Bats go wild as Arizona State beats CSUN 20-11 in matinee game

At a certain point, this game felt like an episode of Oprah: You get a run, and you get a run, and you get a run!

The Sun Devilsplayed host to Cal Stade-Northridge, their last of five straight home games before a four-game road trip to the midwest, and both teams enjoyed an explosion of offense that ended in a 20-11 victory for the good guys.

Easton Barrett got the start, which has become the norm for these Tuesday games. And in keeping with that norm, Barrett lasted 2.1 innings before calling it a day. However, where he usually subs out early due to general duration issues, this one was due to Barrett struggling mightily to start the third.

Barrett gave up three straight singles to start the inning and, after an infield flyout, walked in a run. Another single brought in two of the three baserunners, and that's when Barrett's day was done. Jonah Giblin came in, but consecutive errors from the catcher - a passed ball and a strikeout thrown to first - brought in another run.

Giblin would get out of the jam from there, but the Matadors had racked up five runs in short order, all five of them being charged to Barrett.

That was just enough to take the lead, as Arizona State had gone off for four runs in the first inning. Both Nu'u Contrades and Jacob Tobias hit into ground outs to drive in a run before Matt King launched a two-run dinger.

With the lead flipping back to CSUN, though, the Sun Devils responded in the bottom of the third. Compton led things off with a single and then successfully stole second base. King stepped back up to the plate and delivered another bomb, putting Arizona State up 6-4.

While the inning ended soon after that, the scoring did not. The Sun Devils would rack up 11 more runs in the next two innings, with the Matadors not putting up anything in that stretch. Contrades and King both drove in two runs, and Josiah Cromwick brought King home with a homer of his own to round out the fourth inning.

In the fifth, two batters got walked before Kyle Walker came home on a wild pitch. Then, Jacob Tobias belted a pitch out of the park for two more runs, earning himself a nice distinction in the process.

Isaiah Jackson got the RBI bug a little later, driving in a run on a single. After that, Cromwick got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Kien Vu was walked to bring one more run in. That onslaught of scoring upped the score to 17-5.

From there, things went quiet for both sides over the next two frames. The bullpen strung together some really good stretches, with Giblin, Derek Schaefer, and Max Arlich combining for 4.2
scoreless innings with just four hits allowed.

Eli Buxton came in to pitch the eighth, but quickly got pulled. A single, a walk, and a double put up a run for the Matadors before one out had even been recorded. Then, three-run homer to make it a 17-9 game saw Buxton pulled for Wyatt Halvorson, who quickly ended the inning.

Arizona State would add some extra cushion, though. After their first two batters struck out, Landon Hairston and Beckett Zavorek both singled. Ky McGary drew a full count walk, which brought up a hungry Compton.

The three-run RBI double extended the lead to 20-9, bringing in Will Koger to finish things out. The former closer got two quick outs but stalled, surrendering a two-run RBI double. At that point, Willie Bloomquist swapped Koger for Tyler Meyer, who struck the final batter out in just three pitches.

It was a wild game with plenty of scoring, as Arizona State blasted four home runs with 19 of their 20 runs being RBI. It was the kind of win you'll take against an opponent like CSUN on a Tuesday afternoon. Now, the Sun Devils travel to Cincinnati to take on a rising Bearcats team.

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