After lightning delays pushed both Austin Regional games back on Saturday, Arizona State finally took the field to face No. 2 Texas in hostile territory. Up against a formidable Longhorns squad, the Sun Devils fought valiantly but were unable to outlast their opponent, falling 10-3 with pitching struggles rampant among the staff and bullpen.
With the bulk of ASU’s bullpen used against Fairfield in an arduous late-night walk-off affair on Friday, extra emphasis and pressure fell upon redshirt junior lefty Justin Fall to face off with the imposing Longhorn lineup on Saturday evening in front of a near-capacity crowd just short of 7,000 people at UFCU Diesch-Faulk Field in Austin.
Fall’s outing on Saturday began with adversity and runners on base, as the Longhorns looked to pin numerous runs on the Devils in the first frame. Back-to-back leadoff hits from UT put runners at the corners with no outs as Texas challenged Fall to respond. Fall struck out the next two batters before inciting a fielder’s choice to escape the first inning.
The road was just as challenging in the second inning, as Fall came under fire from a one-out single and stolen base before walking the next hitter he faced. Fall, ASU’s best pitcher out of a staff that’s been devastated by injuries from the onset of the year and across the season, required help from his Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year shortstop in Drew Swift to perform another magical scoreless escape. With one out and runners on first and second, the redshirt junior infielder did just that, flipping a 6-4-3 double play to end the second.
Things were not so magical for Fall in the third. The lefthander allowed a five-pitch leadoff walk to Big 12 steal leader, redshirt junior outfielder Mike Antico, who thrifted second base. After an ensuing groundout, Fall walked redshirt junior first baseman, Zach Zubia on a full count. He then went on to walk another batter on five pitches before completely losing his command.
With the bases loaded, Fall hit the next batter he faced, scoring the first run of the game for UT. Fall then walked the next batter on four pitches, allowing another run. Fall allowed one more run to cross on a wild pitch before he was pulled. The training staff was called to the bump before Fall was pulled to examine his throwing hand, which was clearly bothering him towards the end of his stint.
“We were making a decision with our best pitcher up to this point in the season, and if you go in and get him (out) in the third, it makes it very challenging for the next situation given our situation right now,” ASU skipper Tracy Smith said. “In a normal year, clearly, you’ve got a guy that’s struggling, and you’d like to get him out. Given with what we are dealing with right now, you hope he settles down; maybe he had a bad inning and can carry on, but that didn’t happen.”
Smith declined to comment on Fall’s injury and said he would be evaluated at the hotel before Sunday.
With Fall pulled, pitching duties came to the desk of redshirt freshman righty Christian Bodlovich, who saw his first action of the Austin Regional in relief of the southpaw. The Longhorns kept their foot down on offense, attacking Bodlovich in the fourth. The ASU defense came to his aid to grab the second out at home on a double steal attempt but were powerless when Zubia stepped up to the plate again. On an 0-2 count, Zubia cranked one off of the batter’s eye in center field, giving Texas a five-run advantage.
The ASU bullpen faltered again in the sixth, as freshman righty Brock Peery took his turn against the UT bats. Peery acquired two quick outs but permitted a double, walk, and RBI single. Redshirt sophomore Blake Burzell took over, walked the first batter he faced, and allowed another RBI single. It was the second three-run frame for UT on the day.
The Longhorns would tack on another two runs in the eighth against Burzell, a two-RBI single up the middle by redshirt freshman catcher Silas Ardoin.
The Sun Devil bullpen sent another four pitchers out to the mound in relief of Fall, three of them made their first appearance this weekend on Saturday night, while redshirt junior Brady Corrigan filled in for the second night in a row.
In the batter’s box, Arizona State was completely shut down by superstar pitching prospect redshirt sophomore Ty Madden. The Big 12 Pitcher of the Year was nearly untouchable, hitting upwards of 99 mph on the radar gun while mixing in a disgusting array of off-speed pitches.
“He’s not the conference pitcher of the year for nothing,” Smith noted. “I thought we competed against him… We knew it was going to be limited opportunities off of him tonight.”
Arizona State could only muster three hits and one run through Madden’s six innings of work. The Cypress, Texas native struck out seven batters and walked four on 106 pitches.
The only ASU run that squeaked across against the star righty was freshman third baseman Hunter Haas, who singled to right-center field in the fifth. Haas reached third after a single and walk were issued, loading the bases with one out. Redshirt freshman Joe Lampe hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing Haas to score.
Arizona State would find two more runs in the seventh, as redshirt freshman first baseman Nate Baez blasted a no-doubter over the left field wall with Haas on first, jumping on freshman righty reliever Tanner Witt at an alarming rate. Witt would go on to retire the next nine batters he faced in order.
