Heading into Tuesday night’s start against San Diego, junior pitcher Jimmy Patterson hadn’t toed the rubber for the No. 1 baseball team in three weeks.
The rust was evident.
Patterson struggled mightily in front of 3,095 at Packard Stadium, yielding five runs on five hits in just 1 2/3 innings.
The right-hander also walked three USD batters and departed after spotting the visitors a 5-0 lead.
But Patterson was provided a rare opportunity to atone, and he took advantage.
Staying in the game as a designated hitter, the transfer from Central Arizona College belted his first career home run, a two-run blast to left center in the fourth inning that sparked a comeback and a subsequent 11-6 victory for ASU (27-1, 5-1 Pac-10).
“After that rough inning I wanted to focus on what I was going to look for [at the plate],” Patterson said. “That’s what I did. I knew [USD pitcher A.J. Griffin] was going to throw me that curveball he had been throwing, so I made sure I sat on that.”
ASU coach Tim Esmay said he had no intention of taking Patterson out of the batting order after removing him from the mound.“He’s been swinging good in [batting practice], and he had some good [at-bats] last night, and I was committed to letting him hit because he is a good hitter,” Esmay said. “I thought that was one of the best [at-bats] of the game because it kind of allowed us to settle in and go, ‘OK, we’re not chasing five [runs] now. It’s 5-3, and it’s only the fourth inning. I think it gave some calmness to our team.”
After ASU tied the score with two runs in the fifth, sophomore Zach Wilson provided the go-ahead runs in the seventh when he drove a fastball into the gap in right-center to score sophomore Zack MacPhee and senior Kole Calhoun, who both reached with two-out singles.
Insurance was provided in the eighth when, after sophomore Drew Maggi reached on an error that scored sophomore Austin Barnes, MacPhee laced a triple — his 10th of the season — down the right-field line that scored Maggi and freshman Deven Marrero, who had singled earlier in the inning.
With the hit, one of four on the night by MacPhee, the sophomore became the first Sun Devil since Lemmie Miller in 1981 to record double-digit triples in a season.
“When I see [the ball] go in a gap I’m thinking three all the way,” MacPhee said of his penchant for three-baggers this season. The sophomore is only three shy of the school record for triples (13) set by Alan Bannister in 1971. “When I see it in the gap, I’m pretty fast, so I’ve been able to get to third.”
A sacrifice fly by Wilson that scored MacPhee completed a four-run eighth for the Sun Devils, who begin a three-game series at Washington State on Firday night.
Patterson’s early struggles hardly mirrored the efforts on ASU relief pitchers Tuesday night.
Following the starter’s quick departure, freshman Alex Blackford came in and kept USD off the scoreboard for 3 1/3 innings, allowing three hits.
“I really thought he gutted through his performance,” Esmay said of Blackford, who was also seeing live action for the first time in a couple weeks.
Blackford was followed on the mound by sophomore Mitchell Lambson, who pitched a perfect sixth and seventh inning with four strikeouts to earn the victory, his third of the season.
After freshman Jake Barrett got out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth with only one run surrendered, sophomore Jordan Swagerty kept USD off the board in the ninth.
Batting out of the leadoff spot, Maggi, on a tear since the beginning of Pac-10 play, matched MacPhee with four hits on the night.
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu
