ASU Baseball: Sun Devils fall short in 8-7 loss in Pac-12 tournament opener

Arizona State couldn’t overcome the big inning in one-run loss

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.— In the final Pac-12 baseball tournament in the conference’s history, Arizona State (32-24, 17-13 Pac-12) looked to capture the opener against a Stanford (20-32, 11-19 Pac-12) a team whom they swept just two weeks ago for the first time at Sunken Diamond since 2016.

Winners of 16 of their last 20 games, head coach Willie Bloomquist had the Devils trending in the upper echelon of college baseball teams across the country. Only four other Division I teams had 16 or more wins since April 15.

The offense that had been registering unworldly numbers came down to earth Tuesday morning when the Sun Devils struggled to find answers at the plate, losing 8-7.

The Cardinal continued to show their conference prowess and potentially eliminated Arizona State from another postseason at-large bid, just as they did a year ago.

“I’m disappointed just on the fact that that was a winnable game for us,” Bloomquist said. “We had our opportunities.”

This ASU team down the stretch displayed an ability to drown their opponents with long innings, often capped off by long balls. But the offense faltered and failed to come up big when called upon in big moments.

With runners in scoring position, ASU was just 2-10 at the plate. Even worse, they were 0-3 with the bases loaded, seemingly just one hit away from a completely different ballgame.

A slow start to the 10 a.m. first pitch time saw only two hits through the first three innings by both teams. But in the top of the fourth inning, Stanford suffocated the Sun Devil offense with eight runs of their own as they extended their long inning.

Going three stress-free innings was senior left-handed pitcher Connor Markl, who had the ball for Bloomquist’s team in the first game of the tournament. Coming off three days of rest, the second time through the lineup proved difficult for the lefty.

Sophomore catcher Malcolm Moore hit the first long ball of the day with a solo shot to right-center field on a high fastball. Two consecutive hits in the inning brought runners on second and third as Markl showed signs of fatigue with his command. He walked the next batter and induced a ground ball to the left side, but an errant throw flew past Campos at home plate and gave Stanford a 2-0 advantage.

“We opened the door for them,” Bloomquist said. “They took advantage of the mistakes. Other than that, they had one inning where they put together runs when we gave them extra outs.”

Markl then spiked a fastball past Campos and to the backstop to give Stanford their third run. Bloomquist had seen enough and called the bullpen. Markl, who pitched 3.1 innings and surrendered three runs, two earned, on six hits, was credited with the loss on the day.

Junior right-handed pitcher Jonah Giblin replaced Markl, and with the bases loaded and one out, Stanford’s sophomore first baseman Jimmy Nati split the gap in left-center field and cleared the bases to break the game open for Stanford, which gave them a 6-0 lead. But the bleeding would continue with a deep two-run home run from Moore, his second of the game and inning. Nati and Moore combined for six of the Cardinal’s eight runs on the day.

That inning proved to be just enough offense to win the game for Stanford.

The bottom of the fifth was the first opportunity for Arizona State to climb back into the game after facing a deficit. Two walks and a hit batsman in the inning gave the Sun Devils bases loaded with two outs but couldn’t produce more than one run after newly named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Brandon Compton struck out and kept the game at 8-2.

ASU struck out 11 times.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, senior first baseman Emmon Lance belted a deep drive to left field that made the score 8-3 Stanford.

Following the seventh inning stretch, a two-out error led to a Sun Devil walk and single, which loaded the sacks. But again, Stanford didn’t allow the hit to get the ASU momentum to swing.

Down four runs in the ninth, it seemed as though the Arizona State offense was capable of anything after weeks of explosive innings. But, after scrapping together three runs on only one hit in the comeback effort, the inning ended with a first and third opportunity with two outs for sophomore left fielder Kien Vu.

Vu, who dazzled his way into the national conversation as one of the hottest hitters in the nation, hit a slicing fly out to left field to end things at Scottsdale Stadium.

“We put up seven runs, we had some base runners,” Bloomquist said. “Only difference is we didn’t come up with a big hit.”

Arizona State will take on Oregon State at 10 a.m. MST on Thursday, May 23, from Scottsdale Stadium.