PHOENIX - A Jekyll and Hyde situation unfurled in the first two games of the series between ASU and Utah. In the first game, the Sun Devils were shut out by starter Bryson Van Sickle, who shoved nine innings of three-hit ball while striking out eight and helped his team win the opener 10-0. In Game 2, the Sun Devils followed the recipe that found them the most success and produced eight runs on 13 hits to come away with the victory 8-3, snapping their four-game losing streak. Now, with the chance to win the series, the Sun Devils would need their absolute best topple to the Utes.
In the first inning, it felt as if that would come to fruition. Ryan Campos, who led off the game for the Sun Devils, took a 1-0 fastball down the line for a leadoff home run for his eighth of the season to give Arizona State an early 1-0 lead. Next batter Kien Vu followed suit, smashing his third of the year off the batter’s eye in center field. Back-to-back jacks are impressive, but back-to-back-to-back home runs are legendary. And the Sun Devils would do just that, as Jacob Tobias found his pitch and drove it to center for ASU’s third bomb of the inning. An impressive start for the Sun Devils no doubt.
The last time the Sun Devils hit three consecutive home runs was back in 2019 when Trevor Hauver, Spencer Torkelson, and Hunter Bishop accomplished the feat versus #3 Oregon State. At that point in their season, ASU was 27-5. Sunday’s circumstances were a little different, as the Sun Devils entered that game just 16-19 and near the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. The success of the Sun Devil hitters early, given the history of the accomplishment, suggested that better fortunes could be on the horizon.
Unfortunately, the Utes had other plans for how the ballgame would go. Trailing 4-1 in the third inning, TJ Clarkson would continue his weekend-long hot streak, smacking a two-run shot to center to bring Utah within one. Landon Frei would tie the game with an RBI double into the right-center gap, and now, all of a sudden, the Utes held the momentum with the score knotted at 4-4. If ASU wished to stay in the ballgame, their bats would need to do a lot more slugging.
The Sun Devils scraped across a run in the bottom of the third, but ultimately it would be their last run of the game as the Utah bullpen held them off for the remainder of the game. Through the final six innings, the Sun Devils collected just four more hits and only one for extra bases, a flip of the switch for ASU’s lineup that spelled “doom” for the rest of the ballgame. The Sun Devils did find barrels aplenty, however, as several outs over the course of the rest of the ballgame came at the warning track.
“We squared some balls up off them pretty well,” coach Willie Bloomquist said. “I wasn’t disappointed with the approach, but obviously disappointed in the results.”
The Utes, on the other hand, found more success at the plate. In the sixth inning, Clarkson would homer again, another two-run shot that gave his team their first lead of the ballgame. Matt Flaharty, a substitution for the starting second baseman Bruer Webster, ensured the Utes would maintain that lead by scorching a three-run shot of his own to right field. Flahary homered again in the eighth to put Utah up by six, and it would be just enough offense to ensure Utah’s victory over the Sun Devils 11-5.
It’s been a consistent diagnosis for this ball club: pitching woes offset the offensive success. Three of the four ASU pitchers in the game saw their ERA balloon above 6.00, and Ryan Schiefer saw his ERA skyrocket from 2.29 to 3.60 as he allowed five of Utah’s 11 runs. To hope that a remedy is somewhere on the horizon is a little far-fetched, as injuries and lesser experienced arms have indicated misfortune from the very beginning of the season. Now sitting at 16-20 and 7-11 in the Pac-12, there's little hope left that the Sun Devils can produce a successful season.
“It’s trying to control what we can control: effort, attitude, and mindset. And representing what we’re representing, we have to go out and put out our best effort everyday,” Bloomquist said. “To me, those are non-negotiables. We’re not always going to be pretty, and regardless you’re expected to carry yourself in the right way.”
At the end of the day, Bloomquist's squad is made up of a bunch of guys who are growing and learning to become not just good players but good people. Staying sharp physically and mentally is the overall goal of the club, and they continue to work on their game each and every day. Now with another road series coming up, the toughness of the team will be tested yet again.
ASU is set to face Cal State Fullerton and UCLA in the Golden State as they look to crawl back to the .500 mark and continue to make a push for the Pac-12 playoffs. Their first game is set for Tuesday afternoon.
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