Sun Devils prevail in Sunday pitcher’s duel
One year ago, Arizona State (3-0) didn’t win a single baseball game via a shutout, let alone a low-scoring effort on their end. Sunday, they did exactly that. Locked in a pitcher’s duel with San Diego State’s (0-3) arms all the way through, Sun Devil pitching was able to hold off the Aztec bats and hold on to win and complete the series sweep by a final score of 1-0.
The third transfer starter of the weekend, Timmy Manning, might have had the best performance out of himself, Ross Dunn, and Khristian Curtis. Throwing 5.2 innings of shutout ball through a grooving fastball and outright nasty changeup combined with a heroic effort from Jesse Wainscott out of the bullpen, Jonny Weaver’s breakthrough single in the seventh would be all the run support Willie Bloomquist’s arms would need to get the victory.
“Ball was coming out hot and sharp,” Bloomquist said of his five pitchers used. “They (SDSU hitters) weren’t seeing it very good.”
“Timmy did a great job today,” outfielder Isaiah Jackson added.
Early on, the ball was coming off the bats sharper than out of Manning’s hand though. Luckily for the junior lefty, the box score would not reveal such events, with much thanks going to Isaiah Jackson and his incredible catch in the second inning to rob Shaun Montoya of a home run.
“I saw it well, had a leap at the wall,” Jackson said. “It felt great.”
Timmy Manning and SDSU’s Johnny Guzman went toe-to-toe on the mound in their respective outings, with the two starters matching zeroes all the way through. Had it not been the first appearance of the year, Manning might’ve gotten to go even longer as his 2-hit, six-strikeout performance would suggest. However, there was still a whole season to be played, and Manning understood that.
“Obviously, the competitor in me wanted to finish that sixth inning,” Manning said postgame. “But there’s a strict pitch count, and at the same time, I’m perfectly fine handing it off to Bod because we got the best fireman country. He’s going to come in, save my ERA, save those runs.”
With two runners on in the sixth and Manning fading, Bloomquist called on Christian Bodlovich to get out of the jam, a similar spot he had in Friday’s third inning when he stranded the bases loaded. As he did 48 hours ago, Bodlovich came up big again for ASU and forced a Poncho Ruiz flyout to end the threat.
From there, Bloomquist deployed Jonah Giblin to pitch the seventh for his first-ever appearance as a Sun Devil. He wasn’t greeted warmly by SDSU, as Shaun Montoya roped a double off of him and then moved up to third on a wild pitch. After two outs and a hit batsmen, Bloomquist went to the bullpen again. As ACDC’s Hells Bells sounded over the stadium speakers, ASU’s version of Trevor Hoffman came onto the scene and did what the legendary Padre made a career out of: slamming the door shut.
While Jesse Wainscott is no MLB Hall of Famer (at least not yet), he certainly pitched like one against SDSU on Sunday. In 2.1 innings, Wainscott recorded seven outs after having pitched multiple innings on Friday, six of them coming via the strikeout. Consistently hitting the low-mid 90s with his heater, only top 50 MLB Draft prospect Cole Carrigg was able to touch Wainscott in his first two innings of work.
“Definitely love the strikeouts, but honestly, I just tried to attack the zone, and the strikeouts will come,” Wainscott said. “One pitch at a time.”
“Can’t say enough; two-and-a-third with six punches is impressive,” Bloomquist said.
While Wainscott made quite the impression on the 3,000+ crowd at Phoenix Muni, Johnny Guzman didn’t disappoint on his end. With his stuff on point, an ASU lineup that had scored 11 runs in the first two games went quiet, much to the chagrin of Bloomquist.
“We didn’t beat the brakes off it today.”
Despite putting runners on in the sixth, ASU entered the bottom of the seventh scoreless and searching for offense. And they found it in the backup third baseman. With an off day for Nu’u Contrades, GCU transfer Jonny Weaver filled in at the hot corner and found himself at-bat in the game’s biggest spot, with two out and a runner on second in the seventh.
“Trying to see something up and go the other way,” Weaver said of his plate appearance. “He was spinning a lot of stuff.”
Whatever reliever Omar Serrano was throwing, it wasn’t too much for Weaver. On a 1-2 offering, Weaver roped a fastball down the left field line to score Luke Hill from second, the game’s only run. Jesse Wainscott would take care of the rest.
Following a leadoff triple by Shaun Montoya in the ninth, Wainscott ringed up two straight batters before forcing a weak ground-out to Keaschall to end the game and secure a 3-0 start for ASU.
In total, San Diego State had nine at-bats with a runner on third on Sunday and scored zero times. The three starting pitchers used by the Sun Devils combined to allow zero runs over 11+ innings, and ASU’s bats came up big when it counted to help them get all three games of the series. While it wasn’t perfect, with several mistakes on the basepaths, Bloomquist said his team did what they needed to win.
“End of the day, we didn’t beat ourselves on the mound or defensively,” Bloomquist said. “You don’t give up free bases; you give yourself an opportunity to win games.”
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