After yet another brief outing by another Arizona State starting pitcher on Tuesday night, head coach Willie Bloomquist had to turn to the bullpen early in hopes of turning the game around and leading his team to victory.
This time, the call to the bullpen brought out senior Hunter Omlid, a right-handed pitcher who transferred to ASU this offseason after spending time at Boise State, Central Arizona, and GCU.
“This is the best program I’ve ever been a part of, and the community around it is fantastic,” Omlid said. “Just unbelievable support and just being able to get the job done for them and for yourself to prove to yourself that you can do it, and just have the confidence to continue to do that and continue to get wins, and do my best every time I get out there.”
Omlid starred for the Sun Devils and helped carry them to a 5-4 win over Utah Valley.
The appearance on Tuesday night marked his ninth appearance of the year and by far his longest, as he pitched 5.1 innings in relief.
Omlid was forced into an unfortunate situation after another rocky start by junior right-hander Tyler Meyer.
In the first inning, Utah Valley’s leadoff hitter, sophomore second baseman Daniel Dickinson, doubled to left center, and senior catcher Burke Camper followed that up with a two-run home run, putting the Devils down 2-0 early.
Meyer was able to settle down and finish the inning and then pitched through the second and third innings with minimal trouble.
The top of the fourth inning is where things started to get out of hand, and after giving up a two-out, two-run double, Bloomquist called in Omlid to finish the inning. Omlid struck out Utah Valley senior first baseman Calyn Halvorson on 4 pitches.
What followed was an outstanding showing that turned the game around and injected life into the ASU dugout.
“That was an unbelievable performance by him and he pretty much saved us tonight on an otherwise pretty dismal performance,” Bloomquist said.
Omlid struck out the first six batters he faced, and seven of the first eight. Of his first seven strikeouts, six of them were swinging.
Throughout the night, he relied heavily on his fastball, which allowed him to work in his slider, catching batters off guard.
“Just locating my fastball in different parts of the strike zone just helps my slider,” Omlid said.
Over the final three innings, Omlid had four more strikeouts, bringing his total to eleven, a career-high for him. He only gave up two hits and walked one.
In the ninth inning, Omlid worked around a lead-off walk to strike out the final two Utah Valley batters and close out the game for the Devils
A few times throughout the game, other pitchers got moving in the ASU bullpen, including sophomore left-hander Ben Jacobs, but Bloomquist stuck with Omlid all the way.
“The way that ball is coming out of Hunter, they’re not seeing it off of him… I felt really good with how he was throwing the ball,” Bloomquist said.
Without Omlid’s performance, ASU’s season could have spiraled out of control as the team has struggled to find reliable pitching options.
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