl was steady through five innings of work on Saturday. Utilizing his cutting action against a lefty-laden lineup, Markl established the outside corner early and often with both speeds. OSU caught up to him with two hits in the first and a solo home run from Joseph Merson in the fourth, but Markl otherwise displayed strong command and kept the Buckeye batters off balance with seven strikeouts in five frames.

“When he was working ahead, he was getting nice quick outs,” Bloomquist emphasized. “When he fell behind, he got hurt. All in all, happy with his performance. He threw the ball well.”

After surrendering a score in the first, the Sun Devil bats picked Markl up with the shortest double of the year, as an infield popup by Kevin Karstetter got lost in the clouds and would bring in a run. Starter Gavin Bruni couldn’t shake this mishap, walking Isaiah Jackson and Brandon Compton in succession to bring the go-ahead run in.

Unfortunately for ASU, Trey Newman would get rung up with the bases jammed, the first of many lost chances to gather runs in bulk for the Sun Devils. Even with that shot going by the wayside, Steven Ondina answered OSU’s call in the fourth with a solo home run and an RBI infield single in the sixth. Brought to campus primarily as a defensive wizz, Ondina built upon his .389 batting average with a 3-4 day, showing to Bloomquist his newfound comfort at the dish.

“He’s been staying within himself and doing a really good job,” Bloomquist noted. “That’s what he’s capable of doing when he stays within his approach.”

Harris Williams would secure a knock, his third of the day, behind Ondina to load the sack for Ryan Campos with a chance to break the game open. Being the bat anyone would want up, Campos was aggressive and pieced up the first pitch. Unfortunately for ASU, it was right in the direction of Henry Kaczmar at shortstop. Kaczmar would turn an inning-ending double play and bring to light a rather slow start to the year offensively for Campos, who entered today hitting .217 and ended the game 1-4.

Despite the hits not coming, Campos has been frequent in drawing walks, and Bloomquist remains confident in his veteran backstop’s ability to get it going.

“Campy’s a pretty dang good hitter,” Bloomquist emphasized. “Not overly concerned with him. In that particular situation, I would’ve liked to see him get a pitch up in the zone rather than chasing a first-pitch sinker down and away. But I’m not worried about him pressing or trying too hard.”

Even with that rally-killer, the Sun Devils took a 4-2 advantage into the seventh, and after Fitzpatrick gave up a leadoff single, Bloomquist gave the ball to Hunter Omlid to bridge the gap to closer Cole Carlon for a six-out save. Omlid would not be able to make that connection, being taken out of the park in consecutive at-bats by Matthew Graveline and Tyler Pettorini. The back-to-back jacks would take OSU from down two to up one in two swings, and even after they added an insurance run later in the frame, Bloomquist remained confident in his fearsome lineup’s ability to make it up.

“Only being down two, I still liked our chances,” Bloomquist said. “Thought we had a pretty good shot to come back and score two late off them in the last three innings.”

ASU would show signs of life offensively in the seventh and eighth, putting a runner on in each frame, but couldn’t bring anyone around.

Not looking to use Carlon in a non-save situation, Bloomquist turned to Brok Eddy for the hold after an Isaiah Jackson error opened the ninth with a runner on third for OSU. Walking the first two batters he faced, the floodgates would open on Eddy when Nick Giamarusti blasted a grand slam to left field, succeeded by a two-run shot from Graveline a few batters later to put the game away.

“We were trying to get through the seventh so we could give it to Carlon for a two-inning save,” Bloomquist recalled. “Just couldn’t get through the seventh there. We got to do a better job of working ahead, staying down in the zone, and not getting the barrel.”

As for the offense, Bloomquist blamed a lack of luck for the 11 runners ASU stranded on Saturday, as the order still strung together 11 hits and plenty of quality at-bats in the losing effort.

“Put up 11 hits. That’s not a bad day,” Bloomquist exclaimed. “We just couldn’t cash in with runners in scoring position. 11 hits, and we hit a lot of other balls really hard, so I don’t think it’s an offensive scuffle. Had a couple of balls down the line that missed by an inch or two, several lineouts to the outfield, double-play balls that we hit right at guys; I’m not in any way, shape, or form with the way the offense came out. Scoring runs could’ve been better, but there were a lot of good at-bats that we hit hard with guys in scoring position.”

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