Most of Arizona State baseball’s Friday night clash against No. 17 TCU was a defensive duel. The 3,858 in attendance cheered the most at pivotal strikeouts, with the scored tied 1-1 after six innings. When the bullpens entered, the Horned Frogs took advantage, scoring two runs in both the seventh and eight innings.
The Sun Devils had the tying run, junior infielder Sam Myers, on third base. But he was tagged out at home plate, giving the Horned Frogs a 5-4 win to start off Big 12 play.
“Our guys made it interesting there in the ninth, and our guys battled back a couple of different times to tie that thing up,” ASU coach Willie Bloomquist said. “(We) had out guys up that we wanted up, and the kid made a heck of a throw.”
While Bloomquist was disappointed in the result, he was pleased in junior left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon. The typical Friday night starter, Carlon followed last week’s 10-strikeout performance against LMU with a career-high 11 punch outs through five innings. Additionally, he only allowed two hits, including a solo home run from TCU freshman catcher Brady Dallimore in the third inning.
“At the end of the day, he battled,” Bloomquist said. “He pitched really well. I think that with them having his pitches … he still did pretty well.”
Carlon fought his toughest battles in the fourth. After picking up an error after a failed through to first base, he walked two more batters before facing off against Dallimore. This time, striking out the young catcher, and electrifying the home crowd.
“His pitch count got pretty high through five (innings),” Bloomquist said. “We have to try and be a little more economical with him to try to get him through maybe another inning or two as we continue to move forward here.”
While Carlon fought escaped a bases-loaded jam, his successors could not do the same. They surrendered two runs on two separate occasions.
Inheriting two runners from junior right-handed pitcher Colin Linder in the seventh inning, Sean Fitzpatrick intentionally walked TCU graduate infielder Cole Cramer. While at a 1-2 count with two outs, the senior left-handed pitcher gave up a single to the next batter, sophomore outfielder Sawyer Strosnider,
The Maroon and Gold faced a similar obstacle in the eight inning. After sophomore right-handed pitcher Finn Edwards walked two batters, his replacement, junior right-handed pitcher Josh Butler hit Dallimore. Although Butler struck out Horned Frogs freshman infielder Lucas Franco, he allowed a double from junior utility Colton Griffin.
“(We) can’t walk the leadoff guy,” ASU coach Willie Bloomquist said on his team’s late pitching woes. “Several times that we did that, that just came back to bite us. Those are things against good teams, you can’t afford to do.”
While doubling TCU with 10 hits, ASU’s offense failed to deliver until the late innings, leaving five runners on base and striking out 12 times. Thus, forcing Carlon to keep it in the game early.
“We were also very, very underneath the zone today hitting-wise,” junior infielder Garrett Michel said. “So, the walks definitely aren’t ideal. But there’s a lot more to the loss than just that.”
Despite walking seven batters, Bloomquist was pleased with his team’s 18 strikeouts. A sign that his team could pitch with power against quality teams.
“I told them right after the game, ‘you’re right there,'” Bloomquist said. “It’s just about executing in big moments, and eliminating the free passes. We have to do a better job of that.”
The Sun Devils’ pitching will look to improve when they face the Horned Frogs tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. MST, in hopes of avoiding their first series loss of 2026, let alone on home soil.
“I’ve never played in front of a crowd like this, so it’s awesome,” junior infielder PJ Moutzouridis said about the fan support. “It gets us going, it definitely fires us up and we love when they’re engaged.”
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