PHOENIX – As new shoes begin to hit the rubber, a fresh face for Arizona State baseball took over as the Saturday afternoon starter.
Junior right-handed pitcher Colin Linder, who transferred from Northwest Florida State College, looked to make an impact after missing the entire 2025 season recovering from arm surgery.
Before arriving at ASU, Linder held a 3.79 ERA in eleven games. In those eleven games, eight were as the starting pitcher, striking out 50 batters over 35.2 innings.
Linder looked strong in his return to the mound, pitching four innings, recording three strikeouts, three walks and surrendering one run. The performance helped the Sun Devils secure their second victory over Omaha 11-5, in their three-game home series.
“He’s a kid that when he’s pitching, he’s kind of in the zone.” Arizona State coach Willie Bloomquist said. “I actually didn’t say anything to him today, to be honest. I just let him do his thing. If there is something that needs to be said, I will, but he knows what he’s doing out there.”
When the pitch count piled up to 81 after the fourth frame, Linder was replaced by junior right-handed pitcher Josh Butler the following inning.
“The 81 pitches is great. I’m glad we were able to lengthen him out here.” Bloomquist said. “We need some more efficiency. Again, he was one of those guys that got two quick outs, and then a lot of unnecessary base runners after getting two outs. … He threw the ball well, got a lot of swinging and miss on his fastball which was great, but there’s room to grow and room to build on that.”
“I felt great. I did not realize that my pitch count was so high,” Linder said. “My body feels amazing, [my] arm feels great. I felt like I could have thrown 30 or 40 more [pitches], but I still feel really good.”
Omaha graduate student Jackson Trout tacked on Linder’s lone earned run on an RBI single in the third inning. The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder posted a 1 ERA in his first start.
Sparky added plenty of run support to ease Linder’s debut on the mound, scoring seven runs through the first five innings. Junior infielders Dominic Smaldino and Nu’u Contrades, along with graduate student outfielders Dean Toigo and Matt Polk, combined for the team’s four home runs in the game.
“It is weight off your chest when you have guys putting up five or six runs in an inning behind you,” Linder said. “We have such a great offense that in can explode at any moment. It puts you at ease when even if you give up a one spot, you have guys who are going to smoke the ball and put up runs.”
As Arizona State looks to complete the sweep, sophomore left-handed pitcher Easton Barrett will start for the Sun Devils, taking on Omaha for the third and final time on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 1:05 p.m. MST, at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
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