Offense propels Arizona State to weekend sweep of Baylor

After opening the week with a tough home loss to New Mexico State, the season started to feel like a revival of last season's fade down the stretch.

For the time being, the Sun Devils have put a pause to those concerns after a key weekend conference sweep of Baylor, wrapped up by an 11-4 win Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Municipal Stadium to move to 31-14 (14-7 Big 12) on the season.

Kole Klecker and Jaden Alba combined for their second shutdown home Sunday in as many games, carving through the Bears' lineup to the tune of 13 strikeouts, scattering 4 runs on 7 hits while walking two. Offensively, it was production up and down the lineup. Every starter reached base and scored, while leadoff batters reached base in 6 of the 8 innings on the afternoon. Home runs by Austen Roellig and Dominic Smaldino were key, but it was the situational hitting that drove the bus. 9-for-23 with runners on and a perfect 4-for-4 with runners on 3B and less than two out helped to bring home the dominant win.

Quotables

"I think we're the best staff in the country. I think we punched 44 guys this weekend, something crazy like that, and that's obviously not the only thing we can do."

Kole Klecker on pitching staff

At a point in the season when teams are put to the test, there is an unspeakable value to one of your top arms able to show the confidence that his team is in top form. That's an attitude echoed from the offense as well.

"You can put me 7, 8, 9, 4. [I mean] That's even for anyone because we can all hit 1 hole, 2 hole."

Austen Roellig

"A lot of guys up and down the lineup that [are] contributing, so we need a complete lineup 1 through 9 that can beat you."

Head coach Willie Bloomquist

The messaging is the same coming from the players and the coaching staff, preaching consistent contribution no matter the role or spot in the lineup and lessening the dependence on one or two players to carry the weight.

Up Next

The Sun Devils will enjoy a week without any midweek games before traveling to Orlando to take on the University of Central Florida. The Knights are coming off a weekend sweep of their own at Utah, setting up a crucial series that will go a long way to deciding seeding in the Big 12 Baseball Tournament. Arizona State will return to Phoenix Municipal Stadium one final time as they host Oklahoma State over Mother's Day weekend May 8-10.

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