Jordan Swagerty wasn't going to let the deflating moment linger very long.
One strike away from advancing to the College World Series on Sunday night, the ASU sophomore pitcher, in an otherwise near-flawless outing, hung a slider to Arkansas home run king Brett Eibner, who turned the closer’s mistake into a game-tying home run.
“It hung up in the air for about 10 seconds,” Swagerty mused about the pitch.
Razorback players, who had their hats turned backwards in an a superstitious effort to incite a late rally, stormed out of the dugout to greet their hero, and the momentum felt like it had shifted to a group of Southern boys, who, like the Sun Devils, just wouldn’t go away.
But a team doesn’t lose just eight times in 60 games without a few instances of prevailing with its back against the wall. Trusting an offense that has delivered in the clutch nearly every time its been asked this season, Swagerty said the stunning turn of events in the ninth didn’t downgrade his confidence as the game stretched into extra innings and continued to raise to blood pressure of fans on both sides.
“I was thinking when I was out there, ‘I’m glad nobody was on base when [Eibner] hit it,’ so I was still throwing,” said Swagerty, who worked 4 1/3 innings, his longest outing of the season. “My mentality was just: ‘Let’s win this game from here on out.’”
Swagerty seemed to get stronger as the innings dragged on — he allowed just two hits after the home run while striking out seven — and after sophomore Drew Maggi’s two-run homer to left-center gave ASU a lead in the 12th, the right-hander who was drafted in the second round of last week’s MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals took advantage of his second opportunity to close the game, retiring the Razorbacks in quick order in the bottom of the frame.
“You don’t get to many second chances in this game, and I thought Swags did outstanding after [the home run],” said ASU coach Tim Esmay, who guided his team to the College World Series in his first year as head coach. “He commanded, he got back in the zone and he made great pitches.”
Another rematch
No.1 ASU (52-8) learned Monday that its first opponent in its 22nd trip to the College World Series will be Clemson. That game will be played either Saturday or Sunday with an announcement of the full CWS bracket expected to be released Monday evening.
The Sun Devils defeated Clemson twice — 7-4 and 8-2 — in the Super Regionals last season on their way to a third-place finish in Omaha.
Clemson (43-23) led Alabama 8-1 heading into bottom of the ninth inning of a deciding Super Regional game on Monday, but Alabama scored five runs and brought the winning run to the plate in the final frame before the Tigers were finally able to close the game out and earn the 12th CWS appearance and first since 2006.
