PHOENIX - The Devils came into day two of their three-day series against Texas Tech and UNLV after dismantling the Raiders 21-5 just a day before. ASU tied their season high of runs and hits and showed no signs of slowing down. The Raiders had beaten UNLV 13-12 earlier in the day and looked to sweep the day and split the series with their future Big 12 foe.
Instead, the Devils (31-24, 17-13 Pac-12) came from behind and completed the sweep with a 17-11 victory over the Raiders (31-24, 12-18 Big-12) thanks to a seven-run sixth inning. ASU now has just one game left in the regular season on Saturday against UNLV to try and get to 32 wins.
“We needed the offense tonight,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “The other aspects of the game weren’t as sharp, so the offense needed to swing the sticks tonight and pick us up a little bit.”
Senior lefty Connor Markl started the game for the Devils but was only going to pitch one inning no matter what happened in the first.
The Raiders scored three runs in the first for the second consecutive game, but ASU came right back with three runs in the bottom of the first. The Devils then took the lead in the second inning; sophomore left fielder Kien Vu drove in a run off a single.
The Raiders then came back and scored three runs in the third and fourth, something they weren’t able to do Thursday night. The Devils put up a three-spot of their own in the fourth, and it was a tight game once again.
It was a game full of errors and wild pitches, as both teams had two errors and the Devils scored three runs off of wild pitches alone.
Both teams went scoreless in the fifth, but the Devils roared to life in the sixth. The inning started with four straight walks, and the fourth drove in a run to make it 9-8. Then a wild pitch and string of hits brought home four more runs, and just like that it was 12-9. The Devils scored two more runs with a sacrifice grounder and a double for a seven-run inning and a 14-9 lead.
“We’re passing the torch every at-bat,” sophomore designated hitter Brandon Compton said. “We’re getting a lot of turnover in our lineup, and I feel like that’s why we’ve been so successful.”
In such a high scoring affair like tonight’s game, energy can be huge in the dugout. Staying positive and taking every at-bat with the same energy can swing momentum so quickly, and that’s what the Devils were able to do.
“That big inning is what we always get,” Compton said. “We were able to take close pitches and make the pitcher work a little bit and have good at-bats, so that’s where we’re able to get so many runs and win games.”
The Raiders would come right back and score two of their own, and it was a three run game heading into the seventh inning stretch. The Devils would add one more run in the seventh and then two more in the eighth and the Raiders were down 17-11 going into the ninth.
The Raiders couldn’t get anything going in the ninth, and the Devils completed the sweep against their future conference opponents.
Eight of nine starters for the Devils had a least one hit tonight. With three tonight, the Sun Devils have 99 homers this year, surpassing the program's previous BBCOR record of 94 from the 2019 season. ASU has a very real chance of becoming just the seventh Sun Devil team in the program's illustrious history to reach 100 home runs and the first to do it since having 101 in 1990
“You can’t rely on just two or three guys every night,” Bloomquist said. “When we have guys one through nine that can do damage and put together good at-bats. It’s nice when the top of the lineup are up to bat with runners on compared to the bases empty.”
Freshman righty Thomas Burns has been injured since March 22 with an injury and is very close to coming back in time for the Pac-12 tournament, with a possible appearance in Saturday's contest. Although he won’t be back to his normal five or six-inning performance, it would be a huge addition to the bullpen for ASU.
“We’ve wanted to get him into these games,” Bloomquist said. “The ball is coming out a lot better now, and tomorrow is going to be a heavy bullpen. We’ll try to cut him loose and see where he’s at. He won’t come back in the starter role he was in earlier in the year, but having another player in the bullpen will be extremely important for us.”
