It was another tough day in Arizona for the Huskies on Tuesday, as they narrowly avoided getting mercy ruled in a 17-7 loss against Arizona State to fall to 0-4.
The Sun Devils got the scoring started early when Garrett Michel grounded out and drove in a runner in the second inning. One batter later, Dominic Longo hit one 416 feet to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
Jackson Marshall hit his first home run as a Husky in the fourth, a moon shot over the honored numbers in left field, to cut that two-run lead in half.
From there, the Sun Devil offense exploded with an eight-run fourth and seven more across the fifth and sixth. They hit three more home runs over that span, with Austen Roellig, Landon Hairston, and Nu’u Contrades all finding the other side of the fence.
UConn starter Tristan Aasland got chased from the game early in that fourth inning. In his first Division 1 appearance of his career, the Bellevue Community College transfer was decent through his first three innings before the wheels fell off in the fourth.
The Huskies bullpen continued to struggle as they did through the season’s first three games.
Joe Pitts became the third Husky to allow four earned runs in just one inning of work or less, following Garret Garbinski and Paxton Meyers on opening weekend. Pitts didn’t record an out. Kyle Peters also got left out to dry as the mop-up man, allowing seven earned runs across two and two-thirds innings.
ASU starter Kole Klecker fared far better, allowing just one earned run over five innings and securing his first win of the season. The TCU transfer struck out seven runners and allowed just two baserunners in his Sun Devils debut.
With the game out of reach by the seventh, head coach Jim Penders took the opportunity to get a few freshmen into a game for the first time. Bryce Detwiler and Cam Righi received pinch-hit opportunities and jump-started the offense. Detwiler singled on base before getting out at second on a fielder’s choice. That hit still allowed for there to be a runner on base when Righi hit a home run in his first collegiate at-bat.
Detwiler later hit an RBI single in the top of the eighth, going 2 for 2 in his debut. Rob Rispoli scored earlier in the inning on a wild pitch.
Evan Menzel continued his hot start with his second 3-for-5 contest of the season. The last of those three hits drove in two runs in the top of the eighth inning to bring the final score to 17-7.
After Connor Lane’s 0-for-4 contest, Husky catchers have gone a combined 0 for 12 across the first four games of the season. Righi is listed as a catcher and took the field behind the plate six times last summer as a member of the New Britain Bees of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. Despite entering Tuesday’s contest as a DH, perhaps an appearance behind the plate is in the 19-year-old’s near future.
The Huskies will be back on the field for a four-game set against the University of Arizona starting this Thursday. All four will stream live on ESPN+.