PHOENIX – Throughout most of 2026, the Arizona State (24-11, 7-6 Big 12) bats have lit up the scoreboard at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Led by sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston and among others, the Sun Devils lead the Big 12 with 67 home runs, and are in the top three in numerous other stats, like slugging percentage, RBIs and hits.
Along with this, the Maroon and Gold have also been able to hit without striking out too much. 232 Sun Devils have been punched out at the plate in 35 games, ranking the third lowest in the country.
Unfortunately for ASU, despite its high-potent offense, it carries flaws that can hurt the team.
And in Friday’s 10-4 loss at home against Utah (17-13, 6-7 Big 12), the Sun Devils had four hits – half of them coming from Hairston – and hit 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“When we’re good, we are on the fastball timing and adjust to breaking balls,” ASU coach Willie Bloomquist said. “We preached it and talked about it, and a lot of guys are caught in between, and if you’re caught in between, you ain’t gonna hit.”
That last stat looms large, as struggles with runners on aren’t something new for ASU. It’s been something present throughout the season, but only rears its ugly head in defeat.
“Our approach again, (we) came out decent in the first inning, and then we just went flat and stagnant until the fifth, and it just wasn’t a very good approach,” Bloomquist said. “From what I could tell, at least through the fourth inning, we were late on the fastball.”
The game followed a very similar formula to Wednesday’s 7-5 loss to UNLV, where the offense struck early before going stagnant and watching their opponent take a lead, and one last final push wasn’t enough.
On Friday, the Sun Devils scored on a sacrifice fly from fifth-year outfielder Dean Toigo, scoring Hairston from third base after leading off the inning with a double.
But ASU went the next three innings scoreless, and by the time they came back to bat in the bottom of the fifth, Utah had put up seven unanswered runs, including four in the top of the fifth.
An answer was needed, and it came in the bottom of the fifth, but it happened rather unconventionally.
After popping out to short, sophomore catcher Brody Briggs was ejected from the game for what appeared to be saying something to a couple of Utah players. Earlier in the game, a warning had been issued by the umpires after a two-run home run by the Utes.
Briggs was not happy about the decision and neither was Bloomquist, who came out of the dugout to defend his catcher, giving the umpires a piece of his mind before he was also tossed.
“If there are warnings in place, which there were, that kid should be tossed, right?” Bloomquist said of Briggs’ ejection. “Why are we having warnings if we’re not going to enforce them?”
It wasn’t just on the ASU side, as Utah junior pitcher Colter McAnelly was also tossed from the game, and another player in the Utes’ dugout was gone as well.
After the situation had cleared up, the fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium began to get rowdy, and soon, they would have something to cheer about.
With two runners on, Landon Hairston did what he’s done all season: hit bombs.
He cranked his 20th of the season to left-center, with the leaping grab by junior center fielder Jet Gilliam being too far out for him.
As Hairston took a trot around the bases, he had now become the first Sun Devil hitter since current Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson in 2019 to hit 20 home runs in a season.
Though things seemed to be turning a corner, the fifth inning ended up being a mirage as Sparky wouldn’t get a run across the rest of the way.
The most the team threatened was in the bottom of the seventh, where two walks put two runners on base and sophomore infielder Austen Roellig, a former Ute, at the plate.
But the result ended up being one Roellig wished he could’ve had back multiple times if he had the chance. He hit a hard liner that was snagged by Utah sophomore second baseman Zakye Hawkins, and threw it to first to double off Hairston, who was on first.
And after Utah scored two more runs in the top of the eighth, the game was out of reach, as many fans began to pour for the exits.
Now the No. 20-ranked Sun Devils need to find a response to what ended up being a chaotic night. They’ve won three of four Big 12 series and don’t want to drop one to a Utah team they know they’re capable of beating.
“I think we’re facing our first real test of adversity right now,” Bloomquist said. “We’re being tested a little bit with the amount of games we played in this period, this window.”
ASU will look to even the series on Saturday at 6:35 for a potential rubber game on Sunday if it gets to that point.
Hairston is having an incredible season, one where he very well may win the Golden Spikes Award. But if the team wants to reach the individual success the Queen Creek native is having, the entire offense will need to step up in certain aspects of the game.
“(Our) Ultimate goal right now is to address our problems that we have and get better at them,” Bloomquist stated. “And the wins and losses will take care of themselves if we address what we have to address.”
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