When the runs come, they come in bunches, and that's been the story of the last three games for the Sun Devils.
Coming off a weekend sweep, Arizona State looked to extend their winning streak to four games at the scuffling Dirtbags of Long Beach State. The bats looked sleepy for the first half of the game but hit the gas after Isaiah Jackson's 5th inning home run to overwhelm the Long Beach bullpen en route to an 11-1 final in 8 innings.
Derek Schaefer got the nod on the mound after working a scoreless 9th on Friday against BYU. He stranded some early traffic after a two out triple in the 1st and back to back walks in the 2nd before the Dirtbags pushed the first run across in the 3rd. Back-to-back singles from Conner Stewart and Kyle Ashworth had two on with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt from Alex Champagne, Long Beach took the lead on a sacrifice fly from Nathan Cadena before Schaefer closed the door on the inning, getting Armando Briseno to fly out.
Jonah Giblin came on in the 4th for Schaefer, holding serve over his three innings of work by allowing just two walks, but the bats still weren't quite ready to show up through four innings as Josh Donegan limited the Devils to two hits while striking out three over his three innings, and Ka'imi Kahalekai started his relief outing with a perfect 4th inning, inducing groundouts from all three Devils batters he faced. However, the tide would turn in the 5th inning.
A leadoff walk and stolen base by Kien Vu got the Devils into scoring position, and a wild pickoff attempt advanced him to third with just one out. After a strikeout from Brandon Compton, Isaiah Jackson struck for his 9th home run of the season and third in the last two games, giving the Devils a 2-1 lead.
Giblin pitched a perfect 6th, highlighted by back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, putting the Devils back at the plate looking to extend the lead. Kyle Walker popped out to start the inning, but the wheels would fall off for Kahalekai from there. Back-to-back doubles from Landon Hairston and Matt King stretched the lead to 3-1, and Jacob Tobias added a single through the right side of the infield to put runners at the corners with still only one out.
Vu walked after working the count full to load the bases, setting the table for a 2-RBI single from Nu'u Contrades that made it 5-1.
That signaled the end of the line for Kahalekai as manager T.J. Bruce called upon the lefty Cristien Banda to stop the bleeding. Willie Bloomquist in turn went to his bench, pinch hitting Jax Ryan to avoid the left-on-left matchup, and that move paid immediate dividends as Ryan launched a 1-0 pitch deep into the Phoenix night for his first career home run.
Banda would settle in briefly as he struck out Jackson for the second out of the inning, but the bats weren't finished. Brody Briggs and Kyle Walker both singled, and Landon Hairston added the 7th run of the inning on a base hit through the right side that scored Briggs. Some light chaos ensued as Hairston got caught in a rundown between first and second that was forgotten as Walker attempted to come all the way around from first to score, getting thrown out at the plate to end the inning with a 9-1 lead.
Cole Carlon was the next call to the bullpen, walking one and striking out one in a clean 7th inning. Banda countered with a 1-2-3 bottom half to keep the score at 9-1 heading to the 8th inning. A walk and stolen base were the only action on the basepaths for the Dirtbags in the top of the 8th, sending the Devils to the plate with one last chance to give fans an early exit from the park.
Nu'u Contrades immediately obliged with a leadoff triple, and after a four pitch walk to Jax Ryan, Isaiah Jackson pushed the lead to 10-1 with an RBI single up the middle, putting runners at first and second with nobody out.
A fielders choice put Ryan on third and Brody Briggs at first, and Bruce went back to his bullpen for Austin Puett to attempt to get the last two outs of the inning. After striking out Kyle Walker on three pitches, Briggs stole second and Hairston walked to load the bases for Matt King. On an 0-2 count, King delivered an RBI single off first baseman Connor Charpiot, securing the 11-1 mercy rule win.
Winners of four straight, the Devils improve to 29-16 on the season and will look to complete the midweek sweep tomorrow night before heading on the road to Waco to take on Baylor in the second to last road trip before the Big XII tournament. The offense looks to be firing on all cylinders at the right time as the calendar turns to May, pushing for the first NCAA tournament appearance since 2021.