PHOENIX – Nestled above the outfield wall in deep right-center at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, a sign with 22 neatly printed gold pennants commemorates Arizona State’s numerous College World Series appearances.
The Sun Devils haven’t been to Omaha in nearly 16 years, but took a step toward reaching college baseball’s paradise last spring by making the NCAA Tournament.
With a reloaded roster, Coach Willie Bloomquist has aspirations to guide his alma mater back to the College World Series.
Their first hurdle on their trek to reaching that goal?
A series on its opening weekend, ironically, against the University of Nebraska Omaha.
On Opening Day, the Sun Devils showed some shades of a team poised to make a deep postseason run, defeating the Mavericks 7-2.
“(I’m) happy, not satisfied,” Bloomquist said. “At the end of the day, we had had some good at-bats and scored runs when we needed to.”
If Sparky wants to get back to the NCAA Tournament, it’ll likely need to ride the arm of junior left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon. The Sun Devils’ towering, 6-foot-5, flamethrowing southpaw made his debut as the Friday night starter for ASU, tossing five innings and notching three strikeouts. He retired his first 10 hitters and only surrendered one run in a ho-hum outing to kick off his new role as the team’s ace.
“I was really excited,” Carlon said. “I’ve been waiting the whole week since my last intersquad, and it was really good to be able to get out there against another team and to compete with everyone on our team in the same dugout, and be able to go after someone else in different jerseys. So it was a lot of fun. Couldn’t script any better.”
The lone blemish against Carlon came in the top of the fifth, as senior catcher Brody Sexton poked a ball down the line in left field that scraped over the fence for a solo homer.
Like Omaha, ASU couldn’t find its groove offensively early on, scoring one run across the first four innings.
Six new additions landed a spot in the Sun Devils’ Opening Day starting lineup. With 27 players making their way to Tempe via the transfer portal or high ranks, Bloomquist will need to toil away to find the right combination for the Maroon and Gold’s offense.
Fittingly, returning junior infielder Nu’u Contrades scratched across the game’s first run in the second inning when he stole third, popped up and glided into home plate following an errant throw by Sexton that sailed over Contrades’ head into left field.
After dealing with a plethora of injuries over the past few seasons, Contrades has the opportunity to start fresh in his fourth year with the program. He led the way for the Sun Devils’ offense on Friday night, going 2-for-2 at the plate, scoring three runs and recording a pair of walks.
With the departures of program cornerstones like outfielders Isaiah Jackson and Kien Vu, Contrades has the chance to lead the ASU baseball into a new era.
“I miss those guys,” Contrades said with a smile when talking about his old teammates. “They were my roommates, so we were pretty close on and off the field, but these (new) guys are awesome. This team definitely feels different. Everyone’s playing for each other, and I’m really excited to see where this thing goes.”
Fellow returner, sophomore outfielder Landon Hariston, contributed out of the leadoff spot two hits out of the leadoff spot, smacking a double of his own to left field.
Additionally, Contrades’ partner in the middle infield, junior shortstop PJ Moutzouridis, tallied three hits and added an RBI, a single to the right side, to help Arizona State pull away late with a three-run eighth inning.
However, the lineup as a whole couldn’t sustain consistent success until its final offensive frame, as Omaha limited a typically dynamic ASU offense to just four runs before the eighth.
Nonetheless, it didn’t need to because of the dominance of the Sun Devils’ pitching staff.
Behind Carlon, the ASU bullpen, led by junior right-hander Alex Overbay, kept Omaha’s offense in check and worked out of trouble in late innings.
The Mavericks posed their biggest threats in the top of the seventh and eighth. In a full count, Overbay calmly rocked back and delivered a pitch to escape a seventh-inning jam, garnering a sky-high pop-up to shallow right field.
One defensive frame later, he worked out of another bases-loaded situation, surrendering one run before drawing weak contact to force a 4-6-3 double play. The sequence dashed any hopes of an Omaha comeback and brought a crowd of over 3,500 fans, the second-largest crowd for an ASU home opener, to its feet.
“That’s our biggest recruiting tool,” Bloomquist said. “It’s having next to 4,000 people here on opening night.
“When you see a packed house here at Muni, it’s a good feeling. And we need more of that. We need that support for our players and the program.”
The Sun Devils will aim to secure a series win tomorrow, Feb. 14, when they meet Omaha once again at Phoenix Municipal Stadium at 1 p.m. MST.
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