The 2010 ASU baseball team didn’t lose until April 2 at Oregon.
That was 24 straight wins to open its season.
The 2011 edition of the team didn’t quite make it that far unblemished.
The No. 9 Sun Devils (6-1) took three games from Delaware over the weekend, but lost their first game of the season Friday night, 7-3.
Emotions were high when ASU took the field for the first time since freshman outfielder Cory Hahn underwent neck surgery Feb. 20 after being seriously injured on the diamond hours earlier.
Despite remaining hospitalized, Hahn’s presence was felt throughout Packard Stadium.
The team hung his jersey in the dugout, fans signed large get-well posters at the gate and coach Tim Esmay penciled Hahn in as his designated hitter.
When the freshman’s spot came up in the order, the public address announcer called Hahn’s name then immediately announced a pinch-hitter.
“It was just an opportunity to let our fans know that he’s alright and he’s still with us,” Esmay said. “Nobody likes to leave the field on a stretcher so I thought this was good to kind of get back to what he is all about.”
Unfortunately it just wasn’t the Sun Devils’ night.
Sophomore pitcher Jake Barrett (0-1), whose start was moved up a day because sophomore Brady Rodgers was scratched for precautionary measures, didn’t have his best stuff.
A six-run second inning for the Blue Hens (2-5), helped along by a costly error from sophomore shortstop Deven Marrero, had ASU trying to play catch-up all night.
“We got guys on, we just didn’t finish innings off,” Esmay said. “We left 11 runners on-base. It’s hard to win when you don’t bring those guys in.”
In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Sun Devils had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate with two outs, but Marrero grounded out to second base.
“There was no fear in that at-bat,” Esmay said. “In that situation, he did exactly what I was looking for. You come up to bat as the tying run at the plate, you have to try to do some damage early in the count. He stayed on the breaking ball, hit it up the middle and the kid made the play.”
Saturday was much kinder to ASU.
The Sun Devils swept a doubleheader from the Blue Hens winning 9-2 and 10-2, respectively.
In the first game, junior first baseman Zach Wilson went 5-for-5 with three doubles and four RBIs.
The nightcap belonged to junior outfielder Johnny Ruettiger. He finished the game 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a homer shy of the cycle.
Andy Workman, also a junior outfielder, went 3-for-5 as well in his first start since missing the entire 2010 season due to injury.
Junior transfer pitchers Kyle Ottoson (2-0) and Kramer Champlin (2-0) picked up the wins, working a combined 13 innings and giving up just two earned runs between them.
After a light snow hit Packard Stadium shortly before Sunday’s first pitch, the Sun Devils quickly warmed up the field with six runs in the first three innings capped off by a two-run Joey DeMichele long ball that landed on Rural Road.
The hit-fest continued early and often en route to a 13-4 ASU victory.
Sophomore pitcher Alex Blackford (1-0) was the benefactor of the offensive explosion.
He went five innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits in his first start of the season.
“Saturday was a great response to [Friday]; the guys weren’t happy and they wanted to do something about it,” Esmay said. “And then Sunday was even better. Sure, we like to win every game and we won whatever in a row last year, but we still didn’t win the national championship and at the end of the day that’s what you want to do.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
