PHOENIX – Heading into Saturday night’s contest, No. 25 Arizona State (30-14, 13-7 Big 12) knew it was due for its weekly bullpen game.
Outside of junior left-hander Cole Carlon and senior right-hander Kole Klecker, the team has lacked starting pitching depth this spring. Even with less than a month remaining in the regular season, the Sun Devils still find themselves relying on their relievers to carry the load for an entire game at least once a week.
While the results throughout the 2026 season have been mixed, it put on a promising display on Saturday for ASU coach Willie Bloomquist.
The Maroon and Gold used four arms from the bullpen in Saturday’s 4-2 series-clinching victory over Baylor (22-20, 9-11 Big 12) at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in front of over 4,000 fans. ASU struck early in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead – a lead that it never relinquished.
Sophomore right-hander Taylor Penn was the first arm out of the bullpen, pitching the first three innings. It was a relatively stress-free outing for the Western Kentucky transfer, who struck out five batters, with his lone mistake being a solo home run allowed in the second inning.
The secret for Penn on the night was the riseball. Of his five punchouts, four of them came on swings and misses with the heater above the strike zone.
“We stretched out to the three, maybe four innings we were hoping to get out of him,” Bloomquist said. “That third inning, he started losing a little bit of steam from our perspective, but (he) threw the ball great. Wanted to get him out of there with a good taste in his mouth.”
Penn also had assists from his defense, particularly from sophomore catcher Brody Briggs. The Tulsa native threw out two Baylor baserunners trying to swipe second within the first three innings, the second one being a “Strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out” double play in the third inning.
“They’re gonna try to run,” Briggs said. “They’re gonna be super aggressive. So for us, those are big. But without our pitchers holding runners, we had no chance there, so it’s huge (that) our pitchers are able to mix up their looks and give me a chance.”
But the star of the night came from the second pitcher of the night and one who’s been using the season getting settled back on the mound: junior right-hander Colin Linder.
The Georgia native has had a rollercoaster ride since transferring to Tempe. He missed all of 2025 due to Tommy John Surgery, and was originally a weekend starter to begin 2026, but was sent to the bullpen after a month.
“It was not getting to the start I wanted at the beginning of the year, (which) is tough, but that’s how it is coming off (of) Tommy John,” Linder noted of his return from injury. “No one’s perfect right off the bat, no one’s perfect ever. But I think it’s motivated me a lot more. Probably got a little complacent at the beginning, and it’s given me motivation to just push through and find who I was before and really improve on everything.”
Things didn’t start so great for Linder on Saturday, as he was greeted with a 458-foot bomb by Baylor freshman outfielder Brady Janusek, then proceeded to load the bases.
But when he needed it most, Linder got a pitcher’s dream in that scenario. A ground ball hit to sophomore second baseman Beckett Zavorek, who started the process of a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.
After that, it was smooth sailing for Linder from there on out, retiring nine of the last 10 batters he faced, pitching through the seventh inning before his night was finished. He finished Saturday going four innings, one hit allowed, which was the moonshot by Janusek, and five strikeouts.
On the other side, the Sun Devil bats weren’t as explosive as they were on Friday, but they did just enough to back up the effort they got from their pitching.
ASU had two sac flies and two RBIs from junior infielder Nu’u Contrades. His first hit of the night was an RBI double in the bottom of the first following a leadoff walk by sophomore outfielder sensation Landon Hairston.
Then, in the third, after Hairston just missed out on a home run to deep left, Contrades gave the fans in attendance what they were hoping for, a moonshot hit to right-center to extend the ASU lead to 3-1.
Nu'u day but another Nu'uke.
— Sun Devil Baseball (@ASU_Baseball) April 26, 2026
Oppo taco from Contrades and it 3-1, through three.
💻ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/ATYSkZDr51
After Wednesday night’s 8-7 loss against New Mexico State, there were questions about whether Hairston should be moved a few spots down the batting order, after a two-home-run game, being intentionally walked three times.
Bloomquist’s response? Moving Contrades from No. 4 in the order to No. 2 in the order.
So far through two games, it’s worked very well, as Contrades has homered twice and driven in four.
“Just sticking by what’s worked, trying to just stick to my approach,” Contrades said on any changes since being moved. “Get the ball more the other way, not really any changes.”
Bloomquist made the move in an attempt to limit intentional free passes to Hairston, since the Hawai’i native has proven to be a power threat at the dish.
“When you have that big offensive threat and power threat right behind Landon, it makes you think twice if you’re just going to put him on,” Bloomquist said. “Having Nu’u come up behind him, that has been swinging the bat really well all year and has some thump in his bat to where he can put a crooked number on the board with one swing.”
Things got a little tricky for the Sun Devils in the final stretch. Junior right-hander Alex Overbay entered to pitch the eighth and only went 0.2 innings before being pulled with the bases loaded.
Then entered junior right-hander Derek Schaefer. He was tasked with getting the four-out save, beginning with putting away the bases-loaded opportunity for the Bears.
“He’s excited about being in those situations,” Bloomquist said of his closer. “And it takes a different breed to be a back-end bullpen guy. It really is. And you got to have a different mentality than most people, and you have to have a short memory, and you have to have the confidence in yourself that I can get out of any situation and go pound the zone with your best stuff and trust it.”
The Cave Creek native faced a brief scare when he entered, allowing a deep ball to center field. But with the wind dying down, it fell just short of the wall as Hairston came in to make the grab for the final out.
Schaefer came back out in the ninth inning to shut down the Bears, which he did, navigating around a two-out single and picking up a swinging strikeout to give the Maroon and Gold another series win.
“I love coming into situations, bases loaded, no matter how many outs there are,” Schaefer said. “I think it’s awesome. So I think it helps me lock in extra.”
With Saturday’s victory, it’s only the second time throughout conference play the Sun Devils have won the first two games of a series. The only other occurrence of it was taking the first two against Kansas State on the road in March.
But it’s now the sixth series ASU has won in Big 12 play this season, with its lone series loss coming at the hands of No. 12 West Virginia.
The Sun Devils face Baylor once more on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. local time, seeking their first sweep since LMU back in the beginning of March.
ASU is in fourth place in the conference as it stands, and with a series against UCF in Orlando looming, Bloomquist’s squad needs to finish strong and will need its best stuff, especially with the pitchers they have and will need to perform down the line.
“College baseball sometimes, the best matchup, you gotta change stuff up a little bit,” Bloomquist said. “And we’ll keep tinkering with the recipe to try to get it right.”
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