After its first loss of the season on Sunday, Arizona State bounced back in a big way, taking down No. 24 Kansas State, 9-6, on Tuesday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Freshman right-hander Adam Behrens, who made his debut on Saturday in relief against Santa Clara, got the nod from head coach Willie Bloomquist to make his first career start on Tuesday.
Behrens navigated a treacherous top of the Wildcats lineup in the first inning before two mistakes put the Sun Devils in an early hole.
Kansas State’s senior third baseman Danniel Rivera hit a two-run home run over the Wildcats’ bullpen in left field in the second inning. Junior shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, MLB’s No. 28 draft prospect, followed in the third inning with a towering big fly down the left field line to open up a 3-0 lead after three innings. Behrens left two fastballs up in the zone that th Kansas State sluggers took advantage of.
Despite the early blunders, Behrens finished four innings against the Wildcats with three earned runs and four strikeouts and added a smooth pickoff move to nab a runner at first base in the third inning.
Bloomquist was impressed with the freshman’s effort and didn’t deny hope that Behrens could be a permanent rotation member going forward.
“Great job, great start from him,” Bloomquist said. “We’re going to keep lengthening him out. I think that’s a phenomenal role for him. I could see him knocking on the door being somewhere in the rotation at some point in time. I just liked how he goes with that as his work, and that’s great.”
Behind Behrens, senior shortstop Steven Ondina made a pair of impressive snags in the first two innings, one of which turned into a double play in the second inning.
“I would say it’s what I’ve been known for,” Ondina said. “I always try to take pride in it because nobody does and it’s something that I’ve loved since I was little. Playing shortstop and making all those great plays for a team because, in the end, it does matter. I take pride in working on it every day.”
Ondina’s pitching staff can appreciate his dedication to being a reliable source of defense in the middle of the infield.
“I’m like speechless,” junior pitcher Matt Cornelius said. “I mean, you throw a pitch, look back, and he’s in a different spot from where he was. It’s ridiculous. I love the guy and he’s an amazing baseball player.”
Despite trailing early, the Sun Devils made up ground very quickly in the third inning. A leadoff walk from redshirt senior catcher Trey Newman and a base hit by Ondina set the table for an RBI double by sophomore third baseman Nu’u Contrades that squeezed the right field line and rolled into the corner. Junior catcher Ryan Campos and junior first baseman Jacob Tobias both followed with an RBI each to even the score.
After a shutdown inning from Behrens in the fourth, which ended his night, the Arizona State bats picked up where they left off. Sophomore center fielder Isaiah Jackson led off the inning with a booming solo shot that bounced off the batter’s eye in center. The home run was Jackson’s third in just four games this season. Jackson attributed his early season success to some changes the coaching staff made with him during the offseason.
“I kind of went to the coaches and I was like ‘Look, I don’t know what’s going on. This isn’t me.’” Jackson said. “I need to change something. I sat down with [assistant coach Mike Goff] and we talked for about an hour, just talking hitting. He’s like ‘Alright, tomorrow we’re just going to get in the cage and we’re just going to start from scratch.’ I was able to do that and I was really focusing on this balance to my whole swing, which I’ve mentioned before, and it’s really just that.”
Bloomquist echoed Jackson’s remarks postgame, noting several elements of Jackson’s game that have improved since last season.
“Consistency, balance to the swing, and more aggressive,” Bloomquist said. “He’s not letting as many cookies go down the plate and look at the umpire like he’s got three heads. It’s like, ‘No, those are strikes, dude. You’ve got to swing the bat.’ Every umpire is not wrong. At some point, you have to make the adjustment, and he has.”
In the middle innings, Bloomquist relied on several young arms in the bullpen in high-leverage situations. Freshman left-hander Bradyn Barnes was first out of the pen but only lasted two outs into the fifth after surrendering three walks and one run, which tied the game again. However, junior right-hander Ryan Schiefer, in his Sun Devil debut, entered the game with the bases loaded and struck out Kansas State sophomore designated hitter Jayden Lobliner to end the inning.
“I feel like at the junior college level, you have an opportunity to develop yourself a little more,” Schiefer said. “Whereas here, you’ve got to be ready to go.”
In the seventh, Bloomquist’s bullpen adventure hit a bump in the road. After a leadoff walk from Schiefer, Arizona State’s skipper turned to sophomore pitcher Sean Fitzpatrick, who lasted just one batter after allowing another walk.
Bloomquist strolled to the mound for a third time in the inning and gave the ball to freshman Wyatt Halvorson. Halvorson quickly got a double play ball, but the Wildcats rallied, drawing two more walks from Halvorson and an RBI single from redshirt junior Brady Day.
Finally, Cornelius, another junior college transfer, entered the game and recorded a strikeout to end the Wildcats’ half of the frame. Arizona State’s pitching staff walked 12 batters Tuesday night, surpassing the nine total free passes from the opening weekend series against Santa Clara.
“We knew there was going to be some growing pains,” Bloomquist said. “But on the other hand, they’ve gotta grow up a little bit. It’s time for them to understand that we can’t go out there and walk four guys in an inning. That’s just unacceptable, and I’m not going down that road again.”
Kansas State did all of their damage to the Sun Devils pitchers with their backs against the wall. All six of the Wildcats’ runs on the night came with two outs, a trend that carried over from opening weekend. At the MLB Desert Invitational, Kansas State scored 12 of their 16 total runs in three games with two outs.
In Arizona State’s half of the seventh, Jackson played hero again. After Campos reached on a hit-by-pitch and senior designated hitter Kevin Karstetter singled to right, Jackson bounced a base hit into right field to score two more runs, bringing his RBI total to 13 on the young season, and gave the Sun Devils the lead for good.
Cornelius pitched a clean eighth inning, and two more runs came across for Arizona State in their half of the inning, courtesy of Campos and Karstetter, to push the lead to four.
Freshman pitcher Cole Carlon, who secured his first career save on opening day, came on to pitch the ninth and struggled, walking three more batters and allowing one run, before senior pitcher Matt Tieding slammed the door shut with the bases loaded by striking out Kansas State’s sophomore pinch-hitter Carson Queck to put the final touches on an Arizona State victory.
“That’s why you play baseball, right?” Tieding said. “It’s moments like that. It wasn’t about calming the pressure for me at all. It was about embracing it, just having fun in it. Taking that whole moment in was more of the mentality rather than just trying to calm down.”
Bloomquist had plenty of confidence in giving the ball to Tieding with the team in trouble late in the game.
“How about Matty Tieding,” Bloomquist joked. “Coming with a 2-0 count, go-ahead run [at the plate]. I just told him, ‘You’re the one guy that can handle this situation, so go get him,’ and he didn’t disappoint.”
Behind a few clutch pitching performances, the Sun Devils continued to swing hot bats, albeit with only two extra-base hits in the win. Bloomquist noted the importance of being able to win in multiple ways.
“Good offenses are dynamic and have more ways to beat you than one, and that’s what we’re striving to do,” Bloomquist said. “Obviously, it’s nice and fun when you just sit back and hit the long ball, but there’s going to be times where you have to manufacture and execute and do things to score runs, and we were able to do that a little bit tonight.”
The Sun Devils improved to 3-1 and secured their first Top 25 win of the season. Next, they will open a four-game set with the Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
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