The Sun Devils' first road game of the new season made one thing clear: the baseball is more fun at home. Arizona State lost 8-4 against UCLA in the first of a two-game series against their former conference foe on Tuesday night.
Easton Barrett made his first career start on the mound for the Sun Devils but he only lasted two innings. His hitters gave him an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single from Jacob Tobias that drove in Brandon Compton, but things fell apart quickly in the second inning for Barrett.
With two men on base, Cashel Dugger knocked a sacrifice bunt that brought in a run, tying things up. Next was a single from Logan de Groot, driving in the next run to give UCLA the lead. Then came Dean West, who slammed a home run that brought de Groot home, upping the lead to 4-1 in a flash and ending Barrett's night early.
As has become tradition this season, the Arizona State bats responded immediately, though not thoroughly. Both Compton and Nu'u Contrades reached base before plating after a double from Tobias. That trimmed the Bruin lead to 4-3, and it looked like a game again.
In place of Barrett was Rohan Lettow, who started out strong with a shutout third inning but fell apart in the fourth, just as Barrett had. After giving up three hits and loading the bases, Lettow came inside on a 1-0 count to Arizona native Roch Cholowsky, who belted it deep for a grand slam.
Just like that, Arizona State went from being just a run away from a tie game to being down 8-3. The air seemingly was let out entirely at this moment, as the Sun Devils didn't seem to have any real fight the rest of the way.
Lettow was taken out following the fourth inning, replaced by Jonah Giblin, who pitched two shutout innings. Both Sean Fitzpatrick and Eli Buxton offered up a clean inning after that, finishing the night with four straight scoreless innings on the mound for Arizona State, but the damage had been done.
They did manage to score again, in the top of the sixth, when Tobias blasted a solo homer. Of course, it wasn't enough, and the Arizona State bats went completely cold from there on. They managed just two hits over the final three innings, generally looking lost and agitated.
This game was a bit of a setback for the Sun Devils, as their pitching staff had looked really good in their final two games against Oral Roberts. You have to feel for Barrett seeing his first career start go so awry, but head coach Willie Bloomquist didn't turn to the right reinforcements until much too late.
Given that pitching performance was such a priority this offseason, it's a bit troubling to see Arizona State earn their second loss on the year almost exclusively due to the pitching struggles. Still, things ended strong for the relievers, and the Sun Devils have a chance to split the series tomorrow.