One week earlier, the No. 8 Arizona State Sun Devils blundered a Sunday matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers after two dominating performances to start the series, failing to close out the three-game sweep.

That would not be the case today, as ASU (13-4) defeated the Fresno State Bulldogs (8-7) by an 8-3 score, securing their second three-game sweep of the season. It’s the fifth consecutive win for the Sun Devils and their 11th in the last 12 games, bringing some momentum into conference play, starting Friday, after a slow start to the season.

“I think that the last 15 games or so is going to prepare us for (conference play),” pitching coach and acting manager Jason Kelly said. “We’ve been through some ups and downs, we’ve blown teams out, we’ve been in dog fights, we’ve given up the lead late in the game, we’ve scored runs, we’ve done things late in the game. So, I think we’re prepared for what the conference is going to bring to us.”

Junior starting pitcher Justin Fall earned his first win as a Sun Devil in his fourth start, settling in nicely after some bumps in the road during the early innings. He finished with six innings pitched, allowed four hits, three runs (two earned), walked three batters and struck out six in a 76-pitch effort.

It was a respectable bounce-back effort by Fall, to say the least, after he gave up six earned runs in three innings during his last start, the aforementioned defeat at the hands of Nebraska.

“I just think I was mentally tougher,” Fall said. “Was able to handle the moment, make pitches when I had to make pitches, and not get down on myself, and kind of treat it pitch-by-pitch, batter-by-batter, and I think that helped.”

At the plate, ASU got contributions up and down the lineup. The effort was led by a pair of home runs from junior third baseman Gage Workman; a solo shot on the first pitch of the fourth inning that tied the game at 3-3, and a two-run shot that capped a four-run fifth, which ended up being the final runs from either side on the afternoon.

“It’s not just his numbers, but he’s such a great kid and such a hard worker that everybody is pulling for him,” Kelly said. “You want him to have success because it helps us win. But you want him to have success because we know how hard he works, the time that he puts in, and nobody is more committed to this team and winning than he is.

“So, to see him have success, the whole dugout gains energy, and we know offensively if he starts to roll, we’ll be an issue with most teams we face.”

Workman was joined by five of his teammates in having multi-hit afternoons, and while he led ASU with three runs batted in, it was a three-hit effort by junior left fielder Trevor Hauver that led the team in that department. Two of those hits were doubles, and in drawing one of the team’s two total walks he also led both sides in reaching base four times.

Additionally, the Sun Devils displayed opportunistic hitting this afternoon, with three hits that brought in multiple runs. Junior right fielder Hunter Jump (2-for-4, two runs, two RBI’s) smacked a two-run double down the first-base line to score a pair in the fifth then scored soon after on Workman’s second homer.

Earlier, sophomore center fielder Dusty Garcia (1-for-3, two RBI’s, hit by pitch) smashed a two-run, two out double to get ASU’s scoring started in the second inning, scoring freshman designated hitter Nate Baez from second and Jump from first, giving the Sun Devils some production out of the nine spot.

“Guys start getting comfortable on what teams are trying to do to them,” Kelly said. “So, scouting reports get thrown around and get mixed around, and guys get comfortable with how guys are trying to attack them, and they start to make adjustments. Now, teams will start to make adjustments to them.

“So, when the offense gets going, that’s contagious for everybody because it takes a little bit of pressure off, you know, if Gage is hitting it takes pressure off (junior first baseman Spencer Torkelson), and if Tork’s hitting it takes pressure off Hauver, and those guys, when they’re all working together, it’s a pretty formidable lineup.”

As powerful as the Sun Devil bats have been, scoring 21 runs in this three-game series and 111 runs in the past 12 games, the Bulldogs were keeping up in the early innings. A couple of defensive blunders on ASU certainly helped Fresno State’s cause—hence why one of Fall’s runs allowed wasn’t earned—but there were four lead changes (not counting ties) through four innings.

However, after the Bulldogs scored a run in the second and added a pair in the third, Fall settled in on the mound. He retired eight consecutive batters from the end of the third through the fifth, and still didn’t allow another hit in the scoreless sixth, his final frame pitching today.

“He gets—I don’t know if excited is the word—but he’s intense, and sometimes that gets in his way,” Kelly said. “We want to make sure we can tone that down and make sure he’s focused on what he can control, and I think in the end, he threw strikes and pounded the zone, he got them out of their rhythm a little bit. The more strikes you throw, the more pitches they’re going to swing at, so they started to chase a little bit because he started pounding the zone.”

One more interesting nugget from today was that Workman, a switch-hitter, admitted that today was the first time he can recall hitting a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game since the start of his high school career. With today’s effort, he doubled his home run total on the season coming into the day, which is now at three.

The Sun Devils are scheduled to return to action Tuesday when they host the No. 25 Arizona Wildcats for a non-conference contest. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. However, due to the weather forecast, this game could be postponed. Stay tuned to Devils Digest for updates.