It felt like Arizona State (38-19) would get their vengeance on Southern Mississippi (39-19) from the start, especially with another explosive performance from the bats in the first few innings.

Alas, the Golden Eagles staged a late rally for the ages, scoring seven times over the last two frames on the Sun Devils, including four in the ninth to walk-off with a 13-12 victory ending ASU’s 2019 campaign with a bitter loss.

In perfectly ironic fashion, the winning single from sophomore left fielder and leadoff hitter Gabe Montenegro (5-for-6 on the day) came with two outs, as it was hit perfectly between the first and second basemen to bring home the tying and winning runs.

The Sun Devils allowed 26 runs with two outs over these three games, one of the biggest factors in their early exit that also underscores the team’s limited pitching depth.

For most of today’s game though, it felt as if the Sun Devil bats would carry the team to another elimination-game victory.

ASU scored a run before getting out, part of a four-run first, and had double-digit runs by the fifth inning. The ample run support allowed sophomore starter Boyd Vander Kooi to throw 125 pitches through 7.2 innings, despite allowing eight runs on 11 hits in his outing.

ASU led by as much as eight runs, which was the margin halfway through the game in the mid-fifth, but USM showed at multiple points they wouldn’t go down easy.

The fifth inning essentially started USM’s rally, as they salvaged four runs off of Vander Kooi thanks to a two-run double by junior catcher Bryant Bowen then a two-run single by senior designated hitter Erick Hoard, all with two outs.

This proved to be the eventual turning point, as this happened in the half-inning after the Sun Devils took their largest lead of the game, 10-2.

USM’s mini-rally to get within striking distance didn’t feel too significant at the time though, especially when sophomore first baseman Spencer Torkelson crushed an opposite field, two-run homer in the top of the sixth to extend the Sun Devil lead to 12-6.

Vander Kooi continued to be a workhorse despite the subpar start, and got through the sixth and seventh in eight batters, at one point retiring five straight.

Then again, getting that third and final out proved to be confounding for ASU pitching, and would unravel the team’s season starting in the eighth inning.

The sophomore righty got the first two batters out, but then hit senior shortstop Storme Cooper and allowed a single to Montenegro, which prompted manager Tracy Smith to pull him.

So began the meltdown by ASU’s bullpen.

First up, sophomore right-hander Brady Corrigan came on to allow a three-run homer to junior second baseman Matthew Guidry, which cut the Sun Devil lead to 12-9.

The three-run deficit was the closest USM had got since the top of the first inning, and they would eventually capitalize on the silent seventh through ninth innings by ASU’s offense.

Corrigan started the final frame, but it was clear he wasn’t fooling the Golden Eagles after they hit back-to-back singles off him right away.

Smith pulling Corrigan at that point seemed like an obvious enough decision, but curiously he brought on freshman reliever Blake Burzell- who had allowed seven runs over his previous three appearances- to try and escape the mess.

The move made some sense in the context of preserving what limited arms they have, considering a win would mean another game against LSU around two hours later.

However, the moment instantly proved to be too big for the freshman, who threw six straight balls once he got to the mound and ended up hitting a batter with the bases loaded, bringing home the first run of the inning with no outs.

Then, Smith brought in a more reliable arm in junior lefty Chaz Montoya in an attempt at damage control.

Montoya would get the first out, as freshman third baseman Danny Lynch hit a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the deficit to one.

The lefty then got a key strikeout on Cooper, inching the Sun Devils ever so close to salvaging the game that felt like they couldn’t lose during every previous inning.

But with two outs and the tying run at third, the winning run at second, Montenegro made it be known that it was his night, showing the two-out hitting that ASU pitching became accustomed to allowing in striking the winning hit.

During the first half of the game, it was the meat of the Sun Devil order that was leading what looked to be a rout.

The team’s two through five hitters; Torkelson, sophomore shortstop Alika Williams, junior center fielder Hunter Bishop and junior catcher Lyle Lin combined to provide all 10 of the team’s RBI’s, with eight coming in the first five innings.

Another two runs came in those early innings via USM errors, as the Golden Eagles had three over the first five innings.

Ultimately, the Sun Devils shortage of arms would outweigh USM’s self-inflicted mistakes and another explosive game by ASU’s bats.

As the season concludes, senior pitcher Sam Romero along with Bishop have played their final games as Sun Devils. It’s possible that juniors in right fielder Carter Aldrete and catcher Lyle Lin could join Bishop in entering the draft as well.