Following a heartbreaking blown save in the series opener, Arizona State looked to avenge its first loss of the season in a Saturday afternoon matchup against Oral Roberts. With fire in their bellies, the Sun Devils (5-1) came out with a resounding response to capture a 12-5 victory over the Golden Eagles (4-1) and even the series at one apiece.
Offensively, ASU struck early and often. In the first, senior first baseman Jacob Tobias got Sparky on the board with a line drive back up the middle to score junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades.
Executed to a T 🤌
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) February 22, 2025
Devils with the delayed steal to bring another across.
3-0, good guys.
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A fielder’s choice in the next at-bat brought home junior right fielder Kien Vu and gave the home team a 2-0 lead.
However, the Sun Devils inflicted the most damage in the third and fourth by combining for seven runs across the two offensive frames.
In the bottom of the third, ASU picked up where it left off from the night before with its heady base-running by flawlessly executing a double steal. Tobias helped draw a throw down to second, which allowed Contrades to score. And after three innings, the Maroon and Gold held a six-run lead.
One inning later, Contrades continued his monstrous game at the dish with a towering 2-run shot over the left field fence to make the score 8-2.
🤙 NUUUUUUU 🤙
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) February 22, 2025
First tank of the year for @nuucontrades.
8-2, Devils, B4.
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After a long rehab from an injury, the productive day at the plate for ASU’s leadoff hitter was a welcomed sight for head coach Willie Bloomquist.
“Today, to have some success and hit the ball in the gap and get the homer to left, [he’s] just starting to swing it more free and easy,” Bloomquist said. “When he starts catching fire and we get some of these guys in the lineup that are in there now, that will start to get going, this will be a fun lineup.”
The ability to put the ball in play served as a major key to the Sun Devil’s success early on. With only three strikeouts in the afternoon, the squad applied relentless pressure on Oral Roberts and reaped the benefits.
“We know how it plays here. We are well aware that the infield is fast and that sun can be our friend,” Bloomquist said. “Good things happen when you put the ball in play, especially here.”
Meanwhile, on the bump ASU starter, senior right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez turned in a solid performance in six innings of work. He posted six strikeouts and gave up five earned runs–primarily by way of a 3-run homer from Oral Robert’s junior center fielder Matthew Tanaka in the fifth.
Still, the lengthy outing (93 pitches) allowed Bloomquist to only reach into his bullpen once, as he called upon sophomore right-handed pitcher Josh Butler to close out the final three innings for the Sun Devils.
In desperate need of a solid performance from the bullpen, Butler shined. He tossed three scoreless frames and struck out a whopping five Golden Eagles en route to his first save of the year.
“It’s easy to come in after a guy like Jack [Martinez] sets the tone and goes the first six,” Butler said. “It’s a great feeling knowing that the coaching staff has your back and I got a good defense behind me too.”
The long outings from the duo also helped Bloomquist save some of his bullpen arms for Sunday. Having a mostly full stable of arms will be important for ASU heading into the series finale.
“Having Josh come in there and save the rest of our bullpen today was big,” Bloomquist said. “The recipe going into today was Jack for five, Josh for two … But we got an extra inning out of each of those guys, so it saves a couple more bullets for tomorrow.”
For good measure, the Sun Devils tacked on two in the sixth with a 2-run homer from Kien Vu that scraped over the left field wall. They added one final run in the seventh through a sacrifice fly from senior catcher Manny Garza to bring in junior outfielder Isaiah Jackson and round out the 12-run day.
The outfield paring of Vu and Jackson combined to go 5-9 on the day with three RBIs and three runs.
“We all saw it freshman and sophomore year, he has it in him to have weekends like this and then even do better,” Vu said of his teammate Jackson.
After evening the series, ASU will look to secure their second-straight series win tomorrow at noon MST.
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