Of all the places and people you can be on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, an Arizona State baseball player heading to practice at Phoenix Municipal Stadium has to be one of the least desirable.
“I’ve been proud of our team’s effort all year; tonight was not one of those nights,” Willie Bloomquist said. “I thought it was downright pathetic.”
ASU’s effort this evening can’t just be chalked up to a lackadaisical midweek game. The Sun Devils were flat from the jump. They were outhit, outpitched, and certainly out-defended from the second inning on in an ugly 9-1 loss to UNLV. After an off-day on Monday, Bloomquist noted that the team would have a “...good” practice on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s series at UCLA.
Bloomquist, who was the only one made available following the loss, didn’t hesitate to elaborate on his team’s performance. The first-year head coach has had his team’s back all season long. It’s been easier on some nights than others, and Tuesday’s wire-to-wire loss made it incredibly tough.
“We talked about the importance of tonight, and the importance of every game from here on, a lot today,” he said. “I thought we’d come out with a sense of urgency tonight, and it just wasn’t there. I don’t know where it was, but it wasn’t there. That falls on me, I guess; I didn’t get them ready to play well enough.”
With numerous arms in poor shape, Arizona State went unconventional for their starter. Left-hander Graham Osman made his first start of the year, and by reliever’s standards, he fared well. Osman tossed a scoreless first inning. He showcased a healthy fastball and a tight breaking ball, retiring the Rebels without much of a threat. That’s just about where the good news stops for Osman, as he gave up five runs and scattered seven hits over the next two frames.
Arizona State’s lone run was enough to give them the lead in the first inning. It came courtesy of Joe Lampe, who continued his stellar redshirt sophomore campaign with a towering home run to right-center field. ASU threatened to widen its lead in the frame but stranded men on second and third. This missed opportunity would ultimately be the Sun Devils’ best to add on.
“We had a hitter’s meeting today about what to expect from this guy,” Bloomquist said. “We made him look like Cy Young. We took one good swing tonight, and it was the first swing of the game.”
Cy Young, or Joey Acosta as he goes at his day job, was masterful tonight, as Bloomquist alluded. He came into the game with a 5.30 ERA in just 18 innings pitched. He left after six innings, allowing just the one run on Lampe’s home run. The Sun Devils only managed two additional hits and didn’t get a runner to third base the rest of the way.
In an especially thin layer of silver lining, ASU was able to empty the bench towards the end of the game. Luke La Flam, Danny Marshall, and Andrew Lucas all combined for three shutout innings to end the game. Michael Brueser got a rare at-bat and laced a single. These small bright spots were swarfed by yet another big home loss.
This season has seen its fair share of low moments for ASU, but a constant has been high energy even when things don’t go their way. Tuesday night was an exception, as the Dog Days of April were in full effect for the maroon-clad Sun Devils. A sparse crowd supplemented the lack of energy in the first base dugout. When Michael Brueser struck out to end the game, the only sound in the stadium came from the visitor’s dugout.
For a beaten and battered ASU team, the loss is yet another blow to its slowly slipping away tournament hopes. The Sun Devils now sit at 20-22 and don’t have many quality wins to combat ugly losses like Tuesday’s.
Willie Bloomquist is, of course, concerned with the potential postseason resume in his first season at the helm, but it’s hardly his biggest worry with 14 games remaining.
“Tonight was embarrassing. I don’t know how else to put it,” Bloomquist said. “I don’t know how or why we went out and laid an egg like that, but that performance and effort level was not acceptable.”
