On a rare cold and rainy night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, nothing fazed the Devils in white on Friday night.
Arizona State (10-4) took care of an early lead and leaned on a dominant outing from its ace in an 11-1 drubbing of visiting Gonzaga (2-9).
Junior left-hander Ben Jacobs dominated the Bulldogs’ lineup, top to bottom. Jacobs was perfect through 5 ⅔ innings. He finished with six scoreless innings under his belt and just one hit allowed against six strikeouts en route to his first win of the 2025 campaign.
ASU junior right fielder Kien Vu also stayed hot, driving in four runs from the leadoff spot and hitting his fifth home run of the season.
Head coach Willie Bloomquist was mostly pleased with another strong effort from his club despite less-than-ideal conditions.
“We’re gonna have to deal with some cold, rainy conditions at times,” Bloomquist said. “Usually not here in Arizona very often, but it is what it is. We’re not gonna use that as a crutch to lean on and give that as a reason or an excuse to why we don’t play up to our capabilities.”
For the third consecutive game, the Sun Devils jumped out to an early lead by scoring in the game’s opening frame. All nine ASU batters came to the plate in a five-run burst to aid its Friday starter.
Arizona State senior first baseman Jacob Tobias drove in the first run of the game on an infield single. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, redshirt junior third baseman Nu’u Contrades hit a ball to the center field wall. Gonzaga senior outfielder Max Coupe couldn’t track the ball down, resulting in a two-run double. Contrades slid down the lineup from leadoff to the six-hole for the first time this season.
“I just felt Nu’u was getting pitched pretty tough up there at the top and decided to move him down the order a little bit to take a little bit of pressure off him,” Bloomquist said. “Not that Nu’u can’t handle pressure by any means, but he’s a guy down in those RBI situations, maybe get more RBI opportunities where you don’t have to be so perfect and get on base all the time.”
ASU senior designated hitter Manny Garza, starting in his fourth game of the year, capped the opening rally with a two-run double to left-center field. The maroon and gold pushed five runs across the plate in its first three outs of the ballgame.
As the rain began to drizzle over Phoenix Municipal Stadium, the Sun Devils were held in check offensively for the next five frames. ASU earned at least one walk from Gonzaga sophomore right-hander Gabe Brabec in each inning, but couldn’t push a runner home.
“I think we came out swinging, had a great approach off that kid, and put up five runs in the first and then we kind of pulled the parachute and decided to coast,” Bloomquist said. “I don’t think we had another base hit until the sixth. So you have to finish the job and we had a great approach going into it off him and had success, and then we got away from it for four innings and started chasing in the dirt and getting off balance and doing all the things that we talked about not doing going into it.”
Jacobs picked up the slack with his most dominant outing so far this season. Making his fourth start, Jacobs retired the first 17 Bulldogs that came to the dish. He became the first Sun Devil to do so since former ASU pitcher Ryan Kellogg retired 19 in a row in a no-hitter against Oregon State in 2013.
“I felt good,” Jacobs said. “Just a normal day at the ballpark. My defense did an incredible job tonight, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without them. Always grateful for the guys behind me. I always trust them behind me and good things will happen.”
“He attacked the zone pretty well,” Bloomquist said of his rotation’s leader. “Was just able to keep them off balance and did a great job doing that. Tough to be critical over that outing. I think there’s a better command in there for him down the road as well. But, all in all, he threw the ball outstanding.”
A sixth-inning single by Gonzaga redshirt freshman catcher Rece Schuerman broke up a perfect game for the Sun Devils’ ace. Jacobs got the final out of the inning one batter later, ending his night.
After Jacobs departed, the ASU offense found its rhythm again. The Sun Devils picked up three more runs in the sixth inning courtesy of Vu’s three-run long ball. Vu’s big fly was his fifth of the season, tying him for the team lead with graduate student catcher Josiah Cromwick. After homering twice in Tuesday’s win over UNLV, Vu now boasts three home runs in the last two games.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsDon't let this kid get hot 👀
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) March 8, 2025
Vu goes yard again. Three-run shot.
8-0, Devils.
📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/DbcqEaIB3G
The Sun Devils added three more in the seventh inning courtesy of RBI doubles by Vu and Tobias, and a passed ball that scored another run.
ASU brought in bench players in the seventh inning and cruised to a double-digit victory to open the series. Despite a lull offensively in the middle innings, the Sun Devils sent nine batters to the plate in all three innings in which they scored. Patience at the plate helped Arizona State draw 12 walks in the contest. Friday marked the third game of the season in which the maroon and gold’s offense walked 10 times or more in a ballgame.
ASU is now riding a three-game winning streak and can secure its final nonconference weekend series on Saturday with a win. Sun Devil senior right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez will be on the rubber for Game Two at 6:30 p.m. MST.
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