ASU Baseball: Bullpen roped, bats silenced in 10-1 loss to No. 2 Oregon State

Over the course of 18 innings against No. 2 Oregon State (16-1, 2-0), the Sun Devils (9-9, 0-2) managed a single run on six combined hits. Unlike Thursday’s 2-0 pitchers duel, in Friday’s matchup, ASU gave up double-digit runs, falling 10-1.

The Sun Devils were retired in order in six of nine innings facing Oregon State’s sophomore Bryce Fehmel who tossed eight innings on one run lowering his ERA down to 2.00.

“Good pitching will zap the energy out of you in a second,” said manager Tracy Smith. “When someone is controlling both sides of the plate it’s a tough thing.”

The only ASU hits came in third and seventh innings. While the Sun Devils notched a run on a wild pitch in the seventh, their three hit seventh inning went to waste after a 6-6-3 double play and a fly out.

Thiugh the bats never heated up, starter Stephen Van Scoyoc kept the Sun Devils in the game — for the first four and ¹⁄₃ innings at least. He gave up two earned runs, leaving the game at 3-0, but threw three walks and hit a batter sending him out of the game early.

He posts a 2.42 ERA and 1.55 WHIP, but with walks and hit batsmen combined, Van Scoyoc has given up 25 free bases in 22 and ¹⁄₃ innings pitched.

“Up to this point in the season, clearly the command piece of it has been something that he needs to get better on,” Smith said. “He’s pretty good. Teams don’t hit him. His batting average against and ERA in spite of the walks are pretty good.”

After Van Scoyoc’s departure, the runs began pouring in.

In one and ¹⁄₃ innings each, Jake Godfrey handed the beavers four runs — three of them earned, then James Ryan gave up three runs. Finishing off the rest of the game, Alec Marsh allowed one run over two innings.

“We were at I counted 10 three-ball counts,” Smith said. “When you are behind in the count and don’t put people away and don’t execute, it makes it real difficult.”

This loss puts Arizona State at 1-7 this season against ranked opponents. After this game, Smith admitted the Beavers were a better team. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe they beat them on Saturday.

“If you were to map it out on paper, they probably should be kicking our rear end right now,” Smith said. “We can still play on the field and be better than them for three and ¹⁄₂ hours if we execute better.”

“Are they a better baseball team than us? Yeah. Right now. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t beat them.”

Smith did not name a starter for tomorrow’s matchup, but dabbled with the fact that Reagan Todd and Eder Erives are both good to go. Neither of them have pitched in this series.

The Sun Devils have one last chance to steal a win from the Beavers starting on Saturday at 12 p.m.