Junior Dalton DiNatale batting at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Feb. 22, 2015 against TCU. (Nikki Bradford/ The State Press)To this point, Sunday afternoon games had been a question mark for an ASU baseball team (4-3) attempting to get past early-season jitters.
Head coach Tracy Smith was taken aback by the notion that Sunday games prior to his tenure at Packard Stadium had gained a reputation as slugfests.
And while the Sun Devils tended to play sloppy during the final game of a weekend series, Smith said that attitude toward a Sunday game should be “just like a Friday.”
“As far as guys being into the game, I have absolutely zero question that they weren’t doing that,” Smith said. “We’ve got to get to a point where we have the at-bat that we need, we need the result.”
Senior pitcher Darin Gillies did his best to quell that narrative, tossing 5.1 innings and allowing two unearned runs on just four hits, but the defensive effort level and overall awareness didn’t quite reflect that in a 3-2 loss to No. 8 TCU plagued by errors and missed opportunities.
“We had a couple critical mistakes,” Smith said. “When you’re playing a team that’s not going to beat themselves, you can’t have that.”
An encouraging sign for the ASU offense came as junior R.J. Ybarra homered for the second time in as many days in the bottom of the second to give the Sun Devils an early lead after never leading or coming from behind to win in their last four games.
A throwing error on a grounder to sophomore shortstop Colby Woodmansee produced the tying run in the top of the third.
After the Oklahoma game, Smith was adamant in saying that his team couldn’t afford to repeat the baserunning mistakes that he said would cost them even more severely playing against an opponent of TCU’s caliber.
Yet, ASU made baserunning blunders, and then some. Junior outfielders Johnny Sewald and Trever Allen were picked off – Sewald at first in the third inning with one out, and Allen in the seventh with runners on first and third and no outs.
Smith, whose demeanor and attitude is normally very calm and composed, got heated following that play, and was ejected after arguing the strike call that ended the inning with sophomore catcher Brian Serven at the plate, and Sewald on deck.
“(Allen) didn’t get to the bag, it’s whether (the third baseman) was blocking the bag or not,” Smith said. “I take a lot of pride in not (overreacting). That’s too crucial of a time… We had our best hitter (coming to) the plate with the game on the line. I’m a competitor, and our kids are competitors. To sit back and see that on our own field? Not acceptable.”
And Ybarra, as excellent of a day he had at the plate, was caught in a rundown between second and third following his double in the fourth, another situation the Sun Devils ran themselves out of a rally with less than two outs.
In the ninth, sophomore reliever Jordan Aboites walked junior left fielder Evan Williams.
When junior closer Ryan Burr entered with one out, he eventually allowed a single to left that enabled Williams to score from third, as Allen (who had moved to left) saw his throw pop out of the glove of Serven.
All-American junior Riley Ferrell shut the door in the ninth for the Horned Frogs, retiring the Sun Devils in order and sealing a series win.
“I’ll probably learn more (about this team) on Tuesday when we come back to practice,” Smith said. “After a tough one like this, do we have the maturity to put that behind us?”
ASU opens the Phoenix Muni Classic on Thursday, Feb. 26 when it hosts Cal State Bakersfield at 6:30 p.m.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepressport on Twitter.
