Sun Devils crush Cougars 13-1 for dominant series win

The Sun Devils made this one look easy.

After their bullpen dropped Friday night's series opener against Houston, Arizona State roared back with a 13-3 victory on Saturday, setting up a pivotal rubber match for the Mother's Day crowd. Easton Barrett, who has recently taken over as the Sunday starter, got the call in a must-win scenario.

Things didn't start off great for Barrett, He forced two fly outs to start the game, but then gave up a solo home run, as Houston drew first blood. When the Sun Devils failed to generate any offense in their first frame, it felt like this one might be a long day.

Any such worries were quickly dismissed, though. Barrett locked in starting in the second, and the Sun Devil bats went to work to get the lead back. Josiah Cromwick hit a two-out single to bring Jacob Tobias home, evening things up. Isaiah Jackson was next up to the plate and wasted little time in taking the lead.

The third frame was very much the same.

It started with Barrett, who refused to give the Cougars anything easy to hit. Barrett has never been one to throw a ton of strikes, but on Sunday he made sure not to give up any easy contact. He pitched into three straight ground outs to retire the side in the third.

It was then Kyle Walker's turn to spark some excitement. As the lead-off man in the third, he took a walk. Then he stole second, and ended up advancing to third on a passed ball. One wild pitch later and Walker was crossing home plate without so much as a single bat striking a ball.

Landon Hairston got walked too before Houston made a pitching change. That led to two quick outs, but Kien Vu popped into a single that turned into an RBI thanks to a throwing error. Then came Brandon Compton, who officially broke out of his slump with another big home run.

With that, Arizona State had gone up 7-1, and Houston was quickly running out of answers. Barrett had the Cougars batters stymied, giving up just one more hit over the next two innings and change. He left early in the sixth, striking out three and giving up just three hits.

Meanwhile, the Sun Devils continued to do to Houston's arms what they had been unable to do to Barrett. They scored three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, racking up an insurmountable 13-1 lead by the time Barrett left for the day.

Josh Butler came in for Barrett and got the remaining two outs of the inning on just six total pitches. To start the seventh, and knowing the Sun Devils could win right there, Willie Bloomquist sent out Chance Daquila.

A North Carolina native, Daquila transferred in this past summer for his senior season but had yet to play this year. That changed, and it proved to be a very special moment for Daquila.

Daquila subbed out right after, and Cole Carlon came in to strike out the remaining two batters, at which point the run-rule was officially invoked and the Sun Devils got the short victory.

The win marked their fifth straight series victory and their 10th weekend series win on the year. Arizona State came into this week sitting in second place in the Big 12, and the conference tournament will be here in a matter of days.

Getting this win, and in such dominant fashion, is big.