The six runs scored by the Arizona State Sun Devils (18-9, 7-5 Pac-12) in the fifth and sixth innings could have signaled a momentum change after trailing the Washington Huskies (11-17, 3-9 Pac-12) four runs to none.
Only it didn’t. At each turn, the Huskies had an answer.
In the fifth, the Sun Devils came back from a 4-0 deficit to thin the margin to two runs, following a two-RBI home run from junior shortstop Drew Swift. Just when the tide seemed to turn, Washington responded with five straight batters reaching first base, scoring three more runs to build the lead.
Freshman righty Christian Bodlovich received the call and grounded out the final batter to stop the bleeding.
In the following frame, it seemed as though ASU remained undeterred by the Huskies’ offense. Five consecutive Sun Devils reached first base in a two-homerun, four-run frame with deep shots from freshmen Jack Moss and Kai Murphy. Having cut the lead to one run, Bodlovich would face the top of the Huskies’ batting order.
As was the back-and-forth nature of Sunday’s matchup, the Huskies’ answered with four-straight hits: a single, triple, then two doubles. After senior Ramon Bramasco shot an RBI triple off Bodlovich, freshman righty Cam Dennie entered, surrendering two more hits and a run.
This time, as the Huskies took a 10-6 lead; the Sun Devils had no answer. While the home team continued to tack on runs, the Sun Devils would not score another for the duration of the game.
“We’re probably fatigued a little bit,” Head Coach Tracy Smith said. “That isn’t an excuse… they played the same game too, in the other dugout.”
Sunday’s game was complete in eight-and-a-half innings, the shortest of the weekend. Including Friday night’s 16-inning marathon, the average game time of the three-game series was three hours and 40 minutes.
“It’s a win,” Tracy said of the series as a whole. “You’re on the road; you’re playing through injuries… and you got a game on Friday which could [have gone] either way.”
Freshman infielder Sean McLain (who is riding a 23-game hit streak) sat for the second game in a row on Sunday. Skip called it a “little injury” and provided no cause for more concern.
Joe Hauser pitched the first two innings and was awarded the loss, in his first decision of the year. The freshman righty allowed six hits and four runs, all earned, and was one of seven pitchers to see action on Sunday. Hauser’s classmate, right-handed pitcher Brock Peery relieved him in the third inning while the Sun Devils trailed 4-0.
Peery, too, couldn’t find an answer for the new lumber the Huskies brought to the ballpark. He gave up one less hit, and one less earned run than Hauser in the same 2.1 innings pitched.
Hauser and Peery pitched to 13 batters each. Following those two, no Sun Devil pitched to more than six batters for the remainder of the game.
“We got to do a better job of not accepting the two wins and then letting our guard down,” Tracy Smith added. “Because I don’t think we were sharp in any particular facet of the game today.”
12 of the Huskies’ 13 runs were counted as earned, while the Sun Devil offense finished 7-for-34 from the plate. Kai Murphy was the only player in his dugout to record multiple hits, as he finished with a single and a home run in four plate appearances.
“For the first time this year, that was a game that I just did not like our concentration or focus,” Smith told media postgame via Zoom.
The loss keeps the Sun Devils at fourth in the Pac-12, while Washington will remain in 11th. Tracy Smith’s squad will travel to Las Vegas for a midweek game versus UNLV on Tuesday, prior to a series at home against Stanford.
