The World Series may have concluded just before Halloween, but baseball continues to be played in the desert. Arizona State found itself in a battle of arms with the USA Premier 12 team in a 4-3 loss on Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Los Angeles Dodgers AAA outfielder Ryan Ward came off the bench with two outs in the ninth to crush a go-ahead solo home run to right field and give Team USA the win.
Junior left-hander Ben Jacobs drew the start for the Sun Devils against a mixed lineup of top MLB prospects and “cup of coffee” MLB players, with one notable exception being 44-year-old lefty Rich Hill with 20 MLB seasons under his belt. Jacobs, recently named the No. 55 collegiate prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft by Baseball America and the No. 2 left-handed pitching prospect in the draft by Prospects Live, was dominant in appearance. Over two innings, Jacobs allowed no runs and just one hit, striking out four.
Three of those four strikeout victims were MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects, including shortstop Carson Williams (4th), third baseman Matt Shaw (22nd), and outfielder Justin Crawford (53rd). The Sun Devils pitching staff combined for 14 total strikeouts Friday night against a talented lineup, inspiring some hope for a unit that struggled at times last season.
Both teams combined for just two hits through four innings of play. In the fifth, Team USA crossed the plate first. ASU freshman righty Jake Neely gave up a hard-hit double to free agent catcher Willie Maclver, who later scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by top 100 prospect second baseman Termarr Johnson to give Team USA the first lead of the night.
Johnson was once a Sun Devils commit before being selected fourth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of high school in the 2022 MLB Draft.
Arizona State responded quickly with a leadoff double by junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades in their half of the fifth. Contrades missed most of last season with a back injury but appears ready to take over at third base again in the spring. he scored on a wild pitch off Maclver’s glove and to the backstop to tie the game.
The Sun Devils weren’t satisfied yet. Junior center fielder Isaiah Jackson walked and stole second base to set the table for senior designated hitter Manny Garza. Garza, a transfer catcher from Rice, smacked an RBI double down the right-field line to score Jackson and take the lead. Sophomore catcher Brody Briggs, who earned the team’s Alvin Davis Leadership Award last season for his work as the bullpen catcher, added on with an RBI single to right to give ASU a 3-1 lead.
Redshirt senior righty Jonah Giblin entered in the seventh but found himself in hot water after making a throwing error trying to pick off a runner at second base. The error placed two runners in scoring position for Johnson, who hit another sacrifice fly to left field to score a run. Tampa Bay Rays AA outfielder Chandler Simpson followed with a hustle infield single to tie the game.
While the Sun Devils offense went quiet, UTSA transfer senior shortstop Matt King put on a defensive display. Replacing the defensive wizardry of Steven Ondina, who graduated after last season, King made two sliding catches in foul territory and a pair of running scoop-and-throw plays on the infield grass to nab a runner at first.
In the ninth, Ward stepped to the plate against another senior transfer, righty Will Koger from Louisville. Koger quickly picked up the first two outs of the inning but left a pitch belt-high for Ward, watched it sail over the right field wall, and deflated the ASU dugout.
The Sun Devils couldn’t mount a rally in the bottom of the inning and walked away with some good and some bad in the 4-3 loss. The bats weren’t quite rolling, but the arms held up for the most part.
Team USA will play three more exhibition contests in Arizona before traveling to Mexico for group play in the WSBC Premier12 on November 9. They will look to win and advance to Tokyo, Japan, in search of their first gold medal in Premier12 history.
Meanwhile, manager Willie Bloomquist’s Sun Devils will travel across Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon on Saturday in another exhibition game and round out fall ball with the annual Maroon and Gold World Series, beginning November 19.
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