McLain, bullpen lead ASU baseball back into the win column against UT Arlington

ASU baseball finished its trip to Texas with a 6-3 win over UT Arlington Tuesday afternoon. ASU lost two games to No. 7 Texas A&M and a game to No. 5 TCU over the weekend. However, the Sun Devils bounced back with a victory against the Mavericks in their final game in Arlington.

ASU baseball struggles on road trip

The Sun Devils didn’t play the cleanest baseball Tuesday or over the weekend. While Tuesday they were able to overcome those mistakes, you can’t expect the same against some of the top teams in the country.

Friday night the Aggies jumped on the Sun Devils early with three runs in the first inning. ASU couldn’t muster any offense all game and lost 4-0 despite the bullpen giving up just one hit over the final five innings. ASU recorded just two hits in the game, both by freshman infielder Ethan Mendoza, which led to its first shutout of the season.

TCU held a five-run lead after five innings Saturday night. ASU responded with a 6-run seventh inning to take its first lead of the game. However, the bullpen couldn’t hold that lead in the eighth inning. The Horn Frogs matched the Sun Devils with six runs which was enough to win 11-9. An error led to four of the six runs in the eighth inning being unearned runs.

Texas A&M was all over ASU pitching in the first three innings Sunday afternoon. The Aggies scored 10 runs and led 10-1 after three innings; never giving the Sun Devils a chance. ASU managed four more runs over the final six frames but could never fully pull itself out of the early hole.

Sun Devils bounce back

Tuesday was a different story. ASU baseball fell behind 2-0 early and the offense didn’t get going until the fifth inning. But the Sun Devils overcame the early deficit, slow offense, and three errors to escape Arlington with a much-needed win.

UT Arlington didn’t help themselves. The Mavericks also committed three errors, two of which came in a big seventh inning for the Sun Devils.

ASU got on the board in the fifth inning thanks to redshirt sophomore outfielder Nick McLain’s line-drive two-RBI double to center field.

The UT Arlington center fielder looked to have a beat on the ball, which held ASU’s runners on the bases. Once it got over his head, the runners had a late start, and redshirt senior outfielder Harris Williams was thrown out at third. ASU could have had McLain at second and Williams at third with one out but ended up with McLain at second and two outs. The next batter popped out to end the inning. However, ASU did tie the game with the two runs it cashed in.

In the seventh inning, McLain came up to bat with runners on the corners and one out. He doubled his RBI total with his second double of the day to give ASU its first lead of the day. An additional error and two wild pitches helped ASU add two more runs and grab a 6-2 lead heading into the seventh-inning stretch.

Mendoza’s RBI single brought junior infielder Jacob Tobias home from third for the Sun Devils’ sixth run. The freshman is now batting .371 with five RBIs on the season.

Freshman pitcher Cole Carlon closed the door in the ninth for ASU. The closer allowed a couple of hits and a run but managed to secure his second save of the season.

ASU’s bullpen covered seven innings Tuesday and allowed just a single run. The Sun Devils relievers kept UT Arlington hitless the third inning through the eighth inning.

ASU baseball has a difficult schedule

When you schedule difficult games in the non-conference schedule, you can learn a lot about your team before you hit the games in the conference. When those games are the equivalent of true road games, it makes it that much tougher.

The bullpen was a big question mark coming into the Texas trip, and although Saturday was a rough day giving up the game in the eighth inning, it held up very well otherwise. Friday and Sunday, the relievers didn’t allow a run after the third inning. Tuesday they kept the Mavericks hitless after the second inning, except for the irrelevant run in the ninth.

On the other hand, with the exception to the late-inning explosion Saturday night, the offense took a step backward. ASU was averaging almost 10 runs per game coming into the weekend. The Sun Devils averaged five runs per game during their stretch in Arlington. If you exclude Saturday’s nine runs, they averaged less than four runs per game.

The Sun Devils have shown signs of both extremes early on this season. If ASU wants to make a run to Omaha, it’s going to need to find a happy medium with both the bullpen and its explosive offense.

ASU opens up Pac-12 play Friday when it welcomes Oregon to Phoenix Municipal Stadium at 6:35 p.m.

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