Offense explodes and pitching struggles in first weekend of Sun Devil Baseball

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

PHOENIX — After a long offseason and a lot of waiting, the 2024 baseball season is finally underway for Arizona State Baseball after a three-game series against Santa Clara. Each game was thrilling in its own right, and ASU presented a lot to be excited about after 27 innings.

Now that we’ve finally have seen this team play, where do things stand three games and one weekend series win later?

The Sun Devils Can Swing It

ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist preached all season that this lineup could be of the best in the country and that the Sun Devils had 12 to 13 bats that can all swing it, providing loads of depth. Through one weekend, his sentiment couldn’t be more correct.

The Sun Devils put together a weekend to remember from the offensive side of the ball. Scoring 38 runs across three games — which is more than any weekend series last season — ASU displayed loads of firepower up and down the lineup.

“It’s a good problem to have, but it’s trying to keep all these guys sharp and fresh is going to be a challenge,” Bloomquist said about the depth of the lineup. “I think when you look at the attitude of our clubhouse that it’s team first and check your ego at the door, and guys understand that we’re as a team going to do the best we can and put the lineup that we feel is going to help us win.”

The outstanding performance from this weekend has to go to sophomore center fielder Isaiah Jackson. In his freshman campaign, Jackson displayed great defense in center field but was streaky at the plate and struggled with strikeouts. On Sunday, he displayed that defense again, jumping at the wall to rob senior catcher Ben Steck, but this series was more about Jackson’s offense.

Across three games, Jackson drove in a ridiculous 10 runs, tallying six total hits with two home runs and two doubles. He was the team’s strongest offensive engine across the three games, and he had a chance to put the team on his back one more time on Sunday. However, Jackson popped out to second, but that doesn’t change the ridiculous weekend the sophomore had.

“Those are video game stats, and in the end, the guy was dialed in,” graduate outfielder Harris Williams said. “I mean, coming down to our last at-bat with a winning run on first base. I don’t know who else I might have at the dish there. I had 100% faith in him.”

While Jackson accounted for 10 of the team’s 38 RBIs — good for most in a single-week series since Matt Spencer in 2007 with 13 against Utah — the Sun Devils had four other players record at least five RBI against the Broncos.

Graduate outfielder Harris Williams and junior catcher Ryan Campos both had unbelievable performances on Sunday. Campos struggled across the first two games, but broke out of his slump with a two home-run, five-RBI performance on Sunday, including a three-run blast that tied the game at 11-11 in the seventh inning. Williams was consistent across all three games, recording a hit in each contest as well as home runs on Saturday and Sunday.

Junior first baseman Jacob Tobias and sophomore infielder Nu’u Contrades were the remaining two players with five RBI. Contrades hit a grand slam that capped off an eight-run third inning on Saturday, and Tobias had a pair of home runs.

While the overall performance was certainly impressive, the main note coming out of this weekend is ASU’s ability to manufacture comebacks, particularly across the two thrilling games to close out the series.

With the struggles of its pitching staff, ASU proving it is never out of any game is huge. Across the final two games of the series, there was a total of nine lead changes, and there was a palpable feeling that whenever Santa Clara retook the lead, the Sun Devils’ offense was never going to be too far behind.

“We bounced back several times to tie or take the lead against these guys,” Bloomquist said. “We were extremely resilient from a team energy standpoint; it was great all weekend long. The comeback, the fight in them, was there all weekend long. Yesterday and today especially. We came up a little short today, but that’s the positive side of it.”

Pitching Staff Preseason Worries Confirmed

Entering this season, there were no questions about the Sun Devil lineup full of proven college hitters. The exact opposite was said about the pitching rotation. With freshman Thomas Burns fronting a pitching staff that lacks proven arms, questions about ASU’s ability to get through games began popping up.

Burns proved a lot of the doubters wrong with his performance Friday night. Across five innings, which Bloomquist said was his maximum length, Burns shut down what proved to be a dangerous Broncos lineup. His fastball was working up to 95 mph, and his slider was devastating in early and late counts alike. Burns gave up a solo shot, but that was the only hit he allowed, striking out seven batters and walking just one.

The freshman was fantastic in his debut. However, the 22 innings that followed the rookie’s performance was a scary sight for the Sun Devils’ staff. Against the Broncos, pitchers not named Thomas Burns allowed a total of 32 runs on 36 hits, and ASU only managed to get out of eight innings without allowing a run.

The Sun Devils’ performance on the mound was certainly scary, but there were some good signs. The one thing ASU didn’t struggle with this weekend was excessive walks. With only nine batters walked across the three games, with sophomore Tyler Meyer accounting for four of them, the Sun Devils successfully pounded the zone all weekend — the only problem being that those pitches got pounded.

“I’d rather them get hit around the yard than walk the yard, so as long as they keep attacking the zone, we can work with that,” Bloomquist said. “We’ll get it figured out. I don’t believe that up and down our pitching staff, we get lit up that way. I think there’s things that we’re doing, tipping pitches a little, that we’ve got wind of.”

Overall, the first weekend showed a lot of negatives for the Sun Devil staff, but it was just the first series. It is going to be Bloomquist and pitching coach Sam Peraza’s job to figure out how the the staff will improve in future contests.