A triple down the right field line silenced the crowd at Phoenix Municipal, capping a four-run seventh inning for GCU that erased ASU’s once-comfortable lead. In their final home game of the regular season, the Sun Devils saw all momentum slip away—and with just three innings left, they were suddenly fighting to avoid a deflating finish to their time at Muni.
Instead, the game never reached the eighth. ASU responded with a 10-run outburst in the bottom of the seventh, walking off GCU via mercy rule and closing out their home slate in emphatic fashion.
ASU Baseball saved its most dramatic statement for its final moments at home. After GCU erased a four-run lead, the Sun Devils answered in what would be their last half inning at Phoenix Municipal this season—with an offensive outburst that left no doubt. Fueled by 16 hits, including 12 for extra bases and six home runs, ASU crushed GCU 17-7 in seven innings, walking it off via mercy rule. It was a fitting end to a dominant 26-9 home slate—one final explosion in a season full of fireworks.
"It's kind of fitting," said Head Coach Willie Bloomquist. "For this team, in a way, you could sum up a final home game with that…We had a four-run lead, then stubbed our toe in the seventh, and this team responded—like they always do."
Respond they did. It’s the perfect phrase to capture the essence of this ASU squad—never down, never out, always finding a way to fight back. Whether it was bouncing back from two straight Big 12 series losses or digging deep on nights like tonight, when a lesser team might’ve folded, the Sun Devils keep pushing. They bat around, dominate, and leave you wondering how they’ve just turned the tide after a game that seemed poised to slip away.
"Did I expect that?" Bloomquist asked. "No. But am I surprised? No."
There was little anticipation that this game would unfold the way it did, but in hindsight, it feels fitting. On a night when Phoenix Municipal Stadium set a new home attendance record with 119,956 fans, it served as the perfect send-off as the Sun Devils head into their final series of the season, with Bloomquist’s first postseason run in the field of 64 now on the horizon.
The swing of the night, the one that sent Phoenix Municipal into a frenzy and made it clear this was a night meant to be, came from junior outfielder Isaiah Jackson. After already homering earlier in the game, Jackson stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and a charged crowd on their feet, almost expecting what was coming. He unloaded on a middle-middle pitch and sent it soaring into the night in right field for a grand slam that capped a nine-run inning, a moment so dramatic it felt ripped straight from a movie script.
Those were Jackson’s eighth and ninth home runs in his last ten games—part of a jaw-dropping stretch where he’s gone 15-for-29 with 23 RBIs. In just those ten games, he’s already surpassed his previous single-season career high in home runs, a surge reminiscent of the days when former No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson lit up Muni night after night.
That kind of breakout doesn’t just happen—it’s the result of a total buy-in behind the scenes. Bloomquist credits it to relentless work and, most of all, a change in mindset:
"I think it's just all coming together," said Bloomquist. "He and (hitting coach) Jason Ellison have worked extremely hard on revamping his swing and approach… To Isaiah's credit, he's bought in. There was some friction the past couple of years… trying to please everybody. But the day he got back from Summer Ball, he came into my office and said, 'Whatever you tell me to do, I'm doing this year. I'm not listening to anybody else.' I was like, 'Hallelujah.'… He hit rock bottom this summer, understood he had to make adjustments and stuck with it. Learning how to hit doesn’t come overnight—it takes consistency over time—and it’s starting to pay off. Couldn't happen to a better young man."
Jackson echoed his own success, along with the entire team's, using a phrase he’s leaned on all season: hitting is “contagious.” When one player smokes a baseball, it sparks a chain reaction, making everyone else believe they can do the same. It’s that fire, that energy, which has powered this team to remarkable performances—like their 26-run explosion against TCU earlier this season—and, at times, led to frustrating silences in losses.
More often than not, it’s this contagious drive that’s propelled them forward, and it’s why, after Tuesday’s victory, ASU finds themselves ranked 7th in the nation in runs scored.
Alongside Jackson, four other players caught the long-ball flu. Senior infielder Matt King, continuing his stellar season, launched a solo home run early to knot the game at one. Sophomore outfielder Brandon Compton kept the power surge going, crushing a homer to center. It marked the third straight game with a home run for both Compton and Jackson. After a cold April, Compton is heating up at just the right time, going 10-for-24 in his last seven games with six extra-base hits, three home runs, and 7 RBIs.
After the game, Bloomquist paused, a smile slowly spreading across his face as he imagined the possibilities. “If we can get (Compton) hot, get Vu hot, and Toby does what he does, and the top three are doing what they’re doing, like... It’s gonna be fun.”
The two home runs that truly ignited ASU’s explosive seventh inning came off the bats of junior infielder Kyle Walker and freshman outfielder Landon Hairston. Their back-to-back shots didn’t feel like daggers at first—just timely blasts that gave ASU a bit of breathing room after losing the lead earlier in the inning. But those swings turned out to be the spark. ASU batted around from that point on, piling it on, and fittingly, it was Walker who ended the game with a walk-off double—bookending the most electric inning of the night.
A large reason the turnaround in the bottom of the seventh was so shocking was because of what came in the top half. GCU’s four-run rally came against ASU’s two most trusted arms—junior right-hander Lucas Kelly and sophomore lefty Cole Carlon. Seeing both falter in the same frame would normally be a gut punch, the kind of moment that sends a team reeling. But this group doesn’t flinch. Instead, they stormed back like a team possessed—erasing doubt with every swing, turning what looked like a possible collapse into a full-blown statement.
This team differs from past Bloomquist teams. Expectations are higher, as is the belief in their ability to accomplish greatness. As Bloomquist put it, “Let’s win the conference... Let's really prove everybody wrong and go out and win this damn conference because we can. Mathematically, we can do that. And that was the mantra... a month ago when everybody else gave up on us. It’s like, ‘Screw them, let’s go win the conference and do it ourselves.’ And these guys have taken that to heart, and we’ve made a pretty damn good run at it here late... and mathematically, we still got a shot.”
For ASU (18-9 Big 12) to claim the conference title this upcoming weekend, they would need to sweep Oklahoma State (12-12 Big 12), while West Virginia (19-6 Big 12) would have to be swept by Kansas (17-10 Big 12). It’s a tall order, but in a season as unpredictable and chaotic as this one, it wouldn’t be the most surprising outcome.
You can ask the veterans, though—conference winners or not, this is no time for complacency. Players like senior infielder Jacob Tobias, who’s seen this team in similar spots before through his four years, know what’s at stake. In times past, they’ve fallen short, but this year is different. They’ve learned from their mistakes, and they’re ready to rewrite their story, determined to change the ending once and for all.
“I definitely wouldn’t say anyone is comfortable with where we're at,” Tobias said. “Like you said, the last couple of years, we've had situations where we’ve been this close, and so we don’t ever want to feel comfortable… I think we’re just taking it as a never be satisfied mindset and just keep going, trying to put ourselves in the best position possible.”
Jackson nodded in agreement, adding, “Yeah, I was going to say, like, the last two years before this one, it seemed like we kind of put it in other people’s hands to decide our future… So we kind of just put our heads down and went to work. That’s why we’re confident where we’re at now—we’re not going to let someone else make the decision for us.”
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