The aftermath of his knee-jerking connection of a 2-2 curveball. Of his joyous, child-like trot around the bases. Of a long-distance backward hurl of his helmet. Of a few gutty hops en route to home plate and the million pats on the back that ensued … was a blur.

A red-faced Spencer Torkelson sat in the media room, exposing his teeth with a wide grin that sat just below his brown mustache unable to remember the details of his walk-off three-run home run Saturday night.

Those weren’t important.

“I kind of blacked out a little bit,” Torkelson said. “There was just so much adrenaline and excitement.”

Torkelson’s 11th-inning moonshot, which almost cleared the desert behind Phoenix Municipal Stadium’s left-field bullpen, gave ASU an 8-5 win over Michigan State (1-8,) vaulting the 23-win team from a year ago to 10-0.

Minutes before the dinger, the trot, the celebration, all of it, Sun Devil hitting coach Michael Earley gave Torkelson some words of advice. No scouting report or strategy. Just a pep talk.

“Hey man, just stay relaxed,” ASU head coach Tracy Smith recalled Early telling the young Sun Devil slugger. “You’re good enough, just stay relaxed.”

If Torkelson wasn’t relaxed, Smith, who was sitting right beside Earley in the ASU dugout, seemed more than content with the situation. He made that abundantly clear after the game, repeating that there is nobody on the planet he would have rather had up in that situation.

Heck, he thought Torkelson was going to send the 2,733 at Phoenix Muni home two innings earlier when the sophomore from Northern California stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with the game tied at 5. Instead, then, there were no heroics.

Michigan State left-hander Mitchell Tyranski struck out Torkelson on a 2-2 count, prompting the even-keeled slugger to show visible emotion as he marched back to the dugout. The strikeout was whatever, but Torkelson grew angry that he chased an 88 mph fastball that he never goes after.

A noted hitting savant, Torkelson spent an inning and a half adjusting after his strikeout, developing a game plan and mindset should he get to face Tyranski again.

“His fastball and his curveball were coming out of the same arm slot so it was tough to pick up the pitch,” Torkelson said. “So I kind of just told myself to relax and trust my eye at first because I don’t swing at that pitch normally, the one I struck out on. I kind of had that in the back of my mind; Don’t press, you’re seeing him fine.”

When Torkelson got to the plate in the 11th, with Trevor Hauver on first and Sam Ferri on second, Tyranski was still on the mound. The pitch he launched 407 feet was a curveball that came out of the same arm slot as the fastball he struck out on.

“What you saw from him, the tough strikeout, but then to come back and refocus and deliver one of the most important at-bats of the game .. he’s a threat every time he comes to the plate,” Smith said. “It’s funny because we've been sitting talking about, ‘Gosh, we’ve got to get him going a little bit.’ But, yet, you’re looking down and he’s hitting almost .500.”

It seemed only fair to assume Torkelson was going to go through some type of sophomore slump after blasting an NCAA-leading 25 home runs as a freshman last season. Instead, through just 10 games, the Sun Devil first baseman is hitting .467 with 21 hits and 19 RBI, all team-leading.

Sure, Saturday’s walk-off jack was only his second of the season but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Pitchers are now scheming specifically for Torkelson, nearly trying to pitch around him every time he steps into the left-handed batter’s box. It’s his responsibility to take what they give him and not step to the plate trying to hit a home run.

“They’re going soft and then away. They’re not giving me that meatball to hit, really,” Torkelson said. “It’s just staying confident and staying with my approach. The power numbers will come with just staying with my approach.”

Added Smith: “He’s such a good hitter. It’s only a matter of time before he gets going (power-wise.) But that’s the difference between, and why he’s so special, is a lot of young hitters who come off of that, they start to press, start to force things that aren’t there. He’s taking exactly what they’re giving him.”

On Saturday night, with the game of the line in the bottom of the 11th, Torkelson did just that.

Just 65 games into his college career, he’s inching closer and closer to seeing the No. 20 on the Sun Devils’ Wall of Honor, or what it may start to be known as: the placard 35 feet to the right of Spencer Torkelson’s most memorable home run.