No. 6 ASU baseball looked to be lifeless once again in the late innings, but pinch-hitter Chris Beall’s two-run walk-off single gave the Sun Devils a 7-6 win over Stanford and their fourth walk-off victory of the season.
With ASU (16-7, 5-2 Pac-12) trailing 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth, sophomore shortstop Colby Woodmansee hit a single to left to lead off the inning. Then, a walk drawn by junior RJ Ybarra and a bunt single from redshirt senior outfielder Trever Allen loaded the bases with two outs.
A game-tying hit appeared to be inevitable at this point, but not before two outstanding defensive plays by Stanford (10-12, 0-4 Pac-12).
First, Cardinal third baseman Mikey Diekroeger’s jumping catch robbed Brian Serven of a bases-loaded hit. Then, second baseman Tommy Edman made a diving stop to record the second out—an ASU run scored on the fielder’s choice, though.
With two outs and ASU trailing by one, ASU head coach Tracy Smith opted for Beall to pinch hit.
“Part of it was matchup, but (Beall) is a veteran guy that has done it,” Smith said. “I was happy for him because he’s the guy all week that’s been staying extra after practice, hitting and hitting and putting himself in that position. It’s just one of those examples in sports that mimics life that if you keep being positive, then good results will follow.
The Sun Devils started strong once again, but fell into the trap that Smith often warns about—pitching to the situation. As a result, Friday’s game felt eerily similar to others this season.
The lead appeared safe, but five unanswered Stanford runs between the fifth and sixth innings turned the tides.
ASU starting pitcher Seth Martinez started in another Friday game, but was pulled in the middle of the fifth inning. Smith said he did not think Martinez was throwing with conviction.
“You go out and put a two-spot on the board, then we go back out and have a five-pitch walk…he was living on the edge in the second, third and fourth and I just didn’t like what I was seeing out of him,” he said. “You’re going to have your off stuff sometimes, but (at least) be around the (strike) zone and compete in the (strike) zone.”
He also noted that his team is mature enough to handle adversity, so he didn’t say a lot after it gave up the early lead.
“I always try to gauge if we’re pouting or moping or something like that, but I still thought are guys were into the game and very mature, so I just back off at that point and just let them play,” Smith said.
Sophomore third baseman David Greer said the Sun Devils need to stay even keel emotionally because that’s when they play their best ball.
“It goes back to keeping a steady emotion level,” he said. “We knew we were up 4-1, they put a string of hits together, and somehow the score turned to 6-4. We need to keep our at-bats the same and if we stay at the same emotion level, we can keep playing the game the way we know how.”
Smith said he still feels the team isn’t playing its best baseball, which is something he has been saying since the beginning of the year.
“At the end of the day, you want to play well,” he said. “Tonight we coughed up a lead in the middle innings, but somehow, someway, we find a way to win so I’m not going to sit here and complain about winning—I’m happy we keep plugging away and hopefully it will come together and we’ll hit stride, but we won a tough conference game when we needed to.”
Friday’s game followed a common theme for the Sun Devils—strike early, give up a lead in the middle innings and pull out a win in the end.
ASU will go for its third series win in as many tries in Pac-12 play on Saturday and Sunday against Stanford.
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter.
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