Out of all the sports at ASU that have seen heartbreak recently, baseball may be the sport most applicable to Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Lightning struck twice this weekend in the form of two, ninth-inning BYU (4-2) comebacks over Arizona State (3-3) at Phoenix Municipal Stadium Thursday and Friday night. Friday’s 6-5 loss was even uglier than the series opener. Here’s how it happened.
Scoring
-Early runs have been pretty easy to come by for ASU, they just haven’t been enough. Journeyman Conor Davis drove in Joe Lampe to break the 0-0 tie following an extra-base hit from Lampe in the first.
-In the third, Lampe scored on a wild pitch with freshman Jacob Tobias at the plate to extend the lead to 2-0.
-Tobias ripped a single up the middle in the same at-bat to make it 3-0.
-With a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning, Nate Baez tacked on an insurance run with an RBI single, scoring Sean McLain. McLain would add an RBI single in the ninth as well.
GREAT NATE!
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) February 26, 2022
Devils finally get an insurance run, making BYU pay for its third failed pickoff attempt the night.@BaezNate shoots one to right and McLain scores.
4-2, Devils in the 8th.
@Pac12Network Arizona
https://t.co/nsRNuLMt5B pic.twitter.com/K5Ba437C6f
Pitching
-Lefty Adam Tulloch started his second game on the mound, and was equally as impressive as opening night. Tulloch is an experienced starter coming via transfer from West Virginia. When you factor in this experience with the recent late-game bullpen woes, it is less surprising to learn that Willie Bloomquist kept him in the game for over 100 pitches in just his second start of the season. Tulloch set himself up for the win, but earned no decision. His final line was: 6 ⅔ IP, two hits, two (earned) runs, four walks, and eight strikeouts.
-Tulloch now sports a 2.5/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.64 ERA.
-Jared Glenn was nails in relief, allowing just one hit in an inning and one-third of work. He struck out four, and gave up none.
-Brock Peery (ahem, 21.60 ERA) came in for the save situation in the ninth. After recording two quick swinging strikeouts, Peery allowed back-to-back singles, and then plunked a guy up 0-2 in the count, loading the bases. With the bases loaded and a 1-2 count, Brock Watkins cleared the bases on a triple to right, giving the Cougars a 5-3 lead. It took Peery two more walks to get pulled. Graham Osman ended the inning, but not before walking in another run.
Premature https://t.co/M64dU7xCme
— House of Sparky (@HouseOfSparky) February 26, 2022
ASU outscored BYU 6-4 in the first eight innings of each of the last two games. They lost both. Series finale is Saturday afternoon at Muni. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.