ASU Baseball: Six-run lead squandered in series finale against Utah, Devils lose 11-6

An implosion with a sweep on the line

The Sun Devils were on the verge of a conference-opening sweep to start Pac-12 play when they held a 6-0 lead over Utah Sunday afternoon. The Utes (8-11, 2-4 Pac-12) eventually flipped the game on its head, and scored 11 unanswered runs to beat Arizona State (12-8, 2-1 Pac-12).

Outfielder Wyatt Crenshaw (1-for-4, 2 RBI) homered in the first inning for his fourth long-ball of the season. Luke Keaschall (2-for-4, RBI, R, 2B) and Jacob Tobias (1-for-5, RBI) added RBI-base hits for an early 3-0 Sun Devil lead. ASU recorded first-inning runs in 13 of its first 20 games this season. They are 9-4 in those games.

ASU extended that lead to 6-0 with a two-RBI single from catcher Ryan Campos (1-for-4, 2 RBI) and a sac-fly RBI off Crenshaw’s bat.

Junior catcher Trey Newman went 3-for-4 with a run-scored in his third start of the season.

Starter Jonah Giblin did not allow a run until the fifth inning when he surrendered two earned runs. Giblin finished the day with five innings-pitched and two runs-allowed off four hits and three walks. He struck out three Utes. He exited with the Sun Devils leading 6-2.

The chaos started in the seventh inning. Righty Dylan Gardner entered for the Sun Devils in-relief. In five previous appearances, Gardner allowed just one earned-run. He recorded an out, but loaded the bases in the process via a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.

Reliever Christian Bodlovich entered for just one batter. Bodlovich allowed a two-run single, though both runs were charged to Gardner. Next-up was the side-armed Brock Peery, who hit two batters in-a-row to knot the score at 6-6.

It was a true example of Murphy’s Law of Bullpen Pitching.

Closer Jesse Wainscott minimized the damage by successfully recording the last two outs of the inning without allowing any more runs to cross. Though Wainscott’s success would not last long.

He finished the inning in its entirety, but Wainscott suffered five earned runs in the eighth. The game-winning run scored on a wild-pitch before the Utes piled-on and extended their lead to 11-6.

In the final five innings of play, ASU hitters went 3-for-17 with two hit-by-pitches. In that same span, Utah scored 11 runs.

*****

It’s in-state week for ASU. The Sun Devils will host GCU for a mid-week matchup Tuesday, then Arizona makes the trip to Phoenix for a weekend series at Muni.