Arizona State (4-1) stole 10 bases in the contest to match the school record for team stolen bases as a team while Kien Vu came one stolen base shy of the single game school record with his three on the night. The Sun Devils struggled to plate those baserunners though, stranding 11 runners while batting just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Isaiah Jackson recorded two hits and two RBIs for the Sun Devil offense while Landon Hairston, in the first action of his collegiate career, also notched two hits and had a third ball hit to the warning track.
Ben Jacobs was electric in the start on the mound, matching his career high with 11 strikeouts in just 5.0 innings of work. The long ball would prove to be the team’s undoing in the early parts of the game, however, with the first five runs of the game for ORU (4-0) all coming by way of home runs.
The Sun Devils will look to even the series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. AZT.
TURNING POINT
The Sun Devils had plenty of chances to put the Golden Eagles away, but stranded baserunners would prove to be the difference in the contest. ASU stranded 11 baserunners in the contest – seven of which coming in innings 6-9 when the game was still in the balance. ASU was just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position while Oral Roberts was 3-for-6 – including its two two-out singles in the ninth inning to take the lead in the contest.
BIG MOMENT
Will Koger struggled to find the strike zone in the ninth inning, walking the bases loaded with two outs. Oral Roberts did its part to not get too big in the moment, simply punching a pair of RBI singles right back down the middle to score three runs and turn a 7-5 disadvantage into a 8-5 advantage.
FINAL STRAW
The Sun Devils battled to the last out with Landon Hairston getting his second hit of the night with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Jax Ryan drawing a full count walk to put the tying and winning runs on the base path. Kyle Walker just missed on the first pitch he saw, giving one a ride to deep left field that was caught in foul territory to seal the loss for the Sun Devils.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
Oral Roberts got to starting pitcher Ben Jacobs instantly, connecting on a loud swing of the bat resulting in a leadoff homer to open up the scoring. Jacobs responded tremendously, sending down the next three batters in order while picking up a pair of strikeouts to end the frame.
Despite lots of solid contact, the Sun Devils went down in order and trailed 1-0 to end the first.
Second Inning
Jacobs continued his momentum, striking out the side in just ten pitches. The quick inning brought him to five punchouts through two innings in an almost immaculate inning.
The Sun Devils were able to get back in the game with catcher Josiah Cromwick launching a home run to deep left field to knot things up at 1-1. The solo shot was the first earned run allowed by Oral Roberts this season as the inning came to a close shortly after.
Third Inning
Jacobs remained sharp early as he added another two strikeouts, increasing his total to seven through three. The strikeouts were followed up by a quick groundout to keep things moving with the score deadlocked at 1-1.
Kyle Walker opened the inning reaching on a fielder’s choice. He then stole second and third before coming around to score on Kien Vu’s fielder’s choice to make it 2-1. An ORU defensive miscue on a double steal wound up scoring Vu to give them a 3-1 edge. Jacob Tobias kept the line moving and followed suit with an RBI double, extending the lead now to 4-1. The Sun Devils enjoyed a three-spot to put them up by that margain as the third inning closed.
Fourth Inning
Jacobs kept ORU’s bats quiet once again, posting his second straight inning striking out the side in a mere 12 pitches to hold the line at 4-1.
Despite a leadoff single from Isaiah Jackson, the Sun Devils were unable to add on to their lead to close the fourth.
Fifth Inning
Oral Roberts collected their second run and home run of the evening after a leadoff solo shot to pull back, 4-2. After a pair of groundouts, ORU connected on another big swing for their third solo home run of the night to make it 4-3. Jacobs then found his edge as he racked up yet another strikeout to end the threat.
A pair of walks and a hit batter loaded the bases up for ASU and ended the night for ORU starting pitcher Weston Rouse. Isaiah Jackson came through with a two-run single right up the middle to extend his team’s lead to 6-3. Freshman Landon Hairston was called upon to pinch hit and roped the first pitch he saw of his NCAA career into left field for an RBI single. The base knock increased the lead to 7-3 as the inning ended shortly after.
Sixth Inning
Jacobs night came to an end after five innings of work and tying his career-high of 11 strikeouts. Relief pitcher Jonah Giblin took over and struggled to begin with. The Golden Eagles closed the gap on the Sun Devils lead with a two run homer, pushing the score to 7-5. Giblin responded by retiring the next three batters to stop the ORU momentum and close the top half of the sixth.
In spite of singles from Kien Vu and Brandon Compton, the Sun Devils couldn’t respond, bringing the sixth inning to a close with a 7-5 lead for ASU.
Seventh Inning
Giblin returned for his second inning of the night to start things off. He compiled two quick outs before allowing a base knock that would end up being his last batter. Southpaw Sean Fitzpatrick was the next man out of the pen for ASU and retired the lone batter he faced to head into the stretch.
The Sun Devil offense saw Isaiah Jackson reach via error and then a warning track shot off the bat of Landon Hairston, but didn’t have anything to show for it as things remained 7-5.
Eighth Inning
Relief pitcher Lucas Kelly took over for Fitzpatrick and dealt a 1-2-3 inning with some help from his defense to keep the score at 7-5.
With chances to extend their lead, ASU was unable to do so. They wound up stranding runners at second and third to head into the ninth inning grasping a two-run lead.
Ninth Inning
The Sun Devils handed the ball to closer Will Koger to handle the ninth. After a couple of outs and some command issues, the Golden Eagles loaded up the bases with two outs and evened things up with a two-run single as they were down to their last life. ORU then took the 8-7 lead after another RBI single. The inning concluded with a flyout and ORU ahead by one run heading into the bottom of the ninth.
The Sun Devils threatened, but ultimately were not able to find the tying run and dropped their first game of the season with a final score of 8-7.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening Statement
“Disappointing at the end of the day. We gave too many free passes late. Fitzy (Sean Fitzpatrick) got us out. Lucas Kelly did ok. Other than that we gave up some solid contact there and dug ourselves a little bit of a hole with the free bases. We did a lot of stuff on the bases, we got walked seven times and had a significant amount of stolen bases. We just couldn’t finish the job offensively so I was disappointed in that part of it too.”
On how the team can approach tomorrow
“They got punched in the mouth. See how they respond. Credit to Oral Roberts, they scrapped. They got down and they kept coming back at us and we couldn’t finish the job. One way or another we have to learn how to finish off those games and if we want to be the team we want to be, we have to finish the job. When we have a team down, keep piling on, but our offense went to sleep after the fifth and decided that was enough. We had plenty of opportunities to cash in more runs and we just didn’t. But on the other hand, we have to finish the job on the mound too.”
On Ben Jacobs performance
“When he’s confident and trusts in his stuff, he gets into a good rhythm, does a great job. I think he punched out 11 there today through five innings. Only negative is that the pitch count gets high quick, but he threw the ball well other than that leadoff home run. He gave up I think 3 solos. I don’t know if they got a regular base hit other than a homer, maybe one. Other than that, threw the ball outstanding.”
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremey Hawkes
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