The Sun Devil’s offense has been the focal point of the team for most of this season. When the offense is going, the team wins. It was never more true than it was for the series against California-Berkeley. The Sun Devils won the finale 9-6.
In the final game of the series, Arizona State secured its first sweep of the 2024 season. It did so by scoring a total of 33 runs in the series, with nine of those coming in the finale.
As the Sun Devils navigate around injuries, the team has truly embraced a “next man up” mentality. Head coach Willie Bloomquist has not been shy about making changes throughout the lineup.
“There’s other guys that I feel bad that I haven’t gotten in there. But if I put them in someone’s gotta come out,” Bloomquist said. “I’ve always wanted good problems in that department; I’ve got them now.”
California threw junior right-hander Ian May in Saturday’s series finale. May was named to the preseason All-Pac-12 team and was making his first appearance of the year. He was dominant for the two innings he worked. In eighteen innings now between this year and last, he hasn’t allowed an earned run.
Once May came out, the wheels started turning for the Devils. The bats woke up in the fourth, with junior first baseman Jacob Tobias and senior designated hitter Eamonn Lance starting off the inning with back-to-back homers
Then, with two outs in the inning, the Sun Devils put together a massive two-out rally. Junior catcher Ryan Campos hit a missile to the warning track in left field for a 3-RBI double before being driven in by redshirt sophomore right fielder Nick McLain.
“That all started with a nubber with two outs and nobody on,” Bloomquist said. “You never know when a big inning is going to start. You just keep passing the torch, putting together good at-bats and not give up. Don’t give in on at-bats, every one matters.”
That inning was the big one. They added two more in the fifth, and then sophomore center fielder Kien Vu hit an eighth-inning insurance home run to top it off.
“I just try to be as aggressive as I can,” Vu said. “I kind of just lock in for each at-bat and swing as hard as I can.”
This series sweep caps off an impressive week for the Sun Devils. Including the midweek game at the University of Las Vegas, they scored 44 runs in four games.
The optimism that was expressed for this squad early in the year was always because of the firepower and depth in the lineup, and the Devils showed it consistently for the first time this year.
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