ASU Baseball: Devils Drop Opener 3-2
By Mike Slifer
San Luis Obispo, CA
The ASU Baseball team dropped their NCAA Regional opener to Pepperdine 3-2. With the loss, the Sun Devils must now win four games in the next three days to advance to the College World Series.
The odds are against them. With the regional format, pool play can really tax a pitching staff. ASU will play the loser of tonight’s Cal Poly/Sacramento State game at 1 pm tomorrow. The loser of that game goes home for good. The winner of that game gets a chance for redemption on Sunday.
This game started off roughly for ASU, in the top of the first, starting pitcher Bret Lilek was removed from the game in a freak undisclosed injury while covering first base. That play would have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, a run scored and Lilek was replaced by Seth Martinez.
To his credit, Seth Martinez was brilliant for ASU. Martinez was not expected to be used at all today. Instead, he was inserted in the first inning and had to warm-up quickly and get to work. He did give up two runs in the second inning. However, after that he was flawless. Martinez went five straight innings of three up, three down pitching. He was removed after the leadoff hitter got aboard in the 8th. He retired 16 hitters in a row.
Pepperdine scored all three of their runs in the first two innings. Lilek, oddly enough was charged with the loss after facing only four batters.
The ASU bats could not put together their patented “big inning” against Pepperdine. Starting pitcher Corey Miller for Pepperdine threw over 100 pitches and kept the ASU bats quiet. The Sun Devils had only four hits. One of those hits was a solo home run by Trever Allen in the third inning. The usually clutch RJ Ybarra continued his slump with two strikeouts and two pop-ups. One of those was with a runner in scoring position late in the game.
For ASU, it is now an “all hands on deck” approach to winning one game at a time. All concern for saving pitchers, saving at-bats, or playing careful for any reason is now thrown out the window. The long road back to Monday night will require a gritty team effort.