Arizona State rallies late, beats Wildcats 8-4 to avoid the series sweep

It's not going to make up for losing the series, but the Sun Devils will at least sleep easier knowing they didn't get swept.

After dropping the first two games this weekend to clinch a series loss to rival Arizona, thereby squandering a golden opportunity to announce themselves as the team to beat in the Big 12, Arizona State bounced back Sunday with an 8-4 win to avoid the sweep.

Jaden Alba got the Sunday start, and early on this game was looking like a repeat of the previous two nights.

Alba started strong. Through the first three innings, he surrendered just one hit and one walk with five strikeouts. The issue is that he had zero run support, as the Sun Devils once again struggled to get anything going on offense.

By the time the fourth inning came around, Alba was in a difficult spot. A lead-off double came home with an RBI single on the next at-bat, breaking the deadlock. Another double was followed up by a home run, and the Wildcats had racked up four runs before Alba had even recorded an out.

The Sun Devils got out of the fourth without any further damage, but Cole Carlon subbed in to get the final out, ending Alba's night early.

Arizona State singled to start the bottom of the fourth, but immediately grounded into a double play, their 10th of this weekend series. That statistic spoke to just how dominant Arizona's defense has been through this stretch.

However, things finally broke open in the fifth. Brandon Compton got it started with a lead-off double, and Matt King delivered right after with a Kinger Dinger, racking up two runs in short order.

That was it for the fifth, but the Sun Devils kept their foot on the gas in the sixth inning. A walk for Landon Hairston and a single for Nu'u Contrades got the inning off right, and a walk for Compton loaded the bases. King got hit by a pitch to drive in a run while keeping things loaded, setting up for Isaiah Jackson.

Just like that, Arizona State got on top with a 5-4 lead. They added some extra padding, too, with a Brody Briggs double bringing King home to make it 6-4. The Sun Devils would later add two more in the bottom of the eighth - an RBI single from both Kien Vu and Briggs - to make sure this game was locked up.

However, the real star of the show was Carlon, who got credit for the win. Through 4.1 innings pitched in relief of Alba, he struck out 10 batters and put zero men on base. No hits, no walks, no errors. Carlon was absolutely lights out for the Sun Devils in this one, single-handedly stopping the bleeding after Alba was shell-shocked in the fourth.

Willie Bloomquist turned to Lucas Kelly in the ninth, as Carlon had reached 62 pitches. Kelly put two on base, but struck out the final two batters to close things out.

Outside of that fourth inning, it was a dominant night on the mound for Arizona State. Their offense continued their weekend funk, but broke out in a big way, scoring 2+ runs in three of the final four frames.

The win still feels bittersweet, though. This game was a reminder of how good the Sun Devils can be, but they weren't at their best on the biggest stage on Friday and Saturday. Still, avoiding the sweep counts for something.

Up next is a Tuesday night clash with CSUN before a weekend series against Cincinnati. That's four winnable games that should help regain some momentum for a Sun Devil team sure to drop out of the Top 25 after just one week.