Baseball Routs Red Raiders, 21-5 - Arizona State University Athletics (2024)

• Box Score

Game Recap: Baseball | May 16, 2024

PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball opened the final regular season weekend at Phoenix Municipal Stadium with a statement win, putting the run rule into effect in the seventh inning to topple future Big 12 opponent Texas Tech (30-23), 21-5, on Thursday evening.

The Sun Devils (30-24) recorded their 10th game in a row with double digit hits with 23 tonight and sent four balls flying over the walls to begin Salute to Service Weekend.

Every starter earned a hit by the end of the fourth inning, as the Sun Devils quickly built a 16-4 lead. Jacob Tobias notched his team-leading 16th and 17th home runs of the season en route to an eight-RBI night - the fourth-best single-game total in ASU history. He has 14 RBIs in the last two games, alone.

Brandon Compton and Kevin Karstetter also contributed home runs to bring the Sun Devils to 96 on the season, their highest mark in the BBCOR era and one shy of their highest since 1993. Ryan Campos earned his 22nd and 23rd doubles of the year and Nick McLain, Tobias, and Jackson added one of their own. Four Sun Devils recorded four or more hits, with Tobias going a perfect 5-for-5, Campos 4-for-4 with a walk, and Compton 4-for-5.

Ben Jacobs had his sixth start in a row with 4.0+ innings pitched with 4.0 tonight. After allowing two hits and three runs in a first inning in which he struck out three, the sophom*ore pitcher only let up one hit and one run – a home run in the fourth – in the next three innings, making it easy for the bats to grow a strong lead. He ended the night with four walks and seven strikeouts on 80 pitches. Matt Tieding contributed 2.0 innings and only allowed two hits and one run while walking none and striking out two over 24 pitches. With one frame to go before a potential run rule, freshman pitcher Jaden Alba stepped up and recorded the Sun Devils' 10th strikeout of the night before two fly outs closed the game.

TURNING POINT
Although Texas Tech was able to earn three runs off Jacobs in the first inning, the sophom*ore pitcher recorded each out by strikeout to begin another quality outing on the mound. Arizona State responded quickly, as McLain and Campos were put into scoring position on a passed ball and Tobias drove them in with a single to center field to cut the lead to one. After blanking the Red Raiders in the second inning, the Sun Devils erupted with a six-spot in the bottom frame. Jackson led off with a double and was batted in on a strong single to center from Ondina. Campos' second hit of the game and 22nd double of the year set him and Ondina up to score on a Vu single. Tobias drove Vu in with the Sun Devils' third double of the frame and Compton drilled a 450-foot home run to close the inning with an 8-3 lead.

BIG MOMENT
The Sun Devils kept up their scoring with three runs in the third and didn't let up in the fourth. To lead off, Karstetter earned his second home run of the season in as many games with a nuke narrowly down the left field line. A new pitcher walked Ondina before giving up singles to Campos and Vu. Vu reached second on a wild pitch and was driven in as McLain became the last starter to record a hit – in just the fourth inning. Tobias earned his team-leading 16th home run and the Sun Devils' 95th of the year to bring in the fourth and fifth runs of the inning and leave ASU sitting comfortably up 16-4 after four.

FINAL STRAW
After recovering from the three-run first inning, Jacobs' only hit allowed through the rest of his 4.0 innings was a solo shot in the fourth. Recording four more strikeouts after the first inning, he ended the night with seven and was able to rest his arm for the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. Tieding entered as relief in the fifth inning and retired the side with two fly outs and a groundout. Allowing two doubles in the sixth, he stranded the second runner with his second strikeout of the inning and a pop fly to first, leaving ASU up 16-5. A five-run sixth inning made it all but inevitable as the run rule was put into effect after Alba retired the side in the top of the seventh.

QUOTABLES:
Arizona State Head Coach WIllie Bloomquist:
On how impressive the offense has been as they hope to make a postseason run:
"You're watching the same game as I am. It's been great to watch these guys come into their own and swing the bats the way they're capable of. There weren't a lot of cheap hits tonight. A lot of balls were hit on the screws and a lot of balls hit hearts. It's not just a handful of guys – it's up and down the lineup, which is great. I've said it before, we have guys on the bench who are good players, but there's just nowhere in that lineup right now that we can scratch them in there. It's been a great run for these guys. Hopefully they continue because we're going to need them to stay like this throughout the rest of the season."

On how crucial sophom*ore pitcher Ben Jacobs is going to be down the stretch:
"Well, all of our starting pitchers are going to be extremely crucial. Just to keep us in a game, give this offense a chance to go. That has to be our recipe here down the stretch. As far as Benny is concerned, individually, just the amount of growth that we've seen out of him, the amount of work that Sammy (Pitching Coach Sam Peraza) and the staff have put in with him to continue to pour confidence into that kid. He has great stuff and I think what you saw tonight is just a perfect example of how much he's grown. He didn't have his sharpest stuff in the first inning, was a little bit erratic and that cost him a few runs. But the way he was able to turn the page on that and come and settle in the next three innings. It wasn't a long start, but it was what we needed today. Just long enough to where we could have stretched him another inning or two if we needed to, but based on how the game was going it's like, 'Why burn him out?' and his pitch count was getting up there a little bit and that's kind of all the further we wanted to go to bring him back a week from now. So, just a tremendous job by him in his growth on being able to turn the page from one to the next and not let things get out of hand."

Arizona State junior first baseman Jacob Tobias:
On what's clicking for the offense and having success at the plate tonight:
"I'm really happy, it's the same old thing that we've been playing all year and the same game I've been playing my whole life. I trust myself to do that every game and happy I got it done today. I think we're finally doing what we've been able to do and I think it's going to keep going, it's been really cool to see,"

On the offense taking the pressure off the pitching staff:
"It's huge, we experienced it early in the year, how big it can be for our offense when we're struggling a little bit when your pitching staff does really well and so we're very happy to repay that. We've seen it all throughout baseball, if you have an offense that's continuously in the dugout, hitting, it makes it a lot harder for the other team to play the game, play it right so it makes a huge difference and gives us a lot of help with our pitching staff so we're happy to do it."

Arizona State junior catcher Ryan Campos:
On the win and keeping the momentum and Ben Jacob's performance tonight:
"The more we win the better. We understand that and we'll try to keep it rolling. He (Ben) fought a little bit tonight but we got four or five to help him. So obviously the score helped us out with that. It helped us get some guys in there but he is emerging as a guy we can rely on so we'll need him."

NOTABLES

• Ryan Campos' first-inning single means he has now reached base safely in 133-of-143 career games (93.0 percent) with the Sun Devils and all but one game this season.
• He notched his team-leading 23rd multi-hit game of the season with his four knocks today.
• His second and fifth-inning doubles were his Pac-12-leading 22nd and 23rd of the season. He entered the weekend 12th in the country in the category. Oddly, it was the first game of his career with multiple doubles. The 23 doubles are tied for the seventh-most at ASU since 1998.
• Texas Tech freshman starter Parker Huytra earned the first start of collegiate career after an impressive season out of the pen. Unfortunately the Sun Devils did not give him a soft landing. ASU plated eight earned runs in just two innings off the youngster, who had allowed eight earned runs ALL SEASON over 19 appearances and 30 innings coming into the contest.
• With four tonight, the Sun Devils have 96 homers this year, surpassing the program's previous BBCOR record of 94 from the 2019 season. ASU has a very real chance of becoming just the seventh Sun Devil team in the program's illustrious history to reach 100 home runs and the first to do it since having 101 in 1990. Outside that 2019 team, the 2024 Sun Devils are the first to reach the 90-homer mark since having 97 in 1993.
• ASU has reached double digit hits in 37 of 54 games this season, posting a season-high 23 today. Today was the 14th time in the last 15 games the team reached the mark, accomplishing the feat by the third inning.
• ASU reached double-digit runs for the 11th time in the last 14 games.
• Nick McLain extended his hitting streak to 16 games with his fourth inning double today, the longest for a Sun Devil this season.
• Ethan Mendoza extended his active hitting streak to 14-straight games with his first-inning single.
• ASU has scored three or more runs in 63 innings this season, four or more in 39 innings and five or more in 19 following the team's six-run second, three-run third, five-run fourth and five-run sixth.
• Kevin Karstetter homered for the second-straight game, his first two homers of the year and giving ASU 11 players this season with multiple homers.
• Jacob Tobias' fourth and sixth-inning homers were his 16th and 17th of the year, tied for 11th among all ASU players since 1998. They were his 33rd and 34th career homers, good for seventh at ASU since the 1998 campaign.
• After setting a career-best with six RBIs on Sunday against Stanford, Tobias topped it with eight today. It was the most since Kiel Roling had eight on March 17, 2007 against Maine. Coincidentally, Roling threw out the first pitch in tonight's game. It is the most against a Power Five opponent since Jeremy West had nine against Washington State on April 27, 2003.
• The eight RBIs from Tobias are tied for fourth most by a Sun Devil all time – three Sun Devils sit ahead of him with nine.
• The Sun Devils' 23 hits tie a season high and are tied for the 12th most for a Sun Devil team since 1988.
• The 16-run margin of victory was the largest allowed by Texas Tech since a 22-6 loss to Texas in 2008.

INNING BY INNING
First Inning
The Red Raiders managed three walks and two hits in the frame which loaded the bases. A bases-clearing double gave Texas Tech an early 3-0 lead going into the bottom half of the inning.

Campos led off with a single up the middle, then McClain worked a walk to put two Sun Devil runners on first and second. A passed ball advanced both into scoring position, which set up a Tobias single to score Campos and McLain and bring the Sun Devils within one, 3-2 going into the second.

Second Inning
Ben Jacobs settled in with two strikeouts and stranded a runner on first to bring ASU back to action.

Isaiah Jackson knocked a single to left-center field and then advanced to second off a throwing error to lead off the second inning. Steven Ondina then belted a single up the middle to score Jackson, tying the game at three. Campos knocked his second hit of the game to put runners on second and third. Kien Vu belted a single back up the middle to score Campos and Ondina, giving ASU a 5-3 lead. Tobias then doubled to the left-field gap to extend the lead to three. Then, on the first pitch Brandon Compton smashed a 450-foot left-field home run to extend the Sun Devil lead to five, putting them ahead 8-3 going into the third.

Third Inning
Despite allowing a walk, Jacobs threw another clean inning adding his fifth strikeout to shutout the Red Raiders.

The Sun Devils worked two walks to put runners on in scoring position after both advanced due to a passed ball in the inning. McClain returned to the plate and was hit in the calf to load the bases with two outs. Tobias then managed an infield single after the second baseman bobbled the throw, extending ASU's lead to 9-3. Compton then scored Campos after beating another infield single to keep the bases loaded, giving the Sun Devils a seven-run lead. Mendoza worked a walk which scored McLain to provide ASU with an 11-3 advantage going into the fourth frame.

Fourth Inning
The Red Raiders led off with a solo home run to cut their deficit to seven, but it was all the action they were able to generate, with the Sun Devils holding a 11-4 lead.

Kevin Karsetter led off ASU with a solo home run that hooked around the left-foul pole to bring the lead back to eight, 12-4 with no outs. After Ondina worked a walk, Campos belted a single down the right-field line, moving Ondina to third. Vu continued to find success at the plate with an RBI single, making it 13-4 for ASU. McLain then belted an RBI double to score Vu, extending the lead to ten. On the ensuing at-bat, Tobias then skied a two-run homer to left-field to put the Sun Devils ahead 16-4 going into the fifth inning.

Fifth Inning
Matt Tieding entered the game for Jacobs and threw another clean inning, going down the order and putting the Sun Devils back to the plate.

After two quick outs, Campos doubled for the second time for the night, but he was left stranded as the game rolled onto the sixth.

Sixth Inning
Despite giving up two doubles and a run, Tieding stranded the sole Red Raider in scoring position holding a 16-5 lead with ASU back on offense.

McLain led off with getting on base due to an error on the shortstop, then advanced to second off a wild-pitch. Tobias then smashed his fifth hit of the game with his second home run of the contest, putting the Sun Devils ahead 18-5. After Compton beat out the throw on an infield single, Mendoza smacked a single putting runners on first and second. Jackson was able to single, scoring Compton givng the Sun Devils their 19th run of the game with runners on second and third with no outs. A sacrifice fly from Karstetter gave ASU 20 runs for the second time this season, and another sacrifice fly was scored from Ondina to give the Sun Devils a monumental 21-5 lead going into the seventh.

Seventh Inning
Jaden Alba came in for relief and registered a 1-2-3 inning to ensure the run-rule victory for the Sun Devils.

ON DECK:
The Sun Devils will face-off against the Red Raiders tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. AZT before concluding the regular season on Saturday against UNLV at the same time, honoring the senior class. All games will take place at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and be broadcast on Pac-12 Arizona.