ASU bats break out in win; pitching rotation a work in progress – 247Sports

(Photo: Trevor Booth/Sun Devil Source, 247Sports)

TEMPE Tracy Smith flipped his hand into the air and shook his head as if the answer to the question was obvious.

Why did you start Cooper Benson tonight, someone asked.

Hes good, Smith responded quickly. Next question.

Benson, a freshman left-handed pitcher who had one game of collegiate baseball experience under his belt prior to Friday nights start against Boston College, earned the start against the Eagles. The move came one week after Justin Fall successfully started last Friday against Villanova in the team's season opener.

ASUs sixth-year head coach had little to say when asked why Fall did not start on Friday night for a second week in a row.

Hes good, too, Smith said before a long pause. (Junior right-handed pitcher) Boyd (Vander Kooi) is good. (Sophomore right-handed pitcher Tyler) Thornton is good. (Sophomore left-handed pitcher Erik) Tolman is good. I said we have five guys that we can run out there.

Smith listed the names of his starting pitchers to prove a point. The way he sees it, he has enough good starting pitchers to be successful but just no clarity as yet on exactly how they will be deployed. That is what he's trying to figure out early in the season.

Youre just trying to set your rotation, Smith said. Just kind of want to get an idea of where guys are at.

Benson did not help his cause on Friday. Six days after posting a quality start against Michigan, Benson lasted just 2+ innings against Boston College, surrendering six hits, three earned runs, five walks and a hit by pitch.

The Sun Devils won anyway, their offense breaking out of its opening week slump to pull the team to an even 3-3 record with 11 hits in a 10-4 victory at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

But as Smith has said since the preseason, offense is the Sun Devils calling card. Its the pitching staff promising but also somewhat unproven that is the bigger unknown.

On Friday night, Smith fielded plenty of questions about Bensons bumpy outing.

Benson lacked control against the Eagles. While Smith said it was uncharacteristic of the southpaw, he believes his lack of a concrete pitching rotation allowed ASU to still get the win becauseSmith had the luxury of summoning Vander Kooi from his bullpen. Despite pitching 7.2 innings and allowing just one run versus Villanova in his first start of the year, the 6-foot-5 was needed out of the pen for the Sun Devils second series of their new campaign.

Benson is a competitive kid and hes got three pitches, Smith said. We think hes going to be successful.

The formula played out a little bit. Say a guy struggles in a start, which happened tonight and its going to happen. If you could pull another guy thats of that quality (from the bullpen) we can succeed.

Vander Kooi threw seven innings against Boston College and allowed just one run to lower his season ERA to 1.23. Despite the successful outing, Vander Kooi acknowledged it was an adjustment to pitch in a relief role.

Going from a starter to the bullpen, I didnt as much time to warm up or anything, he said. You have to adapt to that. I felt like every inning I was warming up more and more and I was able to finish strong.

Im a big routine guy. But in baseball, you still have to adapt and, you know, example tonight. You got to do what you got to do. Just get the job done no matter what.

Smith said that the ability to mix up the starters as he and first-year pitching coach Jason Kelly see fit is a luxury.

To have the option we have, to have the five guys who I legitimately feel can be weekend starters and have the ability to mix and match with those guys and the important quality in that is that all of them buy in thats a pretty good thing to have.

Smith knows that improved pitching is essential to the team achieving its goals this year and is confident that ASU's hitting will gain consistency. Friday provided a glimpse of that potential at the plate.

Guys stayed on the ball and stayed within themselves," Smith said. "We know the offense is going to come and there are still some things clearly to work on but that was good to allow our pitchers to have a little bit of breathing room.

After scoring only 12 total runs in their first five games, the Sun Devils almost matched that mark against the Eagles, production Smith credited to a solid pregame hitting session.

Our best pregame [batting practice] was today, Smith said. I just felt like the guys did a really good job of carrying it into the game.

Junior shortstop Alika Williams, junior third baseman Gage Workman and junior left fielder Trevor Hauver all hit home runs against the Eagles. Hauvers big fly led the trio in exit velocity at a scorching 109 mph off the bat.

In addition to homering for the first time this year, Hauver walked three times on Friday night and drove in three runs. He said he just needed to calm down.

Tonight was awesome, Hauver said. Thank god. The first couple of games I was pressing a little bit. I would say I was trying to do too much. Today we worked on just trying to breathe and drive everything up the middle and I stayed with the approach and finally got it. I feel a lot more comfortable.

Workman joked that Hauvers success was due to his facial hair.

It was that mustache that did it, Workman said.

Added Hauver: Oh yeah, this mustache is key. Had to grow this back.

Despite an impressive showing at the plate, Friday night was not all good news for the ASU lineup. Smith said after the game that junior catcher Sam Ferri suffered a knee injury during ASUs opening weekend and is not expected back anytime in the near future.

Without Ferri, ASU has just two catchers left on its roster, senior Nick Cheema and freshman utility player Nate Baez. The team is still considering who it will use in an emergency catching role.

"Baez has been doing a good job and every inning he's out there will build experience," Smith said. "Cheema has done a fantastic job in the last two games that he's been in and they both have to be.

"I know we're going to be good given our circumstances right now because several guys have come forward and say, 'Hey, I'll get back there if you need me.'"

Weather permitting, the Sun Devils are set to play Boston College again on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Staying true to his new pitching format, Smith didnt say who would take the bump.

We look at matchups and what gives us the best chance to win every single game each weekend, Smith said. Were not really in the mode yet of, This is the Friday guy. This is the Saturday guy. This is the Sunday guy.