On Friday night, Arizona State silenced one of the nation's best offenses in the Kansas Jayhawks. With Jack Martinez, a senior right-handed pitcher starting on Saturday, sporting a 0.50 ERA in his previous three appearances, the Sun Devils looked to win their first-ever Big 12 home series.
Nonetheless, tonight’s inconsistent pitching plagued ASU for a change as Kansas (18-5, 3-2 Big 12) took advantage of an early offensive burst to beat ASU (15-8 3-2 Big 12), 7-3.
A standout performance by sophomore right-handed pitcher Kannon Carr, who threw seven innings while allowing only three earned runs, was the catalyst here. An ASU offense that is among the top five in runs scored in the Big 12, a conference that is one of the best in the country in terms of offensive output, managed just eight hits, scoring all of its runs in just one inning and stranding six runners.
The usually dependent Martinez was pummeled to the tune of seven earned runs, five extra-base hits, and two home runs. Suffice it to say that this was a very unusual outing for the ASU starter.
“Jack (Martinez) was uncharacteristically getting barreled a little bit tonight,” ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist said. "I think he fell behind quite a few hitters, which could have led to that, but I think they picked up on something there later in the 4th, I think they might have had something on his pitches."
It wasn't all doom and gloom on the mound, though, as the Sun Devils held Kansas scoreless after the fourth inning. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Josh Butler equaled Martinez's four innings pitched, allowing only one base runner on a walk. Senior right-handed pitcher Will Koger and junior left-handed pitcher Sean Fitzpatrick each pitched an inning, as the bullpen allowed only one hit in five innings to keep the game within reach. All in all, the Sun Devils' bullpen, which has often struggled thus far in 2025, has performed brilliantly over the last two days, allowing only one earned run in ten innings of work. Today, Butler was the cherry on top of his team’s bullpen effort against Kansas' offense.
"It's just one of those things where I have to be prepared for whatever is asked of me that day," Butler said. "And I think I just try to approach every opportunity I have the same way and get the job done."
Arizona State was unable to get traction against the Jayhawk pitching. While Kansas' offense was largely anemic in the last five frames, ASU failed to take advantage of those struggles. It didn’t record any hits with runners in scoring position in the last six innings and had only one two-out hit. After an offensive explosion on Friday, Bloomquist stated, "I saw one good game tonight, so let's see if they can back it up.” Going by his team’s performance in this loss, he correctly anticipated the letdown at the plate that took place.
Brandon Compton's third-inning two-run home run was the Sun Devils' only offensive highlight in an overall lackluster performance. Compton "hasn't found his swing completely yet," according to Bloomquist, an encouraging sign of faith given that Compton is still putting up a .996 OPS. Kien Vu, the customary leadoff player who hit .413 last season, was once again out of the lineup due to injury. Therefore, Bloomquist has stuck with junior infielder Kyle Walker, who now has five consecutive games with multiple hits and an AVG of .344.
“I said it when he was hitting .090, he was putting together great at bats, he just wasn’t finding a lot of holes out there,” Bloomquist commented. "I figured it would come at some point and time as long as he continued to put together good at bats and that's all he's done is just stuck with his plan and continued to have really good at bats and things are starting to fall for him."
Walker led off the eighth inning with a double, his first at-bat since Carr departed the game. On a normal night, a hit could be the spark for a rally, but a strikeout and a double play soon after were the icing on a poor offensive effort in which the team failed to show any fight after the first few innings.
Tonight, the two Kansas pitchers combined for nine innings thrown, eight hits distributed evenly throughout, three earned runs, and seven strikeouts. Carr was the clear standout, going seven strong for a Jayhawk team that had to use six arms in the ASU blowout win Friday night.
A win tomorrow will net ASU a series win. The Sun Devils can be encouraged that even in a subpar outing for the offense, which offered no support for its defense, it still contained one of the best offenses in college baseball and kept the game within reach.
The ASU arms have executed their assignments in this series. Yet, even during an encouraging pitching weekend so far, the bats have to be able to follow.
"They better (put this behind them) quickly because we'll be back here in 12 hours," Bloomquist stated. "It's got to be a continuous, consistent mindset when they come through the doors every day, and right now that's been a little bit of a challenge, there are days where they come out outstanding, and then there are days where they seem to be letdowns."
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