No. 8 Arizona State baseball falls in late innings to No. 1 Stanford at Pac-12 Tournament
What looked like a valiant effort from No. 8 Arizona State baseball against No. 1 Stanford soon fell apart in the later innings Wednesday.
Behind Kyle Luckham’s dominant start, ASU figured out its offense. But the wheels came off when the bullpen came in and Stanford pulled away with two home runs for a 6-3 win at the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament at Scottsdale Stadium.
ASU next plays No. 4 Oregon at 9 a.m. on Thursday in an elimination game.
"No problem with the effort, my guys come to play hard every day and today was no exception. We had our chances early on and had chances late, we just would have liked to cash in a few more runs when we had the opportunities. All in all, our offensive approach was pretty good against a pretty good pitching staff," ASU coach Willie Bloomquist said.
Luckham pitched a gem of a game through the first four innings with two hits and six strikeouts through 58 pitches. Considering how the last start at Stanford went on April 8, when Luckham was ejected in the second inning, the right-hander had a clean slate and didn’t have issues with command.
Luckham found himself in tough spots in the game, but finished with two runs on seven hits and seven strikeouts through six innings.
“Luckham is the dude for us. He’s been nails all year for us and we expected it out of him and he brought it today. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pick it up on the offensive side of things," shortstop Sean McLain said.
Luckham worked himself out of a jam in the fifth inning after Tommy Troy scored a triple on a deep drive to center. Troy scored on Eddie Park’s single in the next at-bat and Stanford managed to load the bases with the next four batters. Luckham then ended the inning when Brent Barrera hit to McLain who threw it over to second baseman Nate Baez.
More: 2022 Pac-12 Baseball Tournament: Schedule, bracket, seeds, games, how to watch games on TV
The Cardinal took advantage of a pitching change for ASU when Blake Pivaroff came in the seventh and gained a 4-3 lead off Brock Jones’ two-run home run. Drew Bowser continued the trend when Brock Peery came in during the eighth and Bowser hit a two-run home run to left center for a 6-3 lead.
Pivaroff allowed two runs on three hits and took the loss.
Peery tacked on two more runs on three hits. Stanford had 13 hits.
ASU had a hard time advancing its runners in the game at points with 12 left on base. ASU found success in the fifth inning when a throwing error by Bowser from third base allowed left fielder Will Rogers to score for ASU’s first run of the game.
Injuries have caused problems for ASU throughout the season, but sophomore Hunter Haas started at third base after seeing limited action this season as he battled through injuries. Haas only had 16 starts over 55 games this season and went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Stanford starting pitcher Ty Uber was done after a throwing error in the third inning that allowed Ryan Campos to reach third base. Uber threw 38 pitches and allowed four hits through 3⅓ innings. Drew Dowd came in and dealt with the most fight in ASU’s offense in the game with three runs on four hits through 2⅓ innings.
A scrappy fight in the sixth from ASU was evident when designated hitter Jacob Tobias rushed over to home from first after Rogers hit a deep double to left. Haas made it 3-1 with a single to left.
Stanford posted a swift response in the bottom frame of the sixth when Braden Montgomery singled and Kody Huff was walked. Bowser then made it 3-2 on a single. ASU’s infield took care of the rest when Tommy Troy had an infield fly and Eddie Park grounded into a double play.
ASU went hitless in the last two innings and almost had a chance to score in the eighth when Joe Lampe doubled but tested his luck at third base. Lampe was called out at third on a tag from Bowser but adamantly wanted a review on the play. Lampe was still called out and McLain struck out to end the inning for ASU.
“They executed a great relay play and put it right on the bag. Off either way and he’s probably safe. I have no problem with the aggression and making them put the pressure on the defense to make a play,” Bloomquist said.
Arizona advances past Oregon
No. 5 Arizona baseball defeated No. 4 Oregon 8-6 in the first game of the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament. Daniel Susac hit his second home run of the game on a two-run shot in the top of the ninth to win the game. Trevor Long earned the save for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats will play against No. 1 Stanford at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday.
Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com or 602-647-4122. Follow her on Twitter @jennarortiz.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU baseball drops in late innings at Pac-12 Baseball Tournament
