All offseason, all anybody in maroon and gold could talk about was a long lineup with talented arms combining to right the wrong that was a postseason-less 2023 season for Arizona State baseball. On Opening Night in 2024, the Sun Devils (1-0) backed up their lofty self-imposed expectations against Santa Clara (0-1), bringing around 11 runs on 17 hits with some stellar debuts on the mound that helped the Devils return to the diamond on Friday victoriously.
“Lot of good things, and things to work on still, of course,” head coach Willie Bloomquist noted. “Really happy with the way Thomas came out, set the tone and threw the ball well. For a freshman to come out and give us a good solid start like that and get through five was impressive, I thought.”
Giving the ball to a freshman on the first Friday of the season isn’t a common choice. Such a decision hadn’t been made in Tempe since Ike Davis took the mound on Opening Day in 2006. But Bloomquist was confident enough in Thomas Burns, turning the Wisconsinite loose against an experienced Bronco lineup that had no answers for the hard-throwing right-hander. In his first collegiate start, Burns would ride his mid-90s heater along with a tight yet devastating slider through five dominant innings, striking out seven batters and giving up just one home run, only after he had been given an eight-run cushion.
After going down in order in the first inning, Bloomquist admitted he was fearful of what his lineup would be able to do against Cade Pilchard, ace of the Santa Clara staff who came into this campaign off a stellar junior season where he maintained an impressive 3.48 ERA in over 50n innings of work.
“That kid’s a pretty good pitcher. Pilchard’s pretty dang good,” Bloomquist emphasized. “After the first inning, I’m like, ‘man, we’re in for a dog fight. That kid’s going to be tough; it’s going to be a low-scoring game.’”
Well Willie, in Pilchard’s first three frames against the Devils, he surrendered an eight-spot courtesy of an offensive barrage that the Sun Devils had been waiting months for.
A familiar face got the party started when Jacob Tobias led off the second inning with a wall scraper into the right field bullpen, but the torch would be carried by Isaiah Jackson two at-bats later when the sophomore center fielder put a ball way over the right field wall to establish an early three-run lead. Jackson’s round-tripper would be the first of three extra-base hits he would tally on the night, a far cry from the same player who had just three hits in his first six games as a freshman in 2023.
“Really confident going into this year,” Jackson said. “Last year, I was super nervous didn’t know what was coming. Definitely more ready this year.”
In all, Jackson finished the night going 3-5, combining the long ball with a pair of doubles and three RBIs. Joining him with a handful of extra-base knocks would be Brandon Compton, a redshirt freshman who watched last season unfold from the dugout. Having paid his dues to earn the DH role tonight, Compton didn’t make the 3,101 Sun Devil fans wait for a first impression of him, notching his first hit as a Sun Devil by blasting a two-run shot in the third, putting the Sun Devils up 8-0 and a wide smile on Compton’s trip around the bases.
“It was huge,” Compton acknowledged. “Makes you feel like all the hard work you did paid off.”
Compton, Jackson, and a three-hit night from JUCO transfer Kevin Karstetter will rightfully take the highlights of ASU’s aggressive offensive attack, but what may be even more impressive comes in the notion that two of the team’s top hitters from last year, Ryan Campos and Nu’u Contrades, combined to go 2-10 at the plate. With another top projected bat in Nick McLain out of the lineup due to injury, Bloomquist got an up-close look at the embarrassment of riches he had offensively when his squad brought double-digit runners around without much help from three of his best run-producers.
“Extremely pleased with the offensive output, in the way they attacked the zone and were ready to hit,” Bloomquist exclaimed. “Putting up some fireworks on an arm like that is exciting for the offense. When Campy has one hit, Contrades has one hit out of the 17, other guys are producing… When you put together a night like that off a quality pitcher, it makes me happy. Let’s not forget Nick McLain’s not in that lineup right now. We get that kid back; it really makes it 1-9.”
“Today’s the expectation, I feel like,” Compton added. “Aggressive, continuously pouring on runs, quick runs, that’s what we expect.”
The aggressive approach taken in the box by ASU was just as devastating as the bats themselves, as the lineup made it a priority to go at early pitches so as not to allow Pilchard any comfort on the bump.
“It’s more defined, with first pitch swinging, as looking for a pitch that you can do some damage with early in the count,” Bloomquist noted. “If that happens to be the first pitch, go. The last thing we want as an offense is to be hitting behind the count constantly. Pitchers are usually taught to get ahead, so if we’re up there letting them get ahead, they’re dictating the at-bat. We, as an offense, don’t like that. I want guys to be in the box and ready to go, swing, ready to hit.”
“We had a couple of scrimmages where we had to run poles or something if we didn’t swing at the first pitch fastball in the zone,” Jackson continued. “That’s what we’re supposed to do here. We’re supposed to be aggressive early in the count with fastballs.”
The lively and loud start at the dish would serve as a calming notion for Burns on the mound as he traversed his first outing with ease.
“For my first college outing, it helped a lot, knowing that the defense and the bats got my back,” Burns said. Pitching when it’s even is definitely a lot harder than pitching when you’re up a ton; you can pitch a little more relaxed, just pound the zone, trust the defense to make plays.“
After lifting Burns before the sixth in preservation of a careful ramp-up process drawn up by Bloomquist and pitching coach Sam Peraza, a trio of freshmen would share pitching duties for the final four frames and see a typical set of ups and downs. Left-hander Ben Jacobs came on after Burns and went six-up and six down, including striking out the side in the seventh with a gnarly display of breaking stuff.
Tacking on three more runs in the middle linings to take an 11-1 edge into the eighth, Wyatt Halvorson and Josh Butler would stumble in finishing the night, as Halvorson gave up a three-run shot to JonJon Berring in the eighth, his second of the night, while Butler scattered baserunners and allowed two in the ninth before closing out the 11-6 win. Rather than hit the panic button on the two debutants, Bloomquist understood the first-game jitters each surely had and was glad to be able to get them out of the way this early.
“No secret that we got a lot of freshman arms,” Bloomquist explained. “But hey, we’re at the end of the freshman year. After we get through a couple of weeks of this, and we get some jitters out, get them over the shock so they’ll be a little bit more comfortable net time out. We’re going to need those guys. Halvorson and Butler are good arms that we will need down the stretch. They’ll get better as we move on.”
“Everyone that got hit around a little bit, they all bounced back,” Burns added. “We all bounced back pretty good today.”
Even with some speed bumps, the Sun Devil pitching staff practiced what Bloomquist preaches in strike-throwing, allowing just two walks all evening.
Baseball Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby once said, “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” The words of the St. Louis Cardinals legend may as well have rang out over the loudspeakers at Phoenix Muni on Friday as the Devils cruised their way to a positive and prideful start to the season.
“No better feeling than wearing the Devils across your chest,” Jackson said.
“Feels good to play meaningful baseball again,” Compton mentioned. “Summer ball’s fun, but playing for a school and a state is awesome.”
“Good start for our guys tonight,” Bloomquist concluded. “Hopefully we can build on it.”
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