Junior RJ Ybarra is forced out at home plate after an unsuccessful suicide squeeze attempt by sophomore Zach Cerbo against Oregon State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on March 13, 2015. (Jacob Stanek/ The State Press)Sometimes in baseball all it takes is one play to turn a pitcher's duel on its head.
And sometimes, that can be followed up by another play that enables a team to elude such imminent danger that it swings momentum and breathes life back into a team with its back against a wall as its opponent readies to deliver a knockout punch.
Instead of landing that knockout punch, No. 12 ASU (10-6, 0-1 Pac-12) fell flat in a 1-0 loss to Oregon State (15-3, 1-0 Pac-12) on Friday night.
In the seventh inning, junior designated hitter RJ Ybarra singled to left and senior right fielder Trever Allen caught Oregon State's infield off guard with a bunt single placed precisely down the third base line, setting up an intentional walk to sophomore catcher Brian Serven.
Sophomore Zach Cerbo pinch hit for freshman designated hitter Ryan Lillard, and with Ybarra on third, tapped a bunt on a 1-0 count right back at the Pac-12 Player of the Week, junior right-handed pitcher Andrew Moore, who flipped the ball back to the plate to get Ybarra and then sophomore catcher Logan Ice fired to first for an inning-ending, rally-killing double play.
Head coach Tracy Smith said that the play was a suicide squeeze, and his call was dictated by conditions that weren't conducive to scoring runs in bunches like the Sun Devils so often do.
Sophomore Brian Serven drops a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the fifth against Oregon State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on March 13, 2015. (Jacob Stanek/ The State Press)With the wind blowing in at about 11 miles per hour, the ball wasn't going to leave the yard.
"With that game, my mindset, and probably the mindset of the other dugout was, one run's probably going to win this game," Smith said. "A ball in the air is not going to score him. We were just trying to get a run, and he bunted it right back at him – the only spot it couldn't be."
Fast forward to the eighth inning, where Smith found himself with a serious case of déjà vu: runners on first and third with one out, this time with a relatively speedy runner in sophomore third baseman David Greer 90 feet away.
Smith called upon senior pinch hitter Joey Bielek to deliver a bunt, and again, the Oregon State infield read it and Moore – who threw 7.1 scoreless innings and allowed seven hits and a walk – fielded the ball and got the lead runner, ending the threat.
Having already failed once, was bunting again the right call?
"It's hard not to allow your mind to go there," Smith said. "Decisions are being made based on watching your personnel for 15 games and seeing how guys play. If (the bunt) is done properly, we walk in. It was my call, I'll take responsibility for it."
On the other side, sophomore Seth Martinez was exceptional in his second Friday night start, scattering four hits across eight scoreless innings and allowing three walks, but was pulled for senior right hander Darin Gillies (0-2) in the ninth and didn't factor in the decision.
Oregon State scored the only run of the game in the top of the ninth off of junior closer Ryan Burr after Gillies issued a walk to senior right fielder Michael Howard. Pinch runner Justin Jansen advanced to second on a throwing error by sophomore shortstop Colby Woodmansee on a grounder off the bat of sophomore left fielder Kyle Nobach, and scored on a single up the middle by sophomore third baseman Caleb Hamilton.
"It's a shame when you get a pitching performance like that and cannot take advantage of it," Smith said. "He was fantastic, he was commanding both sides of the plate, and was in control."
ASU will aim to even the series when it sends junior left-hander Ryan Kellogg (3-0, 3.90 ERA) to the mound opposite Oregon State freshman right-hander Drew Rasmussen (2-0, 1.88 ERA) on Saturday, March 14 at 6:00 p.m.
Reach the reporter at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
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