PHOENIX – At this time a season ago, Landon Hairston only had one extra-base hit and zero home runs as a young freshman. This year, the sophomore outfielder is having a dominant season at the plate, with last season’s numbers.
In Monday’s game, Hairston blasted a pair of home runs as No. 25 Arizona State baseball (21-8, 5-4 Big 12) beat San Diego State (15-15) 6-2. Those were his 16th and 17th long balls of the season.
“I don’t think people realize what he’s doing right now,” Arizona State head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “I’ve personally never seen something like this. Talking to the coaches, I don’t think anyone else has either. (Hitting coach) Jason Ellison played with Barry Bonds, and he’s like ‘Dude, I haven’t seen anything like this, other than Bonds.’”
The Bonds comparison is warranted. Hairston’s 17 home runs in 29 games are one shy of outfielder Isaiah Jackson’s team-leading 18 last season, and Hairston has played 31 fewer games. He has homered seven times in his last five games and 15 times in his last 17 games.
In his final season at Arizona State, Bonds slugged 23 home runs. In his first two seasons, he had 11 each, totalling 22. In Hairston’s first two seasons, he has compiled 21, with about half a season remaining.
The batting average has not gone away for Hairston either; he has a .468 average, up .135 compared to last season. In the 17-game streak, he is batting .516 (32/62). He has a 12-game hitting streak as well, despite pitchers changing their approach on him.
“I think it’s a lot more nibbling around the edges of the zone, but they still got to throw it over the plate to get me out,” Hairston said. “When a team started to figure out what my weaknesses were, I’d try to play into their game and swing at what they wanted me to swing at.”
That’s impressive. Hairston won the D1 Baseball Golden Spikes National Player of the week and Perfect Game Co-Player of the Week for his efforts in the West Virginia series and the midweeks before.
Outside of Hairston, redshirt junior second baseman Nu’u Contrades continues to have a good season. He singled before being pulled for load management reasons, coming off his injury. The Hawai’i native has career highs in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
After Contrades, redshirt junior infielder Garrett Michel went 1-2 with a run scored in the designated hitter role that Contrades filled.
Fifth-year right fielder Dean Toigo continues to build on his solid season. He went 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
“He’s getting a lot of hits the other way,” Bloomquist said. “The teams that were shifting on him were burned a little bit.”
The middle infield duo of junior shortstop PJ Moutzouridis and sophomore second baseman Beckett Zavorek both had a hit and a run scored in three at-bats. Moutzouridis was hit by a pitch.
Redshirt sophomore catcher Brody Briggs had a two-out double that knocked in a pair of runs.
The pitching was excellent.
Redshirt sophomore southpaw Easton Barrett pitched well as the starter. He allowed two hits, which were both home runs off the bat of Aztec senior designated hitter Tyce Peterson, and these were the only runs he gave up. On 58 pitches, he walked one and struck out a pair.
Barrett has been operating much more smoothly since he moved to the midweek starter role. In those three games, he has a 1.50 ERA with five walks and two hits across 12 innings. In his first four appearances, the Utah-native threw a 13.50 ERA with 13 walks and four hits across 5.1 innings, a significant difference from what he has been of late.
His season ERA is 5.19.
Redshirt junior righty Colin Linder threw four innings of no-run baseball after Barrett. Linder’s first 11 batters were perfect and could have had a 12th if a borderline strike call had gone his way. Instead, he finished with a hit and walk allowed, striking out six on 68 pitches.
Linder is having a solid season after missing 2025 with arm surgery. He has thrown 25.2 innings with a 4.21 ERA.
“I felt good, finally felt a few things start clicking better,” Linder said. “There’s still things to work on, but pretty happy.”
Sophomore righty Finn Edwards threw a bumpy but scoreless ninth. The Aztecs put runners on second and third with one out, but Edwards shut them down. He has a 3.52 ERA this season and emerged as a top bullpen arm.
The Sun Devils are 7-1 in midweeks this season compared to last season’s 9-6.
Looking ahead to the Sun Devils next series, Bloomquist announced the “tentative” rotation for the Sun Devils' trip to Tucson.
Thursday: sophomore RHP Taylor Penn (4-0, 10 APP, 1 start, 21 IP, 2.14 ERA, 1.19 WHIP)
Friday: junior LHP Cole Carlon (2-1, 7 APP, 7 starts, 35.1 IP, 3.57 ERA, 1.23 WHIP)
Saturday: senior RHP Kole Klecker (3-2, 6 APP, 6 starts, 31 IP, 5.81 ERA, 1.35 WHIP)
That leaves junior right-handed pitcher Alex Overbay out of the rotation, who has been struggling as of late, but he could see some action out of the bullpen.
There are two things to expect in Tucson: the chippieness of the Territorial Cup and Landon Hairston to do something excellent.
“He’s (Hairston) been the same confident guy since he got here,” Briggs said. “He’s finally over 200 pounds; he’s not a victim weight anymore.”