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Baseball dominates No. 13 Oklahoma in first road game of the season

In a battle of unbeatens, Sun Devil Baseball was the one left standing in the 15-3 rout over the Sooners.

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Baseball dominates No. 13 Oklahoma in first road game of the seasonBaseball dominates No. 13 Oklahoma in first road game of the season
Sun Devil Athletics

Landon Hairston recorded his first multi-homer game, picking up five RBIs in the process.

Box Score

NORMAN – In a battle of unbeatens, Sun Devil Baseball aced its first test of the season and ended things “sooner” than later with a 15-3 run-rule victory in seven innings over No. 13 Oklahoma on Tuesday evening in Norman, Okla. 

In its first road game of the season, Arizona State (8-0) jumped all over Oklahoma (7-1) in the second inning behind three homers en route to an early 8-0 advantage. Not content with that, the Sun Devils tacked on six more in the third for a commanding 14-2 lead and never looking back. 

Landon Hairston recorded his first career multi-home run game with a two- and three-run shot, and he now has 12 RBIs in ASU’s two Tuesday games this season. Nu’u Contrades and Dominic Longo also added homers, and ASU had six doubles in the game for good measure. 

Kole Klecker was exceptional in his second consecutive outing as he held the potent Sooner offense to just three runs on three hits with five strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work. Josh Butler and Alex Overbay retired the six batters they saw to close things out as ASU became the first team this season to hold Oklahoma under 10 runs scored in a game. OU entered the game fourth in the nation, averaging 14.1 runs per game.

Turning point
While ASU’s eight-run second was - for obvious reasons - huge, the Sooners and their Top-10 offense did respond with a two-run shot in the bottom of the frame and with the wind howling out of the ballpark, the game was very much in the balance. The Sun Devils did their part to stymie any hopes of a comeback by coming right back out in the third and tacking on a six-spot. ASU led the frame off with three-straight doubles from Michel, Longo and Roelling to plate two. A Briggs walk preceded Hairston’s second homer of the game - his first multi-home run game in his career - for a three run shot that made it 14-2.

Big moment
Again, the wind could have easily been the great equalizer in the game. A solo shot in the fourth for the Sooners preceded OU loading the bases with just one out. One swing easily could have changed the momentum but Klecker settled in and got a massive strikeout for the second out before issuing a harmless popout to strand the bases loaded and end OU’s last big threat. Klecker, Butler and Overbay retired the last 11 batters they faced in the game.

Final straw
In addition to the closing dominance on the mound, ASU did its part to ensure the game ended in seven innings - saving its pitching in a huge week where the Sun Devils have five games against four ranked SEC opponents. Matt Polk poked across an RBI infield single in the top of the seventh inning to make it a 15-3 game and Alex Overbay entered and left no doubts of extending the game, shoving 96-98 and quickly retiring the side with three strikeouts to end things.

Inning by inning
First inning
Moutzouridis laced one to the opposite right-center warning track, but a nice play by the center fielder saved extra bases. Toigo notched a two-out walk but was thrown out attempting to steal second. OU had a leadoff walk but quickly lined into an unassisted double play at short on a failed hit-and-run, and Klecker got a strikeout to end the frame.

Second inning
The Sun Devils put up one of their vaunted crooked innings, homering three times and bringing eight runs across in an offensive eruption in the second. Contrades got ASU on the board with a double before stealing second and scoring on an error. A two-run shot from Longo made it 3-0, and another two-run shot from Hairston made it 5-0. Toigo notched and RBI single and Contrades, batting for the second time in the frame, notched the third two-run homer of the inning to make it 8-0. 

OU responded with a two-out, two-run homer of its own to get back within 8-2

Third inning
ASU responded with three straight doubles and two more runs to lead off the third. A walk preceded Hairston’s second homer of the game, a three-run shot to make it 13-2. Toigo doubled to score Hairston from first, but ran into ASU’s first out of the frame trying to stretch it to third. Contrades came inches away from his second as well, with the center fielder robbing one at the wall, and ASU was unable to add to the six-spot. Klecker worked a clean 1-2-3 frame, helped along by sliding outfield snags from Toigo and Hairston en route to a 14-2 lead early.

Fourth inning
ASU was able to load the bases in the fourth but couldn’t bring any of those home. OU added a solo shot and then loaded the bases themselves with just one out but Klecker got a huge strikeout and popout to limit the damage in the frame and keep ASU on top 14-3.

Fifth inning
Contrades notched a one-out single and stole second but was stranded there. Klecker settled back in and retired the top of the potent OU lineup in order, capped with his fifth strikeout of the game.

Sixth inning
Briggs notched a two-out single and took second on an error but ASU was unable to bring him home. Josh Butler came in in relief and promptly set the Sooner side of the inning down in order.

Seventh inning
With the run rule on the table, the Sun Devils did their part to ensure it stayed that way. Moutzouridis led off with a double and would score a couple batters later on Matt Polk's pinch-hit RBI infield single at make it 15-3. The Devils went to Alex Overbay to close things out, and he promptly struck out the side and sealed the victory.

Notables

  • ASU has outscored its opponents 782-460 over its last 82 regular-season games - going 58-24 in the process.
  • ASU has scored multiple runs in 18 of its 29 half-innings with runs this season. ASU has 12 innings with at least three runs scored this season, 10 with at least four and 8 with at least five.
  • Ironically, Polk’s huge RBI infield single in the seventh to add insurance to the run rule ended a streak of five straight innings in which ASU had scored that had resulted in five or more runs scored (3 vs. St. John’s on Sunday and 2 today).
  • Contrades extended his hitting streak to all eight games to start the year and brought his total to 11 RBIs in his last five games. 
  • ASU started 8-0 for the first time since a 21-0 start to the 2019 season.
  • Klecker held Oklahoma scoreless in the first. The Sooners had scored in six-straight first innings entering the contest, averaging 3.3 runs per first in that stretch. 
  • Dating back to at least 1995, the 14 runs scored today were ASU’s most in a true road game against a Top-15 ranked non-conference opponent that wasn’t named Arizona. It was the most in a true-road game against any Top-15 ranked opponent since defeating No. 22 Arizona, 22-8 in 2007 in a midweek non-conference game. It was the most by any Top-15 team in a true road game not named Arizona since scoring 15 at No. 2 Stanford in 2004.
  • The Sun Devils scored 14 runs in the first three innings of the game - notable as opponents had scored just 13 runs TOTAL in Oklahoma’s first seven games of the season. OU entered the game with a 1.96 ERA that was fifth-best in the nation. 
  • Entering the week, Arizona State had done its part to not let the bottom of opponent orders hurt them, holding teams to a .164 average from their 7-9 hitters - 30th-lowest in D1. Oklahoma went 0-for-6 out of those spots in the lineup tonight.
  • Conversely, Oklahoma entered the game first in the country in that category, holding opponent 7-9 hitters to a .088 average this season. ASU’s 7-9 batters (Longo, Roellig, Briggs) went 5-for-11 with four RBIs. 
  • The Sun Devil pitchers started innings strong and closed innings strong, allowing just one of seven leadoff batters to reach today (ironically, the very first batter of the game on a walk) and held OU to 1-for-8 hitting with two outs. 
  • OU surrendered four home runs in a game for the first time since March 3, 2025, vs. DBU.
  • Since the run rule became commonplace in the last couple of seasons, this marked the first time that Oklahoma had lost a seven-inning game by way of run-rule at home (they lost one eight-inning mercy rule to Vanderbilt last season)

Up next 
Arizona State will look to continue its momentum from Tuesday with a second contest against the Sooners on Wednesday in Norman. Scheduled for a 3 p.m. MST first pitch (4 p.m. local), the game will be available for streaming via the SEC Network Plus and also available over the airwaves in Phoenix on KAZG 1440 AM.

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Get an inside look at the Sun Devil Baseball program by following their Instagram (@asu_baseball), X (@ASU_Baseball), and Facebook (facebook.com/SunDevilBaseball) accounts. For the latest information on Sun Devil Baseball, visit sundevils.com/sports/mens/baseball.

Season Home Run Tracker (17)

Season/Career details with video from all ASU's home runs this season

Season, 4 | Career, 19

Feb. 24 at No. 13 Oklahoma (2nd inning; 408 FT to down left line)

Feb. 20 vs. St John's (5th inning; 400 FT to left center)

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (4th inning; 420 FT to center)

Feb. 14 vs. St. John's (3rd inning; 366 FT to left center)

Season, 3 | Career, 7

Feb. 24 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma (3rd inning; 386 FT to right center)

Feb. 24 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma (2nd inning; 432 FT to right center)

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (5th inning; 413 FT to right field)

Season, 3 | Career, 21 (D1 only)

Feb. 20 vs. St. John's (1st inning; 429 FT to right field)

Feb. 15 vs. Omaha (6th inning; 380 FT to right field)

Feb. 14 vs. Omaha (6th inning; 362 FT to right field)

Season, 2 | Career, 16

Feb. 20 vs. St. John's (4th inning; 397 FT to right field)

Feb. 14 vs. Omaha (5th inning; 423 FT to right center)

Season 2 | Career, 13 (D1 Only)

Feb. 24 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma (2nd inning; 416 FT to center field)

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (2nd inning; 416 FT to center field)

Season 1 | Career, 2

Feb. 17 vs. UConn (6th inning; 414 FT to center field)

Season 1 | Career, 6

Feb. 15 vs. Omaha (3rd inning; 354 FT to right field)

Season 1 | Career, 11

Feb. 14 vs. Omaha (2nd inning; 395 FT to right field)