Sun Devils avoid catastrophe in wild walk-off victory over Utah

PHOENIX – Arizona State baseball graduate designated hitter Matt Polk raised his fist in the air as he rounded first base before throwing his batting helmet on the ground in triumphant fashion, inviting a mob of his teammates to meet him on the field. 

As the group bounced up and down in jubilation, pushing toward center field as the lights of Phoenix Municipal Stadium danced in celebration and “Song 2” by Blur blared over the speaker system, the Sun Devils head coach, Willie Bloomquist, could finally let out a sigh of relief. 

For much of ASU’s Saturday night affair against Utah, it appeared as if the Sun Devils were going to walk away victorious, and they did, courtesy of Polk, who sent a walk-off single through the left side of the infield; but prior to the very end, the path to victory became rocky. 

A rollercoaster ninth inning saw the Sun Devils inexplicably blow a seven-run lead and enter the bottom half of the frame down by one before a leadoff home run from junior shortstop PJ Moutzouridis tied the game, and the march toward Polk’s winning hit was on.

In the end, No. 20 ASU (25-11, 8-6 Big 12) did indeed emerge with a 14-13 victory over Utah (17-14, 6-8) off the back of an offensive explosion powered by five home runs. Still, the sour taste of nearly blowing it all away remained in the mouth of at least one individual. 

“That was probably one of the most gut-wrenching things I’ve ever watched,” Bloomquist said. “I don’t really have a whole lot positive to say other than the fact that I’m really, really impressed with the fact that our offense was able to come in after that inning and put up two runs. A lesser team folds right there.” 

The Sun Devils seemingly had all the momentum in the world as junior right-handed closer Derek Schaefer took the mound entering the top of the ninth. 

The Cave Creek, Arizona, native had just watched his offense put up five insurance runs, giving ASU a 12-5 cushion, and had already flashed his lethality in the eighth, entering to strike out Utah junior right fielder Luke Jacobs on a 96 MPH fastball, ending the frame. 

But it all collapsed.

Schaefer surrendered a leadoff home run to junior left fielder Jake Long – the brother of ASU junior linebacker Owen Long – and the first crack in his armor appeared. He bounced back with a strikeout, but faltered after, allowing two walks and three singles, resulting in three runs crossing the plate. 

With the score 12-9, only one out recorded and two runners aboard, Bloomquist had no choice but to make a change, and he called upon graduate RHP Colby Guy to get the job done.

Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, Guy couldn’t stop the bleeding. Two runners who reached against Schaefer scored when Guy was on the mound, as he allowed a wild pitch, a single, and two more walks before Bloomquist pulled the plug.

“We can’t continue to fall behind and walk guys and give free passes and have to come into their sweet spot when we’re behind in the count,” Bloomquist said. “That’s a horrible recipe for success on the mound, and we’ve seen it way too often. It’s got to change.” 

After Guy came sophomore righty Eli Buxton to try and get the Sun Devils out of the nightmare. And he did, but not before allowing a single to left field to score two runners that reached base against Guy, giving Utah a 13-12 lead. 

In total, ASU’s arms in the ninth allowed eight runs on six hits and four walks, turning what looked to be a win that was winding down into a red-alert situation for the Sun Devils. 

Luckily, the bats were up for the challenge. 

Moutzouridis, who was moved from the two-hole in the lineup to the very bottom the day before, was the spark, sending a 2-2 slider on a line over the left field wall for his fourth home run of the season, tying the game in an instant and taking the wind out of Utah’s sails. 

“I can’t tell you how much of a sigh of relief that was,” sophomore center fielder Landon Hairston said. 

Hairston followed up Moutzouridis’ blast by laying off uncompetitive pitches for a walk, before he was joined on the bases by redshirt sophomore third baseman Austen Roellig and fifth-year right fielder Dean Toigo, who had reached in the same fashion. 

With the bases loaded and the infield drawn in, the stage was set for Polk, who, despite being hitless on the day entering his final at-bat, found a way to get the job done. 

“Everything went out the door,” Polk said. “It was just about getting the job done for the boys. (I) was really just trying to get a ball up and hit it hard into the middle of the field, I got around it a little bit, and got it into that six-hole.” 

Polk’s single drove in the only Sun Devil run of the night that didn’t score off the back of a home run. Moutzouridis, Hairston, sophomore catcher Coen Niclai, and redshirt junior second baseman Nu’u Contrades had all combined to bring in 13 runs on their combined five round-trippers. 

Niclai’s fifth shot of the season got the party started for the Sun Devils in the fourth, taking advantage of a bases-loaded situation as the Sun Devils trailed by four to hit his second game-tying grand slam of the week. 

Hairston broke the tie later in the inning, driving in three on the blast to deep right field. He followed it up in the eighth, hitting that one, a two-run jack, even further. 

Hairston’s two bombs give him 22 on the season, the most in all of Division I baseball, and position him just six away from breaking Mitch Jones’ single-season ASU home run record – which he set with 27 in 2000 – with 20 regular-season games left.

“I’ve never seen a kid locked in like this for this length of time,” Bloomquist said. “He’s having one of those incredible stretches.” 

Contrades tacked on the penultimate homer, a three-run 420-footer to straightaway center, for his ninth of the season, three batters after Hairston hit his second.  

And while all those pre-ninth runs weren’t enough to get the job done, the Sun Devils showed both offensive prowess and incredible fight to force a rubber match against the Utes on Sunday afternoon. 

Still, the Sun Devils are going to have to address their recurring pitching struggles of giving up free passes and working off their back foot, as those issues have led to two straight weekends with a game that’s seen them give up seven runs or more after the seventh inning.

“They’re very capable, and if they weren’t, I wouldn’t be so upset,” Bloomquist said. “They’ve proven they can do it … they just got to do it on a consistent basis. Can’t be great one day and then awful the next, and then great. … But the bottom line is, my goal is to get these guys to their maximum potential by the end of this year, and there are times when they’ve reached it, and there are times when they’re not.”

As for the guys in the clubhouse, they not only believe that a consistent Sun Devil team operating at full potential is possible, they believe that such a team is unstoppable. 

“I think our potential is through the roof,” Polk said. “Once everything gets clicking on all cylinders, I think there’s not a team in America that could beat us.”