(Photo: Sammy Nute/WCSN)
TUCSON — At the end of Willie Bloomquist’s second season as head coach of the Arizona State baseball team, the 14-year MLB Veteran sat with his team for the NCAA Tournament selection show and watched as his program’s arch-rival was selected instead.
The Sun Devils took care of business in its regular season series against the Wildcats, sweeping them at Phoenix Municipal stadium in late March. However, a midweek non-conference trip down to Tucson in mid-April saw ASU not only lose, but show signs of life in a 20-0 defeat. The loss began a stretch of difficult baseball for the Sun Devils that eventually lead to the devastating scene come Tournament selection time.
One year later, the Sun Devils (9-9, 3-2 Pac-12) avenged their Tucson terrors, clinching a series win over the Wildcats (7-10, 2-3 Pac-12) and earning ASU its first series win down south since 2016.
“This is a big series for not only our team, the rivalry, but for a lot of people out there, so they need to understand that this is important,” Bloomquist said. “They’re taking it to heart, and they know that this is a fun series. The emotions are running high, and when you take the first two games, celebrate this.”
When Bloomquist took the position, he said that one of his top goals was to restore ASU to the culture he was a part of as a player in 1998, the last time the Sun Devils played in the College World Series final. His main mission is to build the ASU back to a perennial contender for trips to Omaha, restoring the culture of the school that has produced the most MLB draft picks of any program.
As recently as Tuesday, following a tough 6-4 home loss to New Mexico, Bloomquist stated that he thought his team was “representing the program very poorly”, and that the blame “falls on (his) shoulders.” Four days later, his squad buckled down for two gritty wins in extremely hostile territory.
The last two games between these two arch-rivals, entering this weekend, were two blowout wins for the Wildcats. The aforementioned 20-0 midweek drubbing was followed up by another Arizona-dominant 13-2 win in Scottsdale during the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament. Those two games can’t be more different from the performance the Sun Devils have put on so far this weekend.
Friday night saw freshman right-hander Thomas Burns arrive in Tucson for his first start against the Wildcats. He battled all night and delivered a gritty performance that saw him allow 10 baserunners but allow just one earned run. Sophomore righty Ben Jacobs followed and threw two innings, closing the game after the Sun Devils took a ninth-inning lead. It was the first time ASU had used just two pitchers all season.
24 hours later, it happened again.
“We got plenty of bullets down (in the bullpen),” Bloomquist said. “That’s reassuring going into Sunday when that hasn’t been the case the past few Sundays. We’re excited about it. We like where we’re at.”
Senior southpaw Connor Markl was brilliant in his return from tricep tendonitis — which saw him sit out his start against Oregon last week — throwing six shutout innings and allowing just one hit while striking out eight. It was the best performance of his career and one that he hopes to build off of.
“Everything was working, kept the slider and the changeup going,got the heater going, just kind of on those nights that it was all clicking,” Markl said. “I was just trusting my stuff, trusting each pitch that I throw, and when you have conviction with it it tends to go pretty well.”
Following the game, Bloomquist entered the dugout to a chorus of screams and celebration. Despite preaching the same effort and attention on every game, he has clearly made it a point to instill in his players that this series means more than any other.
The Sun Devils have already secured a series win in Tucson, but they know the job isn’t finished. Last season, even a sweep wasn’t enough by the end of the season, so ASU will do whatever it takes to ensure that last season doesn’t happen again.
“That was a pretty bad feeling they left with us last year, left a bad taste in our mouth,” junior outfielder Nick McLain said. “It’s nice to get a win. Hopefully, we can sweep it tomorrow.”
“We haven’t forgotten last year,” Bloomquist said. “We know what happened last year. We swept them in conference play last year, and apparently, that wasn’t enough. We’ll have to try and sweep them again, and beating them in the midweek or later on in the year would be nice. But first things first, we got to come ready to play tomorrow.”
