How often is it that newcomers provide the biggest team impact on their first day on the job? Surely it’s a rarity, but Luke Keaschall and Luke Hill both stepped up when it mattered and served as two vital components to Arizona State’s (1-0) 6-5 walk-off victory on opening night over San Diego State (0-1).

The spotlight of the night will go to home run hitter and walk-off hero Will Rogers and rightfully so, but neither Rogers nor any other Sun Devil would’ve had the chance to finish off that ninth-inning comeback if it weren’t for the perseverance of Luke Keaschall.

As a two-year performer at San Francisco, Keaschall transferred to Arizona State this offseason with a skillset of speed and contact that screams to any manager looking for a leadoff man. And that’s the exact role Keaschall earned himself in his first game with the Sun Devils. But, his first three at-bats of the night at the top of the order wouldn’t have suggested to a box score that he had done much to help his team, unable to reach base in all of them.

“I had a couple of rough first at-bats,” Keaschall said. “Just couldn’t get the timing down.”

But when that one last opportunity poked its head through the door in the bottom of the ninth and the tying run on, Keaschall had no choice but to forget about his earlier tries. Following what looked like a costly error by Ethan Long that allowed the go-ahead run to score, the team went into the clubhouse down 5-4 with three outs remaining. Where most players’ confidence would be drained, Keaschall’s was unwavering, even with his slow night with the stick.

“I just knew I was gonna find a way,” Keaschall said confidently. “Took a breath, knew it was a new at-bat, how bad we needed it and how important it was, found a way to do the job.”

Following a huge pinch-hit leadoff single by Kien Vu, SDSU closer Kelena Sauer got ahead of Keaschall with two quick fastballs. When he tried the high heat again, Keaschall was ready and turned on the ball and sent it into the gap in left-center field. Before the Aztecs could get the ball in, Vu had scored with the tying run, and Keaschall was into third, standing up as the winning run with nobody out. Keaschall’s come through in the clutch not only tied the game but reinforced his head coach’s trust in his leadoff man.

“Keaschall had a tough night, then all of a sudden when it counts, he steps up,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “Goff was asking me if I was gonna put the bunt on there, and I said, 'absolutely not.' Keaschall was due. He’s too good a player. He’s gonna get something done at some point.”

“I was confident,” Keaschall said about entering his at-bat in the ninth. “I was sitting heater. I was sitting heater. He went inside twice and tried to do it a third time; it was a mistake.”

With the Aztecs choosing to intentionally walk both Ryan Campos and Ethan Long and force an out anywhere, Keaschall’s triple was the most impactful play of the entire night. After a fielder’s choice saw him thrown out at home, Will Rogers finished off a career night with a walk-off single right after.

While Keaschall’s ninth-inning heroics surely have his name remembered by the Sun Devil faithful already, his first-name counterpart did his part of stepping up to the occasion. Playing in his first collegiate baseball game, there was no sign of any first-day jitters from Hill straight from the first pitch. While Bloomquist has made Hill somewhat of his project in practices and scrimmages, Hill has only impressed him in return. Not only did he come in and when the starting shortstop job as a freshman ahead of the experienced Keaschall, but Hill homered twice in intra-squads this week playing with the second team.

When it was time to prove Bloomquist right in game action, Hill did not hesitate. Right off the bat, the spotlight turned to the freshman to make a play in the first, with Ross Dunn looking to escape a bases-loaded one-out jam. Hard-hitting freshman Maddox Haley ripped a two-hopper to Hill at short for the freshman’s first college chance, which he calmly gloved and flipped to second for the eventual inning-ending double-play, saving one, if not two runs.

In his first at-bat an inning later, Hill nearly followed up Will Rogers’s 450-foot shot with one of his own, although the left field wall kept it in play and held Hill to a double. For his first college hit, Hill felt like he didn’t even get it well enough to find outfield grass, let alone the Gila River sign in left field.

“I thought I caught it off the end a little bit,” Hill noted. “It kinda caught me off guard.”

In his next turn at the plate, Hill took advantage of the ducks on the pond and knocked a hard single up the middle, scoring Isaiah Jackson and extending the ASU lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third. This particular hit would prove vital as SDSU began to come back later in the game. Having already plated two runs in the sixth, the Aztecs’ Tyler Glowacki stepped to the plate with the chance to tie the game, as runners were on first and second. On the first pitch he saw, Glowacki ripped a screamer to the left side that Hill put his body on the line to keep in the infield and get the out at second to end the inning and maintain the ASU lead.

“The biggest play of the night was the rocket one-hopper that he bodied up and kept in the infield and got the force out at second,” Bloomquist said. “A normal freshman maybe side-swipes that ball, and it gets past him, but he bodied it up; that’s a big play.”

Hill’s big all-around day and the cold-blooded hitting of Keaschall were instrumental in the Sun Devils' comeback victory, no matter how much credit will deservedly go to Rogers and Owen Stevenson’s four innings of relief. Although preseason competitors for the shortstop position, both Hill and Keaschall not only performed individually on opening day but have established a key locker room relationship.

“We’ve been working a lot in practice,” Hill said of him and Keaschall. “He’s been labeled as my big brother. Coming in as a freshman, I look up to him. It’s good to have someone like that in the locker room.”

While Keaschall shared similar sentiments, at the end of the day, all both cared about was getting the win in their first game as Sun Devils.

“I was just excited to finally start the season,” Keaschall said. “I was chomping on the bit to get out there. Just happy to help contribute.”

“It was more than I expected,” Hill said. “That was electric and fun to be a part of.”

Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!