No. 17/12 Sun Devil Baseball Hosts Cal State Fullerton for Two

PHOENIX - No. 17/12 Sun Devil Baseball hosts Cal State Fullerton for two midweeks at Phoenix Municipal Stadium Tuesday and Wednesday, with first pitch set for 6:00 p.m. MST Tuesday and 2:00 p.m. MST Wednesday.

Arizona State (27-12,13-4) leads the Pac-12 by a half game after taking two of three against Oregon State last weekend. The Beavers entered the set ranked No. 21 by D1 Baseball. Cal State Fullerton (23-11, 15-3) enters the contest alone atop the Big West with a 10-3 road record and wins over multiple Pac-12 foes including Stanford and UCLA.

Following the midweek series, the Sun Devils resume conference play with a three-game road trip to Oregon.

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ON DECK: CAL STATE FULLERTON

• Cal State Fullerton enters with a 23-11 record and leads the Big West at 15-3.
• The Titans have won seven straight contests and boast a 10-3 mark on the road.
• They have wins against Stanford and UCLA out of the Pac-12 and a series win over Texas at home.
• Stanford took two of three in a weekend set against the Titans. Cal State Fullerton ripped UCLA 15-5 in a midweek contest, but fell 4-3 on the road to USC in a midweek clash.
• As a team, the Titans are slashing .287/.388/.413 and average 6.9 runs per game.

FIVE IN THE POWER FIVE

• Arizona State has not lost a series in Pac-12 play, making it one of only five Power 5 teams in the nation that have not lost a conference series.
• ASU has home sweeps of Arizona and Washington State as well as the series win against OSU, along with road series wins at Utah, at Cal and a split at Washington.
• Of those five teams, two of them are the de-facto No. 1 and 2 teams in the country according to multiple polls, No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Wake Forest. 
• The other two squads are Indiana and Maryland out of the Big 10.

IN THE RANKS

• The No. 17 rank by D1 Baseball is the highest of the Willie Bloomquist era and marks the third straight week ASU has risen in the primary NCAA poll.
• ASU is the 12th best team in the land according to Baseball America. It is the highest rank reached by Baseball America since Mar. 9, 2020, the last pre-COVID ranks. 
• In prior weeks, ASU was Preseason No. 3, 8, 8 & 8. It was 13-4 w/ wins over Villanova, BC, New Mexico State, Nebraska, Cal State Fullerton and Fresno State.
• In other polls, ASU is 16th according to the NCBWA for the second straight week No. 4 in the Collegiate Baseball News Poll.

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

• ASU was scintillating against Oregon State, taking Saturday's contest and Sunday's rubber match to win the series.
• The victory marked ASU's first series win over a Top-25 opponent (as ranked by D1Baseball) since taking two of three against No. 15 Cal in the 2017 season. 
• Sunday marked the third time Oregon State has allowed 10 or more runs in a game this season, all against Arizona State. 
• It is the first time the Beavers have allowed 10+ runs in three consecutive games since Feb. 2-4, 2001 at Cal-State Northridge and the first time it has happened in a conference game since May 12-14, 2000 against USC. 
• ASU's 34 runs this weekend is tied for the most runs Oregon State has allowed in a three-game series in the last 20 seasons. The Beavers have allowed 30-or-more runs in a three-game series just five times in that span.

GET UP ZAY

• Isaiah Jackson won Saturday's contest on a walkoff grandslam with in the ninth inning. 
• The Sun Devils had not led at all in the contest prior to Jackon's blast. 
• He hit two homers in the contest, the first time a single player hit multiple blasts of Oregon State this season.
• The walkoff grand slam was first of kind since at least the 1998 season (as far back as readily-accessible records go).

LUKE HILL IS THE CARDIAC KID

• Of Luke Hill's last 13 RBI, 11 have come in five different games when the Sun Devils have trailed by 3+ runs. ASU has come back to win four of these games. 
• ASU has won three games after trailing by five-or-more runs this season.
• The Sun Devils were down four in Saturday's matchup and down by more than five in Sunday's rubber match.
• Arizona State has trailed in 13 of the team's last 17 victories and in 16 of the squad's victories overall. Arizona State has trailed by at least three runs in eight victories this season.

BATTLING BRONSON

• In the absence of ASU's injured Golden Spike Award Watch List member and leading hitter Ryan Campos, Bronson Balholm was superb in all facets of the game against the Beavers.
• He has reached base safely eight times in his first three starts this season with the Sun Devils. 
• He was 5-10 (.500) with three walks and reached base at a .615 clip, the highest on the team this weekend.
• His .500 average also tied for the highest on the team over the weekend.

USE THE FORCE, LUKE

• Luke Keaschall was 7-14 (.500) with three home runs, four doubles and eight RBI in the series win against Oregon State. His .500 average was tied with Balholm for the Sun Devil best.
• Keaschall is the Pac-12 lead in doubles with 19. He leads by four over TJ Clarkson (Utah) and teammate Wyatt Crenshaw. He doubled in all three games against the Beavers.
• He is also the team-leader in long balls, cranking his 10th of the season against Oregon State.
• The mark is fifth in the nation and third highest, with the national leader having 22 (Kevin Bazzell, Texas Tech).

MCLAIN MATTERS

• Nick McLain has made his presence known loud and clear in his first seven games as a collegian.
• He has recorded a hit in each of his first seven games since debuting against Grand Canyon on April 11.
• McLain has RBI in four of his first seven collegiate games and the seven game hitting streak is the longest to begin a Sun Devil career since at least 2015.

BEATING THE BULLPEN

• This season, opposing bullpens are 5-10 with a 7.24 ERA and giving up a .304 average to ASU. Additionally, opposing bullpens have only 159 strikeouts to 86 walks over 177.2 innings.
• Arizona State has forced the Beaver bullpen into allowing 20 runs over 13.1 innings in three games this series. That's good for a 13.50 ERA with an 0-2 record in decisions. They only struck out 11 Sun Devils and walked nine, allowing a .296 batting average against. 
• That tally is notable as entering the weekend, OSU's bullpen over the month of April was 6-1 with a 1.81 ERA over 59.2 innings. For the season, the Beaver bullpen was 17-2 with a 2.74 ERA. 

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

• The two game set against the Titans will be the second midweek series for Sun Devil Baseball this season.
• ASU dropped two on the road against then-No.13 Oklahoma State in Stillwater on March 7 and 8. 
• In single-game midweeks, ASU is 7-1 this season and won its first seven-such contests.
• ASU's record in single-game midweeks is notable because the team was 4-6 in such games a season ago. 
• In all midweek contests this season, Sun Devil pitchers have struck out 72 batters to just 33 walks.

WILLIE'S WORDS

• "They're starting to build a mentality and a character, so to me that's the fun part," Bloomquist said after Sunday's comeback win.. "When you have a team that just won't quit, you kind of get emotional a little bit. When it's like, 'Man, we're down big again but here we come.' And then to see a kid like [Jackson] come through, just a tremendous young man, to see him come through in that situation was — ah, it gave me butterflies and chills. It was pretty cool to watch."
• "We didn't play great this weekend, which is both positive and negative at the same time," said Bloomquist following the series win Sunday over OSU. "The fact that we did not play great, obviously we want to show better than that, we don't want to commit five errors and walk a ton of guys and not hold baserunners. That's just not a recipe for winning baseball. However, we took the series against a pretty-dang-good team. That's the positive side." 
• "I don't want this to sound arrogant or pompous, but I have higher aspirations than just being ranked," Bloomquist said. "This program is built upon Omaha and national championships, and that's the vision. Whether we get there or not, we'll see. But we're going to grind and that's going to be the expectation. In order to do that, you have to beat good teams.

HOW TO FOLLOW

• Both games will be available via the Arizona State Live Stream at: https://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university
• All games will be broadcast live over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM with Tim Healey and Max Rossiter provid- ing the highlights.
• Fans are always encouraged to follow the Sun Devil Baseball team on social media for any program or schedule updates throughout the week on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account: @ASU_Baseball.