Arizona State baseball falls to New Mexico: ‘That’s an embarrassing performance on our part.’

TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State baseball welcomed in the New Mexico Lobos for a weekday tilt on Tuesday. The Sun Devils were looking to bounce back after dropping their first Pac-12 series of the season. The two teams last played in 2022 when they played a home-and-home series, both home teams won those games.

In the game Tuesday night we would see a pair of first-time starters on both sides. For New Mexico, it was Neil Andrew, the community college transfer. For ASU they trotted bullpen pitcher Wyatt Halvorson. Halvorson last pitched against Oregon and did 1/3 of an inning and did not give up a hit.

Arizona State baseball hosts New Mexico

Early Innings

Halvorson came out throwing a lot of fastballs to start the game and it worked in his favor. In the first frame, Halvorson struck out two of the first three batters he saw, the first batter grounded out to first. A quick inning by Halvorson set up the ASU bats quickly.

Andrew stepped on the mound for New Mexico and struggled right from the beginning. The first three batters for ASU all reached base, with two walks, and a hit by pitch. The entire Lobos infield came into settle down Andrew but it did not seem to help at all,

Nick McClain, the very next batter, also drew a walk himself. ASU would get their first run soon after a ground out by Compton at first base.

Andrew finally got his first out of the game but it would soon spiral downhill even more. Two of the next three pitches were wild pitches that allowed ASU to score two more runs. Andrew would exit stage left with pitching just 2/3 of an inning and giving up 3 runs on no hits. By the time it was said and done ASU led 3-0 after the first inning without getting a single hit.

After a wild bottom of the first inning, the game settled down.

New Mexico brought in pitcher Dayne Pengelly and ASU continued with Wyatt Halvorson. Both pitchers pitched very well in the early innings keeping the game at 3-0.

Middle Innings

The middle innings got started quickly with the Lobos swinging hot bats in the fourth inning. After Lobo catcher Kyle Smith reached on a walk his teammate Reed Spenrath sent one into the seats for a two-run home run to cut the lead to one.

Throughout the inning, new ASU pitcher Cole Carlon continued to struggle. Carlon would allow yet another run on a fielder’s choice by Devon Dixon.

In the blink of an eye, the Lobos tied the game at three with a three spot in the fourth inning.

ASU could not get a response going throughout the middle innings carrying just three hits through five innings. One thing that Arizona State struggled with in the hitting department was the Lobo’s off-speed pitches. The Sun Devils did not have a single hit all night on an off-speed pitch.

Later in the middle frames, the sixth inning specifically, the Lobos would once again cash in on ASU pitching mistakes. Sean Fitzpatrick came out of the bullpen for ASU and struggled. Two of the first three hitters he faced got on base, one single and a hit by pitch.

The next hitter he would face, Devon Dixon would circle the bases for a three-run home run to give the Lobos a three-run lead.

A nice start from ASU was turning into a disastrous finish.

Late innings

Arizona State baseball attempted to get a rally going, but the Sun Devils sputtered. In the bottom of the eighth inning, ASU did manage to get a run off of a fielder’s choice courtesy of Kien Vu the pinch hitter.

In the ninth inning, the Sun Devils got one base runner on due to an error, but that was all the offense could produce with the game on the line.

New Mexico would hold on for the 6-4 victory in Tempe.

“That’s an embarrassing performance on our part,” Arizona State skipper Willie Bloomquist said after the game. “We’re representing very poorly this program. And to me, that falls on my shoulders.”

Arizona State baseball falls to 7-9 on the season and looks forward to their weekend series against Arizona this weekend in Tucson.

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