LOS ANGELES -- Boyd Vander Kooi stared at the ball. Then catcher Sam Ferri. Then the ball again. USC’s Chase Buchor had just passed his short bunt, sprinting down the first-base line as the ASU pitcher and catcher stood befuddled.

With his back to the mound, Vander Kooi bent down. His long blonde locks flopping over his shoulder as he grabbed the baseball.

“In all honesty, it was probably Ferri’s throw,” ASU coach Tracy Smith said. “He’s coming out, he’s got all of it in front of him.”

Now, Vander Kooi had to field a chopper earlier in the game. His execution wasn’t exactly natural. Not keen on finesse, the sophomore grabbed the ball and probably hit 85 mph on the radar gun with his 45-foot throw to first.

Picking up the bunt with Buchor just a few strides away from the bag, Vander Kooi may have hit 90, trying to hit Spencer Torkelson’s glove set up on the inside of the bag. But the ASU first baseman had no time to react as the ball sailed along the first-base line and into right field.

Vander Kooi stood in no-man’s land, helpless.

Ben Ramirez came around to score from first. Buchor ended up on third. It was a sucker punch that left ASU in the ground, in the midst of a three-game losing streak following Saturday’s 7-3 loss to USC (12-17, 5-6 Pac-12).

The head-scratching error ended Vander Kooi’s day, taking him off the mound after allowing nine hits and five earned runs.

“Boyd wasn’t great but he sure did pitch well enough for us to win,” Smith said. “Save the one error, but even if that, get the out there, the way it was offensively we still don’t win the game.”

The Sun Devil skipper wasn’t trying to absolve Vander Kooi’s error or team’s compounding gaffes, he just didn’t think his offense did enough to win, an odd shift in perspective for a team that ranked third in the country in team batting average prior to Friday.

After Torkelson’s 7th dinger of the season sailed over USC center fielder Matthew Acosta’s head just a day after Acosta robbed the preseason All-American, it seemed like the Devils’ luck was shifting. Like its offense would protect them from anything -- a few errors, bad pitching, all of it.

Instead, the ASU bats failed to collectively wake up after Torkelson’s 3rd-inning bomb, leaving eight men on base and falling victim to big moments.

“I thought today we played much better baseball than we did yesterday or the last couple days,” Smith said. “We just didn’t get the big hit. We had plenty of opportunities. Just didn’t get it done.”

For two months, Arizona State has been running from its 2018 self, trying to escape the demon that botched little-league plays, didn’t compete and drew calls for its coach’s job.

For 26 games, it seemed to be gone, washed away by a blistering offense and a near-perfect record. The past three contests have made most start to question what ASU they’re going to get.

Is it going to be the inexperienced group from a year ago that continuously found new ways to lose or the one that vaulted the Sun Devils into the Top 10? This week, ASU has shown flashes of each -- which perhaps makes it most frustrating.

Speaking outside of the visitor’s dugout on the left side of Dedeaux Field on Saturday, Smith doesn’t seem worried. Even when ASU was cruising to what would become a 21-game win streak to start the season, Smith tried to temper the praise.

He knew a dry spell would come. It always does.

“You’ve got to keep grinding it out,” Smith said. “That’s why we play a lot of baseball games. Some of those things fall, they were falling a lot for us early. They haven’t fallen here.”

Just on Saturday alone, Torkelson shot a fly ball to the deepest part of the park. At Phoenix Muni, it’s probably a no-doubter. This one ended up in Acosta’s glove and he puckered his back to the center-field fence.

Later, Gage Workman shot a grounder up the middle. He had a base for sure. Instead, it hit USC pitcher Chris Clarke’s foot and ricocheted to first base. A collective, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” rang from the ASU dugout.

It was that kind of day. A few more of those, though, and many won’t consider it a coincidence anymore.