Arizona State pummels Cal State Fullerton 14-4, wins game early

There was a lot riding on this one for Arizona State.

For starters, the Sun Devils had lost three straight Tuesday night games, all in demoralizing fashion. The opponent, Cal State Fullerton, had won eight of their past nine games. And Arizona State had just found their way into the Top 25 for the first time this year.

The battered fan syndrome suggested that this solo outing against the Titans was a guaranteed loss. But Willie Bloomquist's club showed incredible focus and discipline, building a big lead early and burying Cal State Fullerton in just seven innings.

Bloomquist turned to Wyatt Halvorson, typically a relief pitcher, for the Tuesday night start. With an upcoming weekend series against rival Arizona, the hope was that Arizona State wouldn't need to go deep into their bullpen.

Tuesday also marked the return of Kien Vu, who had missed the past few weeks with an undisclosed foot injury that had him in a walking boot. Bloomquist sought to ease him back into action, only putting Vu in the designated hitter slot.

Halvorson proved to be solid, though not very durable. He pitched two shutout innings before being replaced by Derek Schaefer, who would give up one run in two innings. Bloomquist used a few unusual suspects from there - Alec Belardes and Max Arlich - before turning to Cole Carlon and Will Koger for brief shutout stints.

Of course, the story of this game wasn't the pitching so much as it was the hitting. Things got off to a great start in the first inning, with Jacob Tobias driving in a run on a sacrifice fly. Then, Brandon Compton stepped up and blasted a doozy of a three-run dinger.

The Sun Devils would keep racking up runs, scoring at least two in each of the first four frames. By the time Cal State Fullerton got one run on the board, they were down 8-1. Right after that, Arizona State responded with a four-run frame, with solo RBI's fro, Vu, Brody Briggs, Ky;e Walker, and Landon Hairston.

The Titans stacked three runs in the fifth, but the Sun Devils totaled two more in the sixth to extend the lead to 10. A quick shutout frame in the seventh made it official: the mercy rule was called and Arizona State took this one in short order.

With such a pivotal series coming up this weekend, this was exactly what the Sun Devils were hoping for. Their offense did the heavy lifting, the bullpen didn't use too many of its top arms, and they escaped with a quick win in just seven innings. Now, all eyes turn to the Wildcats.