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Baseball suffers first loss of season in walk-off defeat at No. 13 Oklahoma

The Sun Devils came out on the tough end of a pitcher's duel on Wednesday in Arlington as the team suffered its first loss of the season in a 4-3 walk-off defeat.

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Baseball suffers first loss of season in walk-off defeat at No. 13 OklahomaBaseball suffers first loss of season in walk-off defeat at No. 13 Oklahoma

Taylor Penn and the Sun Devil pitchers had an admirable effort against the Sooners

Box Score

NORMAN – Sun Devil Baseball came out on the wrong end of a pitcher's duel against No. 13 Oklahoma on Wednesday in Norman, Okla., dropping a 4-3 decision in walk-off fashion to split the midweek series against the Sooners. 

The Sun Devil pitchers were electric for eighth innings, holding Oklahoma to just two runs for the majority of the game and at one point retiring 15 consecutive batters against an offense that entered the week ranked in the Top-10 in just about every offensive category. 

Unfortunately, after putting up three runs of their own in the first inning, ASU was unable to find any offense themselves down the stretch and was largely stymied behind an 11-strikeout effort from the Sooner pitchers. ASU didn't help there cause in stranding six runners on the bases and also recording three outs on the base path. 

Wyatt Halvorson had one of the most electric  efforts of his Sun Devil career, entering the game in the third inning and retiring all 10 batters he faced. Sean Fitzpatrick recorded three strikeouts in his 1.1 innings of work. Taylor Penn was solid in the start while Derek Schaefer came out on the losing end of a game of inches in the ninth inning in an otherwise efficient. 

Austen Roellig had the lone multi-hit outing for the Sun Devils and also had an RBI on an otherwise quiet day for the Sun Devil offense. 

Turning point
The Sun Devils picked up where they left off yesterday by putting up a crooked number in the first inning and an early 3-0 advantage. Unfortunately those would be the only runs ASU would put on the board as the team struggled to get any momentum going offensively the remainder of the way, which also included three outs on the base path. Oklahoma struck out 11 ASU batters along the way.

Big moment
The Sun Devils had opportunities to add to its lead behind a monumental effort from its bullpen, which retired 15 consecutive batters over the middle portion of the game between Wyatt Halvorson, Sean Fitzpatrick and Derek Schaefer. ASU tried to mount a two-out rally in the ninth inning while clinging to a 3-2 lead with back-to-back singles from Dominic Smaldino and Brody Briggs but was unable to bring the insuruance runs across. 

Final straw
The Sooners made ASU pay for not taking advantage of another stellar pitching outing, recording a leadoff triple in the bottom of the ninth inning that just missed the outstretched glove of a diving Dominic Longo in left center. Back-to-back doubles down the third base line with the infield playing in trying to save runs would lead to the Oklahoma walkoff. 

Inning by inning
First inning
After doing its damage with extra base knock yesterday, the Sun Devils put up a crooked number with small ball to start Wednesday’s game. Hairston led off with a double on the first pitch of the game and ASU loaded the bases with a walk and error. Contrades flew out but it wasn’t enough to plate a run but Longo made up for it with an RBI walk to score a run. ASU would tack on two more on a Roellig infield single followed by Polk legging it out to avoid an inning ending double play to give ASU a early 3-0 lead. 

Making just just second career start, Taylor Penn worked a clean 1-2-3 opening frame, highlighted by an incredibly diving grab in center by Longo to save potentially an inside-the-parker by the OU leadoff hitter.

Second inning
Moutzouridis drew a two-out walk after two quick strikeouts but was picked off taking second to end the threat. Penn gave up two quick flyouts before giving up a first pitch solo shot that got the Sooners on the board but settled right back in to field a soft grounder and get out of the frame without any further damage.

Third inning
OU went to a new pitcher and he quickly set down the heart of the ASU lineup in order. OU scratched across a run in third and had runners on first and second with just one out. ASU went to Halvorson out of the pen and he issued a double play ball to the OU three-hole hitter on a nice play by Roellig at third to touch  third before throwing across the diamond for the second out to keep ASU on top.

Fourth inning
ASU got a two-out infield single from Niclai but was unable to do more with it than that. Halvorson issued three-straight groundouts to keep the Sun Devils in front, 3-2. 

Fifth inning
Moutzouridis notched a one-out single but again was thrown out trying to take second and ASU only brought the minimum to the order. Halvorston responded in kind with a 1-2-3 inning of his own.

Sixth inning
Roellig laced a two-out double down the right field line, but was picked off at second for another inning with just the minimum coming to the plate.

Seventh inning
The pitcher’s duel continued with ASU again going down in order. Sean Fitzpatrick entered the game in relief and struck out the OU side in order.

Eighth inning
Moutzouridis walked with one out, but yet again, ASU could do nothing with runners on the basepath. Fitzpatrick got the first out of the frame before handing the ball off to Schaefer, who got a quick flyout before issuing a four-pitch walk to a pinch hitter, followed by a stolen base from the pinch runner to put the tying run in scoring position. Unfazed, Schaefer got the big strikeout to send things to the ninth.

Ninth inning
The Sun Devils got another two-out baserunner with back-to-back singles from Smaldino (late-game defensive substitute) and Briggs (pinch-hitting) but couldn’t capitalize. Schaefer was faced with the heart of the Sooner order and couldn’t get an out with three-straight extra base hits leading to the Oklahoma walk-off. 

Notables

  • ASU has scored multiple runs in 19 of its 30 half-innings with runs this season. ASU has 13 innings with at least three runs scored this season, 10 with at least four and 8 with at least five.
  • Nu’u Contrades had his eight-game hitting streak to start the season ended with an 0-for-4 outing.
  • ASU’s undefeated start to the season came to an end, after going 8-0 for the first time since a 21-0 start to the 2019 season.
  • ASU held OU scoreless in the first inning for the second-straight game with Penn retiring the side in order.. The Sooners had entered this week having scored in six-straight first innings, averaging 3.3 runs per first in that stretch. 
  • Sean Fitzpatrick came in in the seventh and struck out the first three batters he saw, bumping his season start to eight-straight outs recorded via strikeout prior to a first out groundout to leadoff the eighth. 
  • Entering the week, Arizona State had done its part to not let the bottom of opponent orders hurt them, holding teams to a .164 average from their 7-9 hitters - 30th-lowest in D1. Oklahoma went 0-for-6 out of those spots in the lineup last night and 1-for-8 tonight.
  • Oklahoma entered the midweek series averaging 14.1 runs per game - good for fourth in the nation. The Sun Devils held the Sooners to just seven TOTAL runs over the two games this week.

Up next
Sun Devil Baseball continues its gauntlet of a week in which it plays five games against four ranked SEC teams this week as the suad treks south from its two-game stint in Norman down to Arlington, Texas to take part in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series beginning Friday, Feb. 27. Arizona State will face No. 4 Mississippi State, No. 20 Tennessee and No. 23 Texas A&M in the tournament. The weekend series will get underway at 10 a.m./10 a.m./5:30 p.m. AZT, respectively, and 11 a.m./11 a.m./6:30 p.m. in local central time.

The Amegy Bank College Baseball series will be streamed in its entirety via FloCollege Sports, a subscription-based web service. Fans can check out subscription plans at https://www.flocollege.com/signup. Friday and Saturday’s games will be broadcast over the Valley airwaves on KAZG 1440 AM on Friday and Saturday and on KDUS 1060 AM on Sunday. with Alex Coil on the call alongside analyst Max Rossiter.

Sun Devil Baseball on social
Get an inside look at the Sun Devil Baseball program by following their Instagram (@asu_baseball), X (@ASU_Baseball), and Facebook (facebook.com/SunDevilBaseball) accounts. For the latest information on Sun Devil Baseball, visit sundevils.com/sports/mens/baseball.

Season Home Run Tracker (17)

Season/Career details with video from all ASU's home runs this season

Season, 4 | Career, 19

Feb. 24 at No. 13 Oklahoma (2nd inning; 408 FT to down left line)

Feb. 20 vs. St John's (5th inning; 400 FT to left center)

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (4th inning; 420 FT to center)

Feb. 14 vs. St. John's (3rd inning; 366 FT to left center)

Season, 3 | Career, 7

Feb. 24 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma (3rd inning; 386 FT to right center)

Feb. 24 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma (2nd inning; 432 FT to right center)

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (5th inning; 413 FT to right field)

Season, 3 | Career, 21 (D1 only)

Feb. 20 vs. St. John's (1st inning; 429 FT to right field)

Feb. 15 vs. Omaha (6th inning; 380 FT to right field)

Feb. 14 vs. Omaha (6th inning; 362 FT to right field)

Season, 2 | Career, 16

Feb. 20 vs. St. John's (4th inning; 397 FT to right field)

Feb. 14 vs. Omaha (5th inning; 423 FT to right center)

Season 2 | Career, 13 (D1 Only)

Feb. 24 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma (2nd inning; 416 FT to center field)

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (2nd inning; 416 FT to center field)

Season 1 | Career, 2

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (6th inning; 414 FT to center field)

Season 1 | Career, 6

Feb. 15 vs. Omaha (3rd inning; 354 FT to right field)

Season 1 | Career, 11

Feb. 14 vs. Omaha (2nd inning; 395 FT to right field)