Midweek Notebook: Extra Innings, Ejections and Walk-Off Grand Slams
Is Big 12 Baseball After Dark a thing? It should be after Tuesday.
The Big 12 couldn’t have asked for a better midweek slate heading into the first weekend of conference play, and it delivered from top to bottom. We got an extra inning walk off, a rivalry game ejection, multiple grand slams, a walk-off grand slam and some freshman doing big things for their squads.
Arizona tops Arizona State in non-conference bout
Tony Pluta earned his third save of the season and got a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to help the Wildcats to a 3-2 win over the Sun Devils. The Wildcats won despite hitting just 1-13 with runners in scoring position, getting RBI doubles from Aaron Walton and Tommy Splaine along the way toget out to a 3-0 lead that they wouldn’t give up.
ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist was ejected from the game in the eighth for arguing a check-swing strike three call on Matt King that registered the first out of the inning.
Sun Devils outfielder Kien Vu came up limping after stealing second base just moments after Bloomquist’s ejection. ASU’s assistant coach Sam Peraza and trainer Jesse Lowman came out to Vu, who needed a few minutes to walk off the issue. He remained in the game, scoring on a Jacob Tobias double that brought the score to 3-2.
Oklahoma State gets walked off by DBU
The Cowboys jumped out to a 5-0 lead on DBU, only to see the bullpen give it all back. The Patriots scored two runs in the sixth, another in the seventh, and two more in the ninth off Sean Youngerman to force extra innings.
Brayden Smith appeared to deliver for Oklahoma State in the top of the 11th. Smith launched a two-run home run to put the Pokes ahead 7-5 and in position to come away with a fantastic midweek road win over the Patriots.
DBU right fielder Joey Nerat beat out a ground ball to the first baseman to drive home a run in the bottom of the 11th, and came around to score the winning run when Donovan LaSalle inexplicably caught a fly ball in foul territory that allowed Nerat to tag up from third base.
Had LaSalle just let the ball fall foul the game would have continued with a 2-2 count to Luke Heefner and one out in the inning. Instead, Oklahoma State falls to 9-7 with West Virginia heading to Stillwater this weekend.
When asked about LaSalle’s decision after the game, head coach Josh Holliday gave a heated answer.
UCF Blasts Miami
The Knights have won seven in a row, slaying two of their state’s giants along the way including a 14-4 throttling of Miami on Tuesday night.
UCF recorded 18 hits, four of which came from Lex Boedicker. The big first baseman drove in six runs, including a three-run home run in the sixth to cap the scoring and draw Boedicker level with Andrew Williamson for most home runs on the team with five.
Dominic Castellano earned his third win of the season after facing the minimum through two innings of relief work while striking out three. Castellano checked in at No. 20 in the Big 12 WARc standings on Tuesday morning, and another shutout appearance will surely bump him a little higher when we updated things on Thursday.
UCF is now 4-2 against in-state rivals this season, with wins over Florida, Miami and a series win over South Florida. The Bulls took one game from the Knights, while UCF also fell to Florida Atlantic in a midweek game on Feb. 25.
Noah Franco Flashes Two-Way Talent
TCU two-way freshman Noah Franco reached base three times and pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out four, as the Frogs went on the road and beat Texas State, 5-3. The win marked TCU’s sixth in a row as the Horned Frogs now sit at 13-4 heading into league play.
The IMG Academy product checked in at No. 67 in the WAR rankings and No. 73 in the WARc rankings entering Tuesday and could easily see himself rise in both on Thursday.
Franco worked two walks, hit a double 108 MPH off the wall in left center, and sat 97-98 with his fastball. His double gave him three straight games with a hit, and overall he showed exactly why he was picked to be Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
On the season, Franco boasts a .993 OPS with seven extra base hits and close to a 1:1 walk-to-strikeout rate at the plate (13 walks, 15 strikeouts). As a pitcher he’s thrown five scoreless innings, striking out 11 while allowing just two hits and two walks.
He has a violent swing and tends to chases the low offspeed stuff a little bit, but the raw talent Franco has shown this year is wildly impressive.
For TCU, an honorable mention should also be given to Texas A&M transfer Jack Bell, who turned an unassisted double play and hit a home run on Tuesday to help the Frogs get the win.
Trio of No Doubters
West Virginia, Baylor and Cincinnati all took care of business against teams with losing records on Tuesday as they get their final licks in before league play begins.
The Mountaineers (15-1) took care of Towson 16-5 (8 innings) behind a pair of home runs from Spencer Barnett, including a game-ending grand slam.
Barnett finished with five RBIs and West Virginia used 10 pitchers in a glorified bullpen game as they overwhelmed Towson.
Six Baylor players notched multi-hit days in the Bears’ 9-2 win over Sam Houston State. Pearson Riebock notched his first career home run to put the Bears on the board first and giving them a lead they would never relinquish. Designated hitter Hunter Simmons recorded his seventh multi-hit game of the year and extended his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games.
Cincinnati (11-6) got a nice win over an in-state foe, beating Miami (OH) 12-3 to extend their winning streak to six games. Landyn Vidourek launched his team-leading sixth home run of the year in the process as he continues to smash the baseball.
Christian Mitchelle and Charlie Niehaus launched home runs of their own, with Niehaus’ grand slam breaking things open in the sixth. For Niehaus, it was his first home run of his career. Jack Natili and Cal Sefcik put together three-hit performances as well, scoring four runs combined in the win.
Road Woes
Along with Oklahoma State, three other Big 12 squads dropped road games on Tuesday night.
Kansas suffered their second loss of the season in the first of two midweek games at U.S. Bank Stadium, 10-6. All 16 runs were scored in the first inning, with the two teams trading blows before the pitching settled in.
Jackson Hague delivered a bases-clearing, three-run double in the top of the second to briefly give the Jayhawks a 4-1 lead, but Minnesota answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Brady Counsell’s RBI single in the fourth scored Brady Ballinger to bring Kansas within one, but that’s as close as the Jayhawks would get.
Kansas State also dropped a road game, losing to Creighton, 9-8, at Charles Schwab Field. The Bluejays jumped on KSU early, pulling out to a 7-2 lead after scoring seven runs on Wildcat starter JJ Slack (0-2) in the second inning. Slack struggled mightily with his command, issuing five walks in just 1.2 innings of work.
Freshman DH AJ Evasco launched his first career grand slam in the top of the fifth as KSU tried to come back, bringing them within one, 7-6. It was a towering no-doubter, and it’s nice to know Evasco has that kind of power in the stadium that hosts the College World Series every year.
Utah fell to former Pac-12 bunkmate Cal, 9-4, in Berkeley. The Bears notched a pair of home runs and three doubles off of Utah’s arms as Demitri Diamant allowed his first runs of the season and took the loss.
Matt Flaharty and Core Jackson each drove in runs for the Utes who fell to 11-5 on the season as they prepare to head to Manhattan for their first foray through Big 12 play.
Three Games on Wednesday
Kansas squares off against Minnesota at U.S. Bank Field with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.
Kansas State stays in Omaha and faces…Omaha, with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. CT.
Houston travels to Huntsville to face Sam Houston State with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.