Sophomore shortstop Colby Woodmansee gets a base hit against Oklahoma State, Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Woodmansee went on to hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to propel the Sun Devils to a 4-3 win against the Cowboys. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)The ASU bullpen and its flair for the dramatic is well-established. So tonight’s finish could almost be viewed by diehard fans as par for the course.
Lifted by sophomore shortstop Colby Woodmansee’s walkoff home run, No. 18 ASU (1-0) topped No. 12 Oklahoma State (0-1) Friday night 4-3 in 10 innings.
Leading off the bottom of the 10th, Woodmansee found himself down in a 1-2 count facing facing junior right-hander Koda Glover (0-1).
“I was looking for a pitch to hit, and he hung a slider,” Woodmansee said. “Next thing I know, I was getting the crap beat out of me.”
The matchup of starting pitchers, a pair of lefties in sophomore Brett Lilek and senior Tyler Nurdin lived up to its billing in the early going.
Nurdin was effective, but ASU’s lineup didn’t take long to attack the Cowboys' ace.
In the third inning, junior center fielder Johnny Sewald singled to right on a 2-2 count, and freshman left fielder Coltin Gerhart poked a single to left in his first collegiate at-bat. Right fielder Trever Allen reached on an error by freshman third baseman Jacob Chappell, loading the bases for junior designated hitter RJ Ybarra.
Ybarra worked a full count but struck out swinging to end the threat as Nurdin escaped unscathed.
Despite wasting arguably its best scoring chance of the night, ASU tagged Nurdin for two runs, courtesy of consecutive hits by Woodmansee, scoring senior Joey Bielek, who led off the fourth inning with a single of his own.
Junior third baseman Dalton DiNatale punched an RBI double to right, scoring Woodmansee to give ASU a 2-0 lead. Nurdin was pulled after 3.2 innings, allowing six hits and a walk on 96 pitches.
Lilek worked through his first four innings without much trouble, though in the top of the fifth he issued a leadoff walk to freshman left fielder Jon Littell on four pitches.
A wild pitch advanced Littell to second, and then to third on a groundout by sophomore first baseman Kevin Bradley. Lilek’s stress was compounded by another walk to freshman third baseman Jacob Chappel two batters later.
The free passes set up junior center fielder Corey Hassell’s RBI double to the opposite wall in right center, scoring Chapell and Littell to tie the game at 2.
Sophomore Eder Erives came on in relief of Lilek, who threw 4.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and racking up six strikeouts on 76 pitches.
Video by Stefan Modrich | Sports Reporter
Erives was pulled for fellow right-handed sophomore Hever Bueno after Erives issued a leadoff walk to Conor Costello that turned into the go-ahead run when Bradley knocked him in with a single.
“I thought we pitched to the situation of the game,” head coach Tracy Smith said. ‘We’ve got to find that consistent ground with our pitching staff. We’ve got to be who we are, and we’ll let that take care of itself.”
The Sun Devils escaped further damage when Allen threw out Bradley at home, who tried to score from second on a single by freshman outfielder Garrett McCain, ending the inning.
An RBI double from second baseman Jordan Aboites scored Sewald (3-4, three singles) to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth.
All this, of course, happened before junior closer Ryan Burr (1-0) took the mound.
After walking the leadoff man in the ninth, and surrendering a double that gave the Cowboys second and third with no outs, Burr came back to strike out the next three hitters he faced.
And then, thanks to an intelligent play by Allen to let a foul pop-fly drop when the throw was obscured by Oklahoma State’s bullpen, he did it again, and struck out two more hitters to set up Woodmansee’s magic moment.
“There was a big deep breath after that,” Burr said. “Obviously, he’s smart enough not to make that catch, because he’s too far down the line. I got another chance, and took care of business after that.”
Video by Stefan Modrich | Sports Reporter
From the dugout, Smith held the same sentiment.
“It was a very heady play,” Smith said. “We were saying ‘let it go’ but I don’t think he heard us. I think it was just his baseball instincts, a very intelligent play on his part.”
The win christened a new era at Phoenix Muni, and the change in atmosphere didn’t go unnoticed by players.
“It’s exciting to get people excited about baseball again at Arizona State,” Burr said. “Every chance I get to pitch it feels a little different. When you get out there on the mound and there’s people watching, you get that adrenaline rush, and that might have been a reason why I didn’t feel as controlled as I usually do.”
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or on Twitter @StefanJModrich.
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