The Arizona State Sun Devils put up a second straight offensive onslaught in their 14-13 win over the Santa Clara Broncos. They’ve scored 25 runs in their first two games of the season.
The Sun Devils came out hot in the first inning. With the bases loaded and two out, sophomore center fielder Isaiah Jackson drove in two with a line drive single up the middle to start the scoring.
Jackson was the primary contributor to another day of baseball bashing for the Sun Devils. He also had a second two-run single and a mammoth blast that went over the Sun Devil bullpen in right field.
“That’s what he’s capable of when he’s aggressive and stays balanced,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “He can clearly hit the ball a long ways and it’s fun to watch him breakout a little bit offensively.”
Jackson and the rest of the offense were very aggressive early in counts again. Jackson’s three run-scoring hits all came early in counts, with two of them being on the first pitches of the at-bat.
However, his late home run was in a 2-0 count and it ended up being the game-winner.
Santa Clara’s offense was just as potent. The Broncos answered the Sun Devils’ eight-run third inning with eight runs of their own in the next three innings combined.
Senior left fielder JonJon Berring gave the Sun Devils plenty of problems, smacking the ball all around the yard after he hit a pair of home runs on Friday night.
He also directly caused an error with his aggressive baserunning. That error allowed him to score from second on an infield ground ball
“Those are things that we just can’t afford to do,” Bloomquist said. “We have to be above it on the mound and understand that there’s some innings where we have to get four outs or five outs. If the defense kicks it around behind us, we have to be able to stop the bleeding and execute the next pitch.”
The third inning was the biggest of the game for the Sun Devils. After the Sun Devils knocked out the Santa Clara starter, junior left-hander Brandon Gomez, they immediately took it to junior pitcher Blake Hammond.
The inning was topped off by sophomore third baseman Nu’u Contrades, who hit a high heater over the center field fence.
“I was just sitting fastball,” Contrades said. “I got ahead in the count, so I was just looking for one pitch.”
Arizona State threw left-handed senior pitcher Connor Markl against Santa Clara. After a quick first inning, he struggled in the second. There was a lot of loud contact off the bats of Bronco hitters all game.
The rough second inning forced a lot of pitches out of Markl.
He almost got out of it before some of the damage, when a grounder was hit to Contrades. After the batter, junior shortstop Malcolm Williams was originally ruled out, Santa Clara challenged the call, and it was overturned.
So, instead of an incredible play deep in the corner at third base for Contrades, it was a tie game. The next batter was Berring and he crushed a two-run double off the base of the left field wall.
However, after a game full of offense, the back end of the Sun Devil bullpen was clutch. Senior pitcher Hunter Omlid worked a solid, scoreless eighth inning around a two-out double.
Freshman southpaw Cole Carlon was given the closing duties in his collegiate debut. The Tempe native out of Corona Del Sol High School slammed the door against the top of the order, showcasing high-level stuff and velocity.
“He has stuff that we’re kind of missing up and down the pitching staff,” Bloomquist said. “He has a little bit more stuff than everybody else.”
The Sun Devils moved to 2-0 and secured the series win over Santa Clara.
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