After a disappointing result last year at the Pac-12 tournament, where they were unable to make it out of their pool, the Devils enter this year's tournament in a much better place than they were last year. The Devils won 32 games both this year and last year, won just one more conference game this year, and entered both years as the five seed. While the numbers may seem like the Devils had a similar year to last year, the month of May begs to differ.
ASU ended the 2023 season 4-11 in its last 15 games, compared to 12-3 this year. The offensive output this year was the big difference. They hit 100 home runs as a team for the first time since 1990 and scored at least nine runs in all but two of the last 15 games.
“We’re at a much higher place compared to last year coming into the tournament,” junior first baseman Jacob Tobias said. “We know how much these next couple of games mean to our season, so we’re just trying to put us in the best position to make it to the postseason.”
After Arizona and ASU walked off their opponents Saturday night, the Devils will face eighth-seeded Stanford on Tuesday and Oregon State on Thursday. The results from the weekends that ASU faced these teams were very different, as Oregon State swept ASU and the Devils swept Stanford.
The three games that ASU lost against Oregon State resulted in scores of 8-13, 1-9, and 7-9. The Devils never led at any point in the three games and tied the score after the first inning in only the third game for three innings.
As for the Stanford series, it was quite the opposite. They held the Cardinal to one run in the first two games but then allowed them to score seven in the third game before scoring three runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to seal the deal. They also scored six in the ninth and five in the eighth in the first two games. Late-game runs are where the Devils have been succeeding.
“When you have guys that are scoring the amount of runs we’re scoring, you’re never out of the game,” Bloomquist said. “It takes a constant belief in each other, which these guys have done. I keep comparing this team to the 1998 team I was on where we got hot after everyone thought we were dead in the water and made a magnificent run. The team that gets hot towards the end is the team that is very dangerous going into the postseason, and I’m going to fight for my guys to play beyond this week.”
The offense hasn’t been the problem, and that’s a prominent element here. The Devils excel in shootouts with other teams in the Pac-12. They are 7-13 in conference play when they score less than 10 runs in conference play and 10-0 when they score double digit runs. When the pitching staff allows 10 or more runs though in conference play, the team is 1-6.
Bloomquist showed up to Monday’s press conference with an ASU baseball shirt that had a knot tied on the shirt. He was asked about the significance of the knot.
“It's for the guys in the locker room,” Bloomquist said. “It shows that the harder people pull on the outside, we get tighter on the inside. That’s significant this year because there’s a lot of people that wrote us off, and we just got tighter as a team.”
Thursday’s matchup is expected to be a bloodbath between the two best hitting teams in the Pac-12. ASU leads the conference in batting average with .318, but the Beavers are right behind with a .306 batting average. Oregon State has 10 more homers with 111 but has struck out the most in the Pac-12 at 499 times. The Devils are one of the most disciplined teams in the Pac-12, sitting at the third least amount with just 409 strikeouts.
It’s likely that senior lefty Connor Markl will face Stanford on Tuesday, and sophomore lefty Ben Jacobs will start against the Beavers on Thursday, getting a full week’s rest before pitching against the sixth-ranked Beavers.
Jacobs has given up the most homers on the team with 14 in just 60 innings pitched but has gone four innings or more in his last six starts. In those six starts, he’s also given up an average of four and a half runs per game. Unfortunately, the last start he didn’t go at least four innings was against Oregon State. In two and a third innings, he gave up seven runs on eight hits and struck out only three batters.
“Ben continues to grow each time he’s out there,” Bloomquist said. “Even since the fall, watching him progress each time he goes out there, he’s progressed so much. I tip my hat to Sam Peraza the pitching coach who doesn’t get enough credit, and he continued to work with Ben and get him better. The sky's the limit for him.”
The Devils also added a player to the bullpen this week in freshman righty Thomas Burns. Burns has been out with injury since March 22 and was recently cleared for action.
“Thomas will be available this week,” Bloomquist said. “How we use him is not going to be in a starting role initially, but he will be available if we need him. We’ll try to pick and choose a situation for him to be in, but if not, then we’ll just get another bullpen in him.”
The Devils will need to win four games to win the final Pac-12 tournament, but head coach Willie Bloomquist has made it very clear that they are taking it just one game at a time. What they can use to their advantage throughout the week is the home field advantage with Scottsdale Stadium being just 10 minutes away from Phoenix Municipal.
Their postseason resume has been boosted with six straight wins, but time will only tell how much of an impact they made on the committee. The Devil's walk-off win Saturday night against UNLV was something straight out of a story, but the Devils aren’t finished just yet and are looking to add another chapter to their season.
