(Photo: Dominic Cotroneo/WCSN)
As part of a newly-adopted six-year exhibition series between Arizona’s Division I universities and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the ASU baseball team visited Salt River Fields on Tuesday to square off against the Chip Hale-led squad.
Though the Sun Devils were stifled offensively by the Diamondbacks and dropped the contest 4-0, head coach Tracy Smith preached a bigger-picture message and was pleased with the value the game offered.
“The value I think comes out of it, a) you’re healthy b) some of the kids, because of the game’s we’ve had up to this point have been close, we haven’t gotten to see them,” Smith said. “Now I’m competitive, I know our guys are competitive. If we’re playing ping-pong, I want to win. We would have liked to have won today. But most importantly, some of our guys who didn’t get chances got to pitch. The timing of the game worked to our advantage in that standpoint.”
“It was good to get some of those guys out there on the mound particularly,” Smith continued. “It was good to see some guys in some competitive situations against tremendous hitters. I think we got out of it what we wanted.”
Given that ASU has an impending three-game series with Long Beach State this weekend, none of the regular starting pitchers or key bullpen cogs took the mound. Rather, the eight innings were slotted with seven pitchers in need of exposure to live hitting—Ryan Hingst started with two innings of scoreless work, while Eric Melbostad (who hasn’t pitched this season), David Graybill (who hasn’t pitched in a Sun Devil uniform), Eli Lingos, Grant Schneider and Tucker Baca followed with an inning of relief apiece.
“I thought Hingst, (it) was a good confidence builder for him,” Smith said. “To get David Graybill out there for the first time, I thought he threw the baseball well. Overall, I was pleased with the guys that ran out there and took the ball today.”
Even though many of the Diamondback regulars, such as Paul Goldschmidt, AJ Pollock and Aaron Hill all departed after one at-bat, the exhibition matchup was still well-received by all involved, as it represented the first Major League competition ASU had faced since 1999.
“That was my first introduction to Chip Hale,” Smith said. “What a quality, quality guy he is, just made us feel very welcome. He’s going to do great things here. For me personally, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet him. What they’ve done for ASU and our kids, just the small things today in how they treated them to give them a Big League experience from the stuff they roll out in the clubhouse—all that was over the top. Great experience for our kids. (It was) a little unrealistic until they make it to the Big Leagues, but it gives them something to shoot for.”
The only injury scare—an issue which Tracy Smith addressed earlier this week to Jeff Metcalfe—was freshman first baseman Ryan Lillard taking a fastball to the helmet in his second at-bat. Lillard, though, would stay in to run the bases and then departed as a precaution. He did not experience any concussion symptoms, and he too was in good spirits after the game.
“It was pretty cool, just seeing all the Big Leaguers and being out there,” Lillard said. “They treated us really nicely here too. I talked to Paul Goldschmidt a few times and he’s one of my favorite players so that was pretty cool.”
Former Sun Devils Tuffy Gosewisch and Jake Barrett also saw action in Tuesday’s game—Gosewisch in the form of a 1-for-2 day at the plate and the start at catcher, and Barrett in the form of the ninth inning on the mound, in which he struck out a batter and allowed a hit.
The Diamondbacks-Arizona-D1-schools agreement is scheduled for the next six years, with games against Arizona in 2016, Grand Canyon in 2017, and a rematch with ASU scheduled for 2018.
ASU returns to Phoenix Muni for practices on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by a three-game series against Long Beach State over the weekend.
Follow Jacob Garcia on Twitter @Jake_M_Garcia or connect with him on LinkedIn.
