It’s not often that the fans in the bleachers are close enough to interact with the umpires. That is unless the umpires find their way to the press box that sits a few feet away from the stands and make a game-deciding call.
Junior second baseman Kyle Walker made what the fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium thought was the game-winning catch that he threw to senior shortstop Matt King for a double play. The umpires signaled the Ohio State baserunner was out to end the game, but they went to review the call only to find the power was out at the review booth. They then headed up to the press box to watch the review on the ESPN+ stream with fans mere feet away, screaming in their faces.
After a 10-minute delay, the call was confirmed, giving Arizona State (1-0) the 9-8 win over Ohio State (0-1) on a bizarre Opening Night. The fans who had been tearing into the umpires just moments before erupted into cheers as the Sun Devils started the 2025 season in the win column.
“A lot of great performances tonight,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “There’s also a lot of things we have to work on, too, but at the end of the day, it’s a huge win for us to get off and rolling.”
Walker made his ASU debut tonight, a debut that saw his ability to provide a spark to the rest of his team shine. The Sun Devils began the 7th inning up 6-4, but a four-run inning from the Buckeyes saw ASU’s two-run lead turn into a deficit. Down 8-6 and the previous 9 ASU at-bats, all resulting in outs, Walker stepped up to the plate with his team desperate for a flicker of hope.
After Walker refused to give up fouling off a plethora of pitches in a 10-pitch at-bat, Walker found his pitch and hit a screaming line drive into the left-field corner for a leadoff double, instantly bringing the dugout to life. Six batters later, the Sun Devils had a 9-8 lead, and they held the rest of the way.
“We won the game because of that at-bat,” redshirt senior catcher Josiah Cromwick admitted. “You can’t compare the amount of energy you get from an at-bat like that. It’s pretty insane that he’s hitting in the nine-hole for us because he’d be a top-three hitter in just about any other program..”
It wasn’t just Walker’s bat that helped lead ASU to victory, as he made two spectacular plays at second base. In the fifth inning, a Buckeye sent a ball up the middle with some speed behind, and Walker flew through the air to make the diving catch to end the inning. His chemistry with King was apparent with the two double-play balls they fielded, but Bloomquist is more honed in on their consistency.
“They’re going to do some great things,” Bloomquist recognized. “The biggest thing for them is they’re going to make consistent, routine plays over and over. Jax Ryan is also going to be in the mix, and I feel confident with any of those guys going in there. All the guys in the middle work extremely well together, and we teach these guys to play both sides of the bag.”
Bloomquist spoke in recent weeks about the increased depth all around the team, but especially in the bullpen. The depth was on full display tonight, with Bloomquist sending out six different pitchers over the course of the game. Junior left Ben Jacobs struggled in the starting role, allowing five hits and four runs in as many innings. His 87 pitches through four innings were enough for Bloomquist, and no other pitcher threw for more than two innings.
“Ben will learn from this and get better,” Bloomquist stated. “We felt confident getting him to around 85 today, and his pitch count will get high as a strikeout guy. His pitch count got up a little faster than we wanted to, and next outing, we’ll slowly ramp up his pitch count and get him up to where he wants to be.”
The Buckeyes fell behind in the count all night long but stayed persistent. Eight of their 11 hits came with two strikes in the count as the Sun Devil pitching staff could not seem to put away the batters effectively. It’s not easy to game plan against batters who simply refuse to quit, but finishing at-bats efficiently is a must.
“That team just scraps,” Bloomquist voiced. “They did the same thing to us last year. They get to two strikes and just foul pitches off; they’re pests. It’s tough to put those guys away, and that’s a credit to their coaching staff. They got some veteran players, and they’re not going to roll over and die. We’ll just keep attacking, and good things will happen.”
Redshirt sophomore left fielder Brandon Compton was the only underclassman to start in tonight’s game, but even he’s entering his third year of college baseball. While this year’s squad has a healthy balance of youth and veterans, Bloomquist is trusting the guys who have been there before. It was a mix of returners and new faces that put runs on the board, as senior first baseman Jacob Tobias drove in three with a home run, and Cromwick had himself a 4-RBI night.
“You just have to look at the guys who showed up,” Bloomquist remarked. “Those guys came up big and had big games. To have a veteran-oriented team that understands this is college baseball, and there are no easy games. You’re going to get punched in the face and respond to it, and that’s what we preach to these guys. If you fight tooth and nail, the results will happen.”
Cromwick won the starting job at catcher for tonight and had to catch for six different pitchers. His dominant fall performance carried over into the first game of the season, but senior Manny Garza is also in the running to see time behind the plate. He started at designated hitter tonight, one of the many spots in the lineup that will see multiple players show up on the lineup card over the course of the season.
It was an eventful Opening Day, to say the least, but the Sun Devils are more focused on what’s ahead. The first game jitters are gone, and everyone will slowly start to settle in. The Sun Devils got a bulk of their runs on the long ball, but Bloomquist’s revamped squad is capable of much more; it’s only a matter of time until they find their groove and take teams head-on.
“It’s nice to have different layers to your offense,” Bloomquist expressed. “We don’t want to be one-dimensional. Having some guys that can run is nice, and we’ll start doing that a little bit more hopefully situations present themselves, so having that element of our offense will be key.”
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