PHOENIX — Valentine’s Day is the day for love – a day for showing up and showing your affection. For those who spent their V-day afternoon at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, these themes were prevalent.
The Sun Devils gave their supporters plenty of reason to share the love today, but none drew more praise from the crowd than senior second baseman Nu’u Contrades.
The standout cleanup hitter entered play batting 1.000 after leaving his footprints all over the preceding game against Omaha. He collected a pair of both stolen bases and hits last night, and came around to score on three of his four trips on the bags in the season opener.
Contrades entered the year as the clear leader in the clubhouse and has carried that leadership role onto the field to open the year. He received a great hand from the fans each time he stepped up to the plate, and he built on his stellar performance last night with a grand slam in the third inning Saturday. The big hit capped off a five run barrage in the frame and broke the game wide open, giving the Sun Devils a 6-1 cushion early over the Mavericks.
“He’s our captain for a reason,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said.
Contrades had the most impactful round tripper, but he wasn’t the only one swinging a powerful bat in the heart of the order. The 3-6 hitters in the ASU lineup all left the yard Saturday, though Contrades’ blast was the only one that came with runners on.
Matt Polk, picking up his first start and hitting sixth, opened the scoring with a long ball of his own in the second inning, a no-doubt shot out to left field. It was his first collegiate action in just over a year, and the excitement from the dugout and from Polk himself was palpable.
Polk’s cohorts, rounding out the heart of the order, Dean Toigo and Dominic Smaldino, each added a homer to their ledger as well.
It was a complete attack from the Sun Devil offense Saturday, who, including those four home runs, collected 12 hits in total and scored 11 runs, stole five bases and drew eight free passes.
Consistent with the theme of love, every member of the starting nine collected a base hit.
ASU may have been able to inflict even more damage had it not left 10 men on base. Despite several chances, Polk’s solo bomb was the only two-out RBI the Sun Devils could muster.
Defensively, the Sun Devils were able to erase opposing baserunners who had made it aboard in the bookend innings of the game, with sophomore catcher Coen Niclai and Smaldino combining on a beautiful back-pick of Omaha’s Jackson Trout at first. Later, freshman catcher Cooper Clouser, a defensive replacement for Niclaigetting his first taste of collegiate baseball, threw a bullet down to second base to cut down Hayden Lewis’ attempted swipe, helping Austin Musso escape a rocky 9th inning.
Junior designated hitter Dominic Longo enjoyed a day in which he reached base all five times he came to the plate, collecting his first hit of the year and drawing three walks, along with a hit by pitch.
Junior righty Colin Linder, in his first start in over a year, pitched four frames of one-run ball, surrendering four hits and three walks while striking out a trio of batters.
“I wished some things had been cleaner”, Linder said. “But I feel great. I feel like I could’ve thrown 30-40 more [pitches]”. Linder’s fastball sat around the mid to low 90s, and topped out at 97.
Bloomquist acknowledged the great feeling of picking up the win, but took a more nuanced tone in assessing his team’s performance postgame.
“Sloppy 6 run win, but it’s tough to scoff at winning by 6,” Bloomquist said. “Gave up a lot of two-out baserunners, not a lot of two-out concentration from the pitching staff. We had a chance to really bust it open a couple of times offensively, but we just left runners on base…I’m happy, not satisfied.”
