EUGENE, Ore. - Fridays have not been good to the Sun Devils lately. Two weeks ago, Ross Dunn struggled, and ASU was dominated at the plate in a series-opening loss to Washington. A week ago, Dunn again struggled, this time mightily, and Arizona State dug a hole too deep to climb out of, dropping the opener at home to Oregon State. On this Friday, a new face on the mound for ASU in a series opener didn’t do much to change the vibes. No. 23 Oregon scored early and often and almost entirely with two outs to cruise to an 11-5 series-opening victory. The loss drops ASU to 28-14 overall and 13-5 in the Pac-12.
In each of the first three innings, Giblin was one out away from putting up a scoreless frame with the bases empty. In the first and third, he grooved 88 mph fastballs; each pummeled for solo home runs.
“Any time you get to Friday night, and you don’t have a guy who can match with their Friday night starter, it’s going to be a battle to the bullpen,” assistant coach and hitting instructor Mike Goff said. “If their starter stays out there longer than ours, there’s a good chance good things will not happen offensively for us. And that’s just the way it is on Friday night.”
Although Giblin was able to limit the damage to just the solo home runs in the first and third, things got ugly fast in the home half of the fourth. With two outs (please feign shock), Oregon’s Anson Arroz lofted a bloop RBI single into shallow center to make it 3-1 Oregon. Rikku Nishida was next, and the Ducks’ leadoff hitter ripped his second of three hits over the head of Isaiah Jackson in the center, plating two. Giblin left after walking the next batter, and Willie Bloomquist called on reliable strike throwing reliever Nolan Lebamoff to escape the bases loaded jam and keep the game within reach. With a stable of middle relievers who have shown issues with command upon entering games from the bullpen, Lebamoff’s ability to throw strikes was valued in this situation.
Lebamoff did pound the zone, perhaps a little too much. Oregon’s Drew Cowley unloaded on an 0-1 fastball, launching his second home run of the night to dead center. The grand slam put Oregon up 9-1 and effectively ended the ballgame, even with the comeback Devils in the other dugout. Nine of Oregon’s 11 runs scored with two down. It’s been ASU’s Achilles heel this season, especially in the purgatory that has been the middle innings.
“We’re looking for somebody to step up; we gotta get guys going in that (Jesse Wainscott) role,” Goff explained. Wainscott is out for the season after breaking his collarbone and falling off of a scooter two weeks ago.
Oregon starter Jace Stoffal was the reason a magical comeback wouldn’t be taking place in this one. The right-hander and Oregon native was masterful in 6 ⅔ innings of work. He struck out seven, walked two, and allowed just four hits. He had ASU off balance for the entirety of his outing.
“He was changing speeds, pounding the inside well, and using his fastball on both sides of the plate,” Goff said of Stoffal. “That’s their Friday night guy. His numbers are really good.”
Bronson Balholm reached twice, and Jacob Tobias raked in another home run. Nick McLain flexed his muscles as he usually does; more on his heroics below. Any ordinary performance from the ASU lineup wasn’t going to be enough tonight, and an elite Oregon starter and strong bullpen made sure that was the end of it.
As insane as it sounds, ASU really only has one reliable weekend starting pitcher right now. It’s Khristian Curtis, and he goes tomorrow in another game that the Sun Devils need. As the calendar turns to May, and each game gets bigger and bigger for an ASU team that has its sights set on lofty goals, it will need Curtis to be at the top of his game.
“We’re telling them to take it one out at a time,” Goff said of the message he preaches down the stretch of the season. “This is how we’ve played all year to put ourselves in this position; we need to take one and potentially two from these guys here to keep things rolling the way they should be.”
Game Notes:
Nick McLain is insane.
As the sun rises and sets, Nick McLain recorded another hit on Friday. He pushed his career-beginning hitting streak to 10 games with a solo home run in the sixth inning that was launched halfway to Corvallis. Two innings later, he dug in facing a lefty. On the first pitch, he saw he became the first Sun Devil in three years to homer from each side of the plate in the same game.
Since his season debut on April 11 at GCU, not only has McLain hit safely in each of his first ten ballgames, he’s homered five times and doubled three. In a lineup that features some of the best hitters in the Pac-12, McLain is building a resume that could be argued as the best. Sun Devil fans can thank the pandemic for ensuring that McLain wasn’t able to showcase during the 2022 summer, or else he’d be in Double-A right now after signing out of High School.
“He’s got a chance to have a really long career if he keeps his head on straight,” Goff said with a smile. “He’s very, very gifted. He makes it look easy.”
