PHOENIX - Sun Devil Baseball (4-2, 0-0) earned a bounce-back 14-4 victory over Ohio State (3-3, 0-0) on Friday evening at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. With 17 hits on offense while striking out 17 Buckeye batters, the Sun Devils never looked back after a four-run second inning.
After ASU went down in the first inning, Isaiah Jackson's team-leading fourth home run of the season got the scoring started in the bottom of the second. The reliable sophomore added another hit for his 10th of the season, third-most after the 11 hits from Harris Williams and Jacob Tobias. Williams notched four in five at-bats tonight, scoring three runs himself and adding two RBIs. Tobias had a two-out home run in the sixth and batted four runs in tonight.
Freshman pitcher Thomas Burns got his second Friday night start, recording eight strikeouts despite giving up a home run to the first batter he faced. Burns pitched 4.1 innings and threw 91 pitches, allowing four hits, two runs, and one walk. Matt Cornelius came in and escaped the fifth inning after allowing a double. He added five strikeouts of his own over 2.1 innings, and didn't give up another hit. Freshman Wyatt Halvorson came up clutch in the last two innings, throwing four strikeouts and not allowing a hit.
TURNING POINT
The Sun Devils lit up the scoreboard in the second inning, kicked off by Isaiah Jackson's fourth home run of the season. Ethan Mendoza followed with his first extra base hit of the season, a triple off the right wall. He was brought in as Kien Vu reached on an error. Vu stole second before Harris Williams was walked. With two outs, Brandon Compton and Ryan Campos both singled to bring Vu and Williams home and leave the second with a 4-1 lead.
BIG MOMENT
Leading 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Williams singled to center field and advanced to second on a fielding error. Brandon Compton's ensuing single to center field brought Williams around the bases. A groundout to the pitcher got Compton to second, and he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jacob Tobias stepped up to the plate and hammered a two-out home run to go up 9-2 heading into the seventh.
FINAL STRAW
A sloppy seventh inning from Ohio State's bullpen saw three pitchers take the mound, giving up four hits, a walk, and a score on a wild pitch. Arizona State's second four-run inning of the evening put them ahead 14-4, and three strikeouts from Wyatt Halvorson in the top of the eighth all but sealed the deal.
NOTABLES
INNING BY INNING
First Inning:
After the first Ohio State batter went yard, freshman pitcher Thomas Burns sandwiched a deep fly to right between two strikeouts to end the frame.
Ryan Campos got on first via walk, but was stranded after a groundout to second base.
Second Inning:
The top of the second inning was held by the Sun Devils with Burns striking out two batters back to back, followed by Ethan Mendoza fielding the third out.
Isaiah Jackson started the Sun Devils off strong with a homer to right center, putting the first run on the board for the Sun Devils. Mendoza kept the momentum going with a triple off the right wall. Kien Vu brought in Mendoza to give the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead. With two outs and two runners on, Brandon Compton brought in a third run followed by another RBI from Ryan Campos, giving the Sun Devils a 4-1 lead going into the third.
Third Inning
Burns retired the first two Buckeye batters looking, and a groundout that left a bat flying towards the mound brought the Sun Devil offense back out.
Three Sun Devils got out via fly to center field, strikeout, and a grounder to third base.
Fourth Inning
Burns continued to bring the heat by starting the fourth inning with a strikeout. One Buckeye singled to right field, but was left stranded on Burns' eighth strikeout of the night. .
Kien Vu led the inning off with a double off the right center wall, followed by Steven Ondina advancing Vu off of a bunt. Williams brought Vu in, giving the Sun Devils a 5-1 lead and causing a pitching change. To welcome the Buckeyes' pitcher to Sun Devil territory, Williams stole second on a pickoff attempt. The play at second was reviewed and was upheld as safe. The inning ended with a deep fly to right field leaving Williams out on the field.
Fifth Inning
The Buckeyes started the inning off with a home run again, followed by a single and a deep fly to left field that caused pitcher Matt Cornelius to end Burns' night. Burns threw 91 pitches over 4.1 innings, recording eight strikeouts and allowing one walk, four hits, and two runs. Cornelius struck out his first batter before a double placed runners on second and third. He then fielded a grounder to close the frame.
Kevin Karstetter singled through the right side, followed by Isaiah Jackson singling to right field and bringing Karstetter to third. A fly out to center field brought him home. Jackson advanced to second on a balk, but was stranded on another fly out to center.
Sixth Inning
Matt Cornelius handled all three Ohio State batters striking out the side holding Ohio State at two runs, 6-2.
Williams got a double of an Ohio State error. Compton brought in Williams off of a hit to center field, 7-2. Tobias came up to bat with two outs and Compton on second, Compton stole third on a catching error. Tobias with a homerun brought in Compton and himself, giving the Sun Devils 9-2. Ohio State had back-to-back walks, walking Karstetter and Jackson with two outs on the board. Mendoza ended the inning grounding out leaving Karstetter on second.
Seventh Inning
A fielding error left a Buckeye on second. After Cornelius' fifth strikeout, he was replaced by freshman Bradyn Barnes. A walk and a wild pitch left runners on second and third before a second walk filled the bases. Another wild pitch brought one run in. A miscommunication on a grounder towards first left the runner safe and one run came in, but Barnes threw a second runner out at home to escape the frame up 9-4.
A fresh Ohio State pitcher began with a strikeout before letting up three hits to Steven Ondina, Harris Williams, and Brandon Compton in consecutive at-bats. Ondina made it home on Compton's hit. Another new pitcher walked Campos to fill the bases, then let Williams reach home on a wild pitch. Compton scored on a single from Jacob Tobias, leaving the seventh up 13-4.
Eighth Inning:
Wyatt Halvorson started the inning by giving up one walk followed by striking out three Ohio State batters leaving the score 13-4.
ASU was able to add one run to the board by starting off with an off the wall triple from Vu. Williams was able to bring in Vu with a double, 14-4. Eamonn Lance was up with two outs and Williams on second but was not able to bring in Williams.
Ninth Inning
After a walk and a strikeout from Wyatt Halvorson, the Buckeyes grounded into a double play to end the game.
ON DECK:
Sun Devil Baseball faces Ohio State for the third game of the four-game series on Saturday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The game will begin at 12:00 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on ASU Live Stream-2. Tickets are on sale now.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
On Thomas Burns' mentality:
"I told you guys after his last start, Thomas is going to give up a run or two here and there. It's going to happen. He's not invincible. The great thing about him is when he does give up runs, he doesn't seem to be rattled. He just goe right back to work and continues his gameplan. He's a very smart kid. He sensed that they were on his fastball, so he started pitching backwards on his own tonight. The great thing about him is he's able to drop his breaking stuff in for strikes, work ahead off of that, and pitch backwards when he needs to, and still be effective. He's still got 95 (mph) in the tank when he needs it, but he was throwing those guys backwards and tying them in a knot. I've said it before, but that's why he's on Friday night for us."
On Matt Cornelius' development:
"The moment hasn't been too big for him. He just goes and competes and to me that's what I ask of our pitchers, don't try to come up with something that you don't have, just be really good at what you do have and you're gonna be fine. Some of these younger kids need to learn from that and they have better stuff than Matty does, but they don't throw strikes with it. It's not very useful if you can't throw it over the plate. They can take a page out of his book and learn just to stay cool and collected when they go out there and trust their stuff the way that he's been doing. All these guys can be very effective if they do that, but we can't be effective if we're working behind."
Freshman designated hitter Brandon Compton
On what it shows about the depth of the lineup that he can sit one day and hit three RBI singles the next day:
"You just have to know this is a team sport and whatever the lineup is, that's what we have to go with and do our best. If you're not in there, then so what? Be ready to go if you're in the game and if you're starting, cool, show what you have."
After ASU went down in the first inning, Isaiah Jackson's team-leading fourth home run of the season got the scoring started in the bottom of the second. The reliable sophomore added another hit for his 10th of the season, third-most after the 11 hits from Harris Williams and Jacob Tobias. Williams notched four in five at-bats tonight, scoring three runs himself and adding two RBIs. Tobias had a two-out home run in the sixth and batted four runs in tonight.
Freshman pitcher Thomas Burns got his second Friday night start, recording eight strikeouts despite giving up a home run to the first batter he faced. Burns pitched 4.1 innings and threw 91 pitches, allowing four hits, two runs, and one walk. Matt Cornelius came in and escaped the fifth inning after allowing a double. He added five strikeouts of his own over 2.1 innings, and didn't give up another hit. Freshman Wyatt Halvorson came up clutch in the last two innings, throwing four strikeouts and not allowing a hit.
TURNING POINT
The Sun Devils lit up the scoreboard in the second inning, kicked off by Isaiah Jackson's fourth home run of the season. Ethan Mendoza followed with his first extra base hit of the season, a triple off the right wall. He was brought in as Kien Vu reached on an error. Vu stole second before Harris Williams was walked. With two outs, Brandon Compton and Ryan Campos both singled to bring Vu and Williams home and leave the second with a 4-1 lead.
BIG MOMENT
Leading 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Williams singled to center field and advanced to second on a fielding error. Brandon Compton's ensuing single to center field brought Williams around the bases. A groundout to the pitcher got Compton to second, and he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jacob Tobias stepped up to the plate and hammered a two-out home run to go up 9-2 heading into the seventh.
FINAL STRAW
A sloppy seventh inning from Ohio State's bullpen saw three pitchers take the mound, giving up four hits, a walk, and a score on a wild pitch. Arizona State's second four-run inning of the evening put them ahead 14-4, and three strikeouts from Wyatt Halvorson in the top of the eighth all but sealed the deal.
NOTABLES
- After recording four last night, Ryan Campos added another RBI to bring his season total to 12, second best on the team. All 12 RBIs have come in the last four games.
- With his first inning walk, Campos extended his active reached base streak to 16 games dating back to last season. Campos has now reached base in 86 of his 95 career games (90.5 percent).
- Sophomore center fielder Isaiah Jackson notched his fourth home run of the season, regaining the team lead. He's sent one beyond the fences in four of six games to start the year, accounting for 14 RBIs - notable as he didn't get his 13th RBI until the 29th game of the season last year.
- Even further, his two hits tonight mark his fourth multi-hit game of the season in six games.
- Jacob Tobias recorded four RBIs on two hits, and his 11 hits on the year are tied for the Sun Devil lead.
- With two four-run innings and a three-run inning, the team now has 11 innings with three or more runs and six of those with four or more runs.
- ASU pitchers struck out 17 batters, the most for a regulation game since having 18 strikeouts against Oklahoma State on Feb. 28, 2020.
- The pitching staff has double-digit strikeouts in five of the first six games this season with a 76-30 strikeouts to walk ratio. ASU didn't reach its fifth game with 10+ team strikeouts until the 17th game of last season.
- True freshman Thomas Burns has now struck out 15 batters to just two walks through his first two starts while allowing just three total runs - all three coming on solo shots this year.
- While ASU managed two doubles, triples and homers, 11 of the team's hits came on simple singles as the team did its part to manufacture 90 at a time efficiently, recording a sac fly, a sac bunt and three stolen bases while perfectly executing two first-to-third hit-and-runs while also capitalizing on three OSU errors and three wild pitches.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning:
After the first Ohio State batter went yard, freshman pitcher Thomas Burns sandwiched a deep fly to right between two strikeouts to end the frame.
Ryan Campos got on first via walk, but was stranded after a groundout to second base.
Second Inning:
The top of the second inning was held by the Sun Devils with Burns striking out two batters back to back, followed by Ethan Mendoza fielding the third out.
Isaiah Jackson started the Sun Devils off strong with a homer to right center, putting the first run on the board for the Sun Devils. Mendoza kept the momentum going with a triple off the right wall. Kien Vu brought in Mendoza to give the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead. With two outs and two runners on, Brandon Compton brought in a third run followed by another RBI from Ryan Campos, giving the Sun Devils a 4-1 lead going into the third.
Third Inning
Burns retired the first two Buckeye batters looking, and a groundout that left a bat flying towards the mound brought the Sun Devil offense back out.
Three Sun Devils got out via fly to center field, strikeout, and a grounder to third base.
Fourth Inning
Burns continued to bring the heat by starting the fourth inning with a strikeout. One Buckeye singled to right field, but was left stranded on Burns' eighth strikeout of the night. .
Kien Vu led the inning off with a double off the right center wall, followed by Steven Ondina advancing Vu off of a bunt. Williams brought Vu in, giving the Sun Devils a 5-1 lead and causing a pitching change. To welcome the Buckeyes' pitcher to Sun Devil territory, Williams stole second on a pickoff attempt. The play at second was reviewed and was upheld as safe. The inning ended with a deep fly to right field leaving Williams out on the field.
Fifth Inning
The Buckeyes started the inning off with a home run again, followed by a single and a deep fly to left field that caused pitcher Matt Cornelius to end Burns' night. Burns threw 91 pitches over 4.1 innings, recording eight strikeouts and allowing one walk, four hits, and two runs. Cornelius struck out his first batter before a double placed runners on second and third. He then fielded a grounder to close the frame.
Kevin Karstetter singled through the right side, followed by Isaiah Jackson singling to right field and bringing Karstetter to third. A fly out to center field brought him home. Jackson advanced to second on a balk, but was stranded on another fly out to center.
Sixth Inning
Matt Cornelius handled all three Ohio State batters striking out the side holding Ohio State at two runs, 6-2.
Williams got a double of an Ohio State error. Compton brought in Williams off of a hit to center field, 7-2. Tobias came up to bat with two outs and Compton on second, Compton stole third on a catching error. Tobias with a homerun brought in Compton and himself, giving the Sun Devils 9-2. Ohio State had back-to-back walks, walking Karstetter and Jackson with two outs on the board. Mendoza ended the inning grounding out leaving Karstetter on second.
Seventh Inning
A fielding error left a Buckeye on second. After Cornelius' fifth strikeout, he was replaced by freshman Bradyn Barnes. A walk and a wild pitch left runners on second and third before a second walk filled the bases. Another wild pitch brought one run in. A miscommunication on a grounder towards first left the runner safe and one run came in, but Barnes threw a second runner out at home to escape the frame up 9-4.
A fresh Ohio State pitcher began with a strikeout before letting up three hits to Steven Ondina, Harris Williams, and Brandon Compton in consecutive at-bats. Ondina made it home on Compton's hit. Another new pitcher walked Campos to fill the bases, then let Williams reach home on a wild pitch. Compton scored on a single from Jacob Tobias, leaving the seventh up 13-4.
Eighth Inning:
Wyatt Halvorson started the inning by giving up one walk followed by striking out three Ohio State batters leaving the score 13-4.
ASU was able to add one run to the board by starting off with an off the wall triple from Vu. Williams was able to bring in Vu with a double, 14-4. Eamonn Lance was up with two outs and Williams on second but was not able to bring in Williams.
Ninth Inning
After a walk and a strikeout from Wyatt Halvorson, the Buckeyes grounded into a double play to end the game.
ON DECK:
Sun Devil Baseball faces Ohio State for the third game of the four-game series on Saturday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The game will begin at 12:00 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on ASU Live Stream-2. Tickets are on sale now.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
On Thomas Burns' mentality:
"I told you guys after his last start, Thomas is going to give up a run or two here and there. It's going to happen. He's not invincible. The great thing about him is when he does give up runs, he doesn't seem to be rattled. He just goe right back to work and continues his gameplan. He's a very smart kid. He sensed that they were on his fastball, so he started pitching backwards on his own tonight. The great thing about him is he's able to drop his breaking stuff in for strikes, work ahead off of that, and pitch backwards when he needs to, and still be effective. He's still got 95 (mph) in the tank when he needs it, but he was throwing those guys backwards and tying them in a knot. I've said it before, but that's why he's on Friday night for us."
On Matt Cornelius' development:
"The moment hasn't been too big for him. He just goes and competes and to me that's what I ask of our pitchers, don't try to come up with something that you don't have, just be really good at what you do have and you're gonna be fine. Some of these younger kids need to learn from that and they have better stuff than Matty does, but they don't throw strikes with it. It's not very useful if you can't throw it over the plate. They can take a page out of his book and learn just to stay cool and collected when they go out there and trust their stuff the way that he's been doing. All these guys can be very effective if they do that, but we can't be effective if we're working behind."
Freshman designated hitter Brandon Compton
On what it shows about the depth of the lineup that he can sit one day and hit three RBI singles the next day:
"You just have to know this is a team sport and whatever the lineup is, that's what we have to go with and do our best. If you're not in there, then so what? Be ready to go if you're in the game and if you're starting, cool, show what you have."