With two outs in the second inning, sophomore catcher Broddy Briggs homered to right center. The home run broke two ASU school records, and despite being a simple solo shot, fans were going crazy for it. How? Because with seven innings remaining, that home run was ASU's sixth of the inning and eight of the game overall.
Up until that point, ASU’s weekend series against BYU had gone about as well as it possibly could have. On Thursday, junior left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs struck out 11 en route to an 8-3 win, while on Friday, ASU used six home runs en route to a 12-4 victory, winning the series.
Back-to-back conference series wins were precisely what ASU needed after dropping the series to Arizona and Cincinnati consecutively. However, it seems that not much momentum has been gained since back-to-back midweek losses to Purdue and GCU, as well as the series' final game against Texas Tech, have prevented any sort of win streak from emerging.
A series finale against BYU, with a sweep on the line, hoped to provide the catalyst for a late-season hot streak against a solid .500 Cougar squad. Last week, ASU lost the series finale versus Texas Tech, which was ultimately a disappointing ending to a positive series that led to their defeat against GCU. Saturday provided the Sun Devils with the necessary adjustment and a decisive positive series-ending surge, as they scored 13 runs against the Cougars in the opening two innings. ASU's eight home runs and explosive second inning were too much for BYU to handle, as they won 16-6 via mercy rule.
Junior outfielder Isaiah Jackson summed it up best: when he sees his teammates hit "a lot of barrels," it makes him feel like he can do the same. That contagious energy was on full display tonight, as ASU’s lineup showed rare symmetry, as almost every hitter looked capable of launching a home run with the way the ball was flying.
For comparison, across town, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Eugenio Suárez had a historic four-homer night, but he was the only player on his team to homer, with the rest of the lineup managing just three hits total. What ASU achieved, with constant contributions from top to bottom, is exactly what head coach Willie Bloomquist has been preaching: a complete team effort every night, and this team will go far.
The first two innings of Saturday’s game felt like a fever dream. After a Friday night where ASU’s home run surge was a major storyline, junior outfielder Kien Vu — who had already homered twice the night before — and senior infielder Matt King each launched first-inning home runs, setting the tone for what would become a record-breaking day.
What followed in the second inning was pure chaos. ASU exploded for ten runs on eight hits and two walks while smashing a school-record six home runs for a school-record eighth home run of the game overall. Jackson and Briggs even went back-to-back twice in the same inning, something Jackson said afterward he doesn’t believe has ever happened in baseball.
The inning’s highlight came when Jackson, with two outs and a full count, crushed a grand slam that felt straight out of a movie, sending Phoenix Municipal into a frenzy. Most of the damage came against senior right-hander Hayden Coon, who entered in relief but allowed five hits, two walks, and seven earned runs without recording an out.
For Jackson and everyone else involved, hitting home runs—and lots of them—has been incredibly enjoyable.
“It's just a fun game," Jackson said. "On offense, just everybody catching barrels and getting hits, like seeing their numbers up on the boards, it’s cool. It's like the fun part of the game makes you feel like a kid playing in the backyard, just watching your boys catch a barrel off somebody else, and then with the pitchers, it's just fun out there, especially for me in center, because I got a really good view of everything. I guess it's fun watching Martinez dominate, or Kelly just go .98, and Carlon making people look dumb is so fun to watch.”
Bloomquist stated that he "can't remember a better inning than that," and while every game attendee may agree, it's still high praise from the 47-year-old head coach who has spent his entire life in baseball, from college ball to the big leagues and now coaching.
ASU capped a 15-homer weekend in the second inning, boosting their season total by 23% after starting with 48. Though home runs have been limited at times, Jackson noted that hitting is contagious, and this power surge should restore the Sun Devils' confidence.
King, Jackson, and Briggs each hit multiple home runs on Saturday, while Vu and Tobias added their third and second homers of the weekend. Coming off Tuesday’s loss to GCU, where Bloomquist said "pretty much everything" needed to change, ASU clearly responded.
Briggs stood out with a multi-homer game and a key defensive play, throwing out a runner at second in the first inning. As a non-everyday catcher, performances like this — especially with Bloomquist emphasizing competition and lineup changes moving forward — could help Briggs earn more playing time.
“Briggsy's a kid that wants to be in there every day,” Bloomquist said. “And Crom's a kid that wants to be in there every day, and I've told him both that I don't want you to be any different. You're supposed to want to play every day. That's called being competitive. At the same token, I'm going to write the lineup that I think gives us the best chance to win that day. ‘So you guys both need to be ready.’ And Briggs has been chomping at the bit to get back in there and made the most of his opportunity today. It's ‘you want to be in there every day, show me, you know? I don't write the lineup; you guys ultimately do based on your performance, so with his performance tonight, he'll probably be back in there Tuesday.”
One of the major themes of ASU’s season has been the emergence of unexpected leaders. While Briggs has been a standout, few would have predicted that players like Matt King and junior infielder Kyle Walker would be driving the offense at this point. King currently leads the Big 12 with a .416 batting average and a 1.111 OPS, while Walker boasts a .473 on-base percentage — two stats that have perfectly complemented each other at the top of the lineup.
The chemistry between the two has been undeniable, with Walker ranking second in the Big 12 in runs scored, largely because King seems to make it a mission to drive him in every time he reaches base.
“It just kind of feels like we're always picking each other up,” King said. “If it gets on base, I'm trying to hit him in. I told him the other day I'm trying to make him the highest-scoring player in the Big 12 in runs scored. I told him that the other day, and he's like, ‘I'm gonna get on for you’... The chemistry we have, we just clicked pretty early on in the fall, and we just built on that and carried it on into the spring.”
ASU got the sweep they were chasing, and the dominant way they did it should fuel even bigger ambitions. With three Big 12 series ahead against teams under .500 and Bloomquist preaching a one-game-at-a-time mindset, the Sun Devils have a real shot to surge to the top of the conference if they stay locked in.
“I think you get hot by focusing on winning pitches, one game at a time. You can't look ahead and say, oh, yeah, anybody can mathematically draw this out and say, well, let's win this. Okay, how are you going to win that many games? You have to show up and compete every day…in my mind, just focus on getting our guys to play to the best of their ability. If we do that, we're going to get hot. There's no question about it, and I've said it all year: if these guys can reach their full potential at the right time. It's going to be a fun last month.”
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!
