Throughout the 2011 season, the ASU baseball team was under the NCAA’s thumb.
Hit with a potential postseason ban, the Sun Devils were only allowed to compete in their road to Omaha due to a lengthy appeals process, still ongoing.
At that point, ASU thought its battle for a championship only went through fellow student-athletes.
Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, the men in blue left their mark on Sunday.
In game three of the Austin Super Regional, ASU’s season came to an end at the hands of No. 7 Texas 4-2.
But the score isn’t what most viewers will remember.
With the Sun Devils up 2-1 in the fourth inning and Joey DeMichele at first, ASU junior first baseman Zach Wilson walked.
DeMichele was running on the play and the Texas catcher threw wild to second base.
The ball got away and DeMichele advanced to third.
After a few minutes of discussion, the umpires called Wilson out because he walked in front of the catcher on his way to first base while he was making the throw.
ASU coach Tim Esmay argued that the walk happened first so the batter should get first base no matter what.
So instead of having runners on first and third with one out, the Sun Devils were left with two outs and DeMichele on first.
ASU senior outfielder Matt Newman popped out to end the inning.
Still with a 2-1 lead in the fifth, another questionable call went against the Sun Devils.
With Longhorn runners at second and third and one out, the same umpire that called the interference play, ruled ASU junior pitcher Mitchell Lambson balked.
The call brought in the tying run.
Lambson retired the next two batters to end the inning.
In the sixth frame, Texas mounted a two-out rally helped along by two doubles to take a 4-2 lead.
The Sun Devil offense failed to mount a late rally and Texas punched its ticket to Omaha and the College World Series.
ASU made the CWS the two previous seasons.
If the NCAA denies the school’s appeal, ASU will be ineligible for the 2012 postseason.
The Sun Devils won the series opener Friday 3-1 behind a stellar performance from ASU sophomore Brady Rodgers.
The Texas native pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed just one run.
On Saturday, ASU fell to the Longhorns 5-1 to even up the series.
The Sun Devils were down 2-1 in the ninth but ASU freshman reliever Trevor Williams gave up a three-run homer to blow the game open.
Despite the calls that went against ASU, the Sun Devil offense failed to get much going with their bats.
ASU only had two hits in the final four innings Sunday.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
