(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Spencer Torkelson slammed his bat into the ground and trotted around the bases, having just blasted his 20th home run of the season deep beyond the left field wall.
That shot not only extended his nation lead in home runs, but the game lead, giving Arizona State their ninth, 10th and 11th runs of the game en route to a 13-8 victory and series sweep over the Utah Utes Sunday afternoon that brought the Sun Devils back to .500 in Pac-12 play.
The story of the game was one a familiar one. The offense carried the game and Eli Lingos delivered a strong start. Once again, however, the bullpen struggled, as the Utes brought the tying run to the on deck circle in the ninth.
After scoring 15 runs on Saturday, the offense continued where it left off, scoring six runs in the first three innings, four of which were driven in my Hunter Jump, who had two the night before and had started four games in 2018 prior to this weekend.
“I think I’m seeing the ball really well this weekend,” Jump said after the game. “I definitely took advantage this weekend.”
He wasn’t the only one seeing the ball well. Like Jump, Torkelson had a three-hit, four-RBI game. He singled in the second and seventh innings, driving in a run in the seventh, but also brought himself within six homers of tying the NCAA freshman single-season record of 26.
“A base was open, so I knew they weren’t going to give me a whole lot to hit,” Torkelson explained. “I think they were kind of getting sick of me fouling off the guy’s curveball so they challenged me and I made them pay for sure.”
Like he had Friday and Saturday, ASU’s freshman first baseman hit leadoff in the batting order Sunday, a move head coach Tracy Smith is pleased with.
“He gets on base, hits home runs, scores runs. That’s the name of the game,” Smith said. “You’ve got a hitter like that, you wan him to the plate as much as possible, he makes the other dugout make adjustments of what you’re trying to do and then with Canning doing what the’s doing behind him, you run the risk of, if you’re going to pitch around him, he will be disciplined to take a walk, now you’ve got Gage Canning hitting with the first baseman holding him on and a giant hole on the right side.”
Torkelson also drew two walks Sunday afternoon and Canning collected two hits, including a two-run homer that scored Torkelson in the fourth.
Beyond Torkelson, Canning and Jump, Lyle Lin and Taylor Lane each collected two hits, with Lane driving in two runs in the first too.
The offensive attack backed Eli Lingos’ sixth quality start of the season and first since his complete game shutout against Washington State on March 31. After a pair of rough starts against USC and Stanford, the bounce back performance didn’t see him make many adjustments.
“I just kind of stuck with it, didn’t really try and change anything from the last couple,” Lingos said after picking up his sixth win of the season. “I just made sure to attack hitters and really let my defense work today. It was a little easier too, when you have that type of run support.”
The senior lefty pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out five.
“I’ve said it before with him, you don’t worry about him giving it to the opposition, if you beat Eli, you’ve done that, you’ve beat him,” Smith said. “He’s going to give you his best he’s going to compete in the zone and I though the did that effectively today. Guys played well behind him today. It’s just another typical Eli Lingos performance.”
While Lingos’ performance was not of concern, the Sun Devils’ bullpen was as ASU had to use five pitchers to get through the final three innings.
Fitz Stadler took the mound in the seventh, but was removed in favor of Connor Higgins after allowing three hits and two walks. The Utes scored five in the seventh, all being credited to Stadler, as an error and wild pitch contributed to three runs scoring while Higgins was on the mound.
Jake Godfrey allowed a run in the eighth and hit a batter in the ninth, giving way to Ryan Hingst. After Hingst failed to record an out, Saturday’s starter, Sam Romero, entered the game and induced a field’s choice double play with the bases loaded to earn his second save of the season and secure a 13-8 victory for his team, along with the series sweep.
“That’s what it’s going to be, a little bit of all hands on deck,” Smith said. “It’s kind of a flip of the coin right now when we go to the bullpen. When it’s on, it’s pretty good, when it’s not, it’s like it was today.”
While the offense was good and Lingos pitched well, Smith was still disappointed with the performance of his relievers.
“It’s a shame that we have not been able to shut things down out of the pen like that,” Smith said. “If we’re going to compete down the stretch with this thing, guys need to step up out of the bullpen and pitch with a little bit more intensity and a little bit more want-to because that should not get to that point, nine-run lead and nine outs to go.”
With 16 games left before the end of the regular season, ASU will turn their attention to New Mexico State on Wednesday, before traveling up to Corvallis to face Oregon State over the weekend.
