#22 Baseball travels to Houston for final conference series

HOUSTON -- No. 22 Sun Devil Baseball concludes the 2026 regular season on the road this weekend, heading to Texas to take on Houston in a three-game series beginning Thursday, May 14. The Thursday-Saturday series will get underway at 4:30 p.m. AZT (6:30 p.m. local) on Thursday and Friday before concluding at 11 a.m. AZT (1 p.m. local) on Saturday.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

All three games this week will all be available to stream via ESPN+ with Jeremy Branham, Kyle Rogers and Austyn Iven on the call. Fans can check with their local cable or internet providers to see if they are on an ESPN+ plan or visit https://plus.espn.com/to sign up.

Thursday and Friday’s games will be available over local airwaves on KAZG 1440 AM with Saturday’s finale braodcast on KDUS 1060 AM. Tim Healey and Max Rossiter will be on the call all weekend.

There is a slight chance for inclement weather in the Houston area on Saturday afternoon. Fans are encouraged to follow along in-game content and schedule updates throughout the weekend on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account (@ASU_Baseball).

#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)

1.  With series victory this weekend, ASU would have its first season with at least five road series wins since the 2003 campaign.

2. ASU would be 5-0 in conference road series with a series win this weekend, going undefeated in conference road series for the first time since 1982 (4-0)

3. Only 26.9 percent of Cole Carlon’s pitches have ended up in play this season, the second-lowest total nationally (min. 60 innings).

4. Landon Hairston's 2.079 OPS when one of the first three batters an opponent faces is the highest by ANY player in the country since at least 2019.

5. Since the start of April, Nu'u Contrades' 18 extra base hits rank 15th nationalls and he has at least one in 15 of 21 games.

6. The Sun Devil pitchers have 81 strikeouts this season with runners in scoring position and two outs, a total good for 14th in the nation.

7.  Arizona State’s aggressive nature on the basepaths has seen the team advance a runner from 1st to 3rd on a single 44 times, 13th-most in the country.

8. Kole Klecker has gotten batters to chase his slider OUT of the zone at a 42.8 percent clip that is ninth in the nation among pitchers with at least 200 sliders.

9.  Opponents put Sean Fitzpatrick’s fastball into play just 11.5 percent of the time - the third-lowest percent of the country among pitchers with 20+ innings

10.  Since sitting to start the final game of the BYU series, Dominic Smaldino has recorded the 13th-most RBI in the country (21).

BY THE NUMBERS

93 - Sun Devil pitchers have posted an average fastball/sinker velocity of 93.2 this season, a total that currently sets good for ninth among all Division I programs. Arizona State also ranked ninth last season at 92.5. ASU ranked no higher than 28th in the category from 2019-2024 (28th in 2019 at 89.5 MPH).  ASU’s overall average pitch velocity on all pitches is 88.3, good for 11th in the country. Among pitchers with at least 25.0 innings pitched this season, ASU has the No. 16 (Cole Carlon, 96.0), No. 25 (Derek Schaefer 95.5) and No. 26 (Alex Overbay 95.4) pitchers in the country in average fastball velo.  For perspective, from 2019-2025 the Sun Devils had just one player TOTAL that averaged 95+ MPH fast balls for a season in over 20 innings (Lucas Kelly last season).

91 - Conversely, Arizona State’s average exit velocity at the plate this season is 90.9 MPH - good for the fifth-highest tally in Division I. The Sun Devils currently have a hard-hit ball average (exit velo over 95 MPH) of 45.8 percent, which is 19th in Division I baseball and the team’s 426 hard-hit balls (exit velo over 95 MPH) are 13th.  ASU has put a barrel on 298 balls, good for 11th in the country and the squad’s 21.3 overall barrel percentage is 30th. 19.6 percent of ASU’s balls put into play this season have qualified as line drives with an exit velocity over 95 MPH with a launch angle between 10-30 degrees, the 14th-highest percentage in the country.Four players rank in the Top-100 nationally in the category: Dominic Smaldino (26th, 94.8), Landon Hairston (42nd, 94.1), Nu’u Contrades (63rd, 93.6), DeanToigo (75th, 93.4).

74 - Landon Hairston has 74 RBIs this season, good for second country. HOWEVER, all 74 RBIs have come while hitting as the leadoff batter in the Sun Devil lineup, which is easily the most of any Division I player - T9 more than Graham Grahovac at Texas A&M.  For perspective, that total is already for most for ANY leadoff hitter since at least 2019 in leadoff RBIs for a season, surpassing Christian Moore’s 71 over 65 games in 2024.  25 of Hairston’s RBIs this season have come in pitcher’s counts (0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2) - 13th-most in the nation. His eight homers while trailing in the count are tied for eighth nationally. His 31 hits overall in pitcher’s counts are tied for 33rd-best in the country with his .400 average in that scenario good for sixth and his .813 slugging percentage is first.

1 - No player in the country has gotten more swing-and-miss than LHP Cole Carlon, leads all individual pitchers with his 226 whiffs on the season. The Sun Devils sit second in the nation with their 1,210 total swings and misses. The team is inducing a 22.9 whiff rate on pitches IN the zone that is third in the country while the 33.4 OVERALL miss rate is second. The team is allowing a Z-Contact rate (pitches in the zone where contact was made divided by total pitches in the zone) of just 49.0 percent, the sixth-lowest total in the country. Only 32.8 percent of ASU pitches have been put into play this season, the fifth-lowest total in the country. The team's 576 striekouts are within 100 of the longstanding school record of 675 from the 1975 season.

A LOOK BACK - OKLAHOMA STATE

• Arizona State dropped just its second series of the season to Oklahoma State at home last weekend, dropping to 10-2 in weekend series in the process.
• The Sun Devils were two outs away from taking the opener before a ninth-inning implosion saw a 6-3 advantage turn into a 9-6 loss. Oklahoma State homered seven times on Saturday in a 13-6 victory before ASU salvaged the finale with an 11-7 victory to avoid the sweep.
• Arizona State moved to 10-2 in weekend series finales with the victory on Sunday as well, with its only losses coming at Kansas State and vs. West Virginia.
• The Sun Devils struck out 46 Cowboy batters over the course of the weekend, the most for a weekend series for ASU this season.
• Dominic Smaldino tied ASU’s school record for a single game with his three-home run effort on Sunday, giving him five homers in less than 24 hours after recording two on Saturday. The two games marked the first two multi-homer games of the junior’s career. Smaldino is tied with 10 other players that have notched the milestone in program history and became the first Sun Devil to record three homers in a game since Joey DiMichele on May 1, 2011 against Stanford. Smaldino recorded eight RBIs in the game, which tied him for fourth in ASU single-game history as well. Since starting the game on the bench in ASU’s series finale at BYU, Smaldino has recorded multiple hits in seven of the last 10 games, homering in five of those.
• Kole Klecker became the first Sun Devil pitcher with over 35.0 innings of work with a sub-3.00 ERA (2.75) for a season at Phoenix Municipal Stadium since Alec Marsh in 2019 (1.78), joining Brett Lilek (2.20, 2015), Seth Martinez (2.89, 2015/2.20, 2016), Eder Erives (2.33, 2016) as the only others to accomplish that since ASU moved to Muni 2015

ON DECK - HOUSTON

• The all-time series sits in the hands of the Sun Devils, who hold the 14-4 advantage after taking two of three from the Cougars in Phoenix last year.
• The first-ever meeting came at the 1967 College World Series with Houston winning the first game, 3-0, before ASU took the winner-take-all finale, 11-2, to win its second National Championship in program history. No strangers in the postseason, Houston would knock ASU out of the 2002 Mesa Regional with a pair of victories over the Sun Devils.
• Houston is coming off a series win in its penultimate weekend of the regular season. The Cougars took the first two games of a three-game set at Arizona, including a 13-inning victory where Houston tallied 23 hits.
• Houston has wins against #4 (Texas) and #6 (Alabama) in the NCAA’s latest RPI release. The Cougars are one of two Big 12 teams with at least one Top 6 win and one of six with at least five Quad 1 wins.
• Houston has three wins against ranked opponents this year, including significant wins against #2 Texas on March 24, #15 West Virginia on April 17 and #21 Wake Forest on Feb. 13. The schedule is the 31st most difficult among Division I teams with 34 games so far against Top 100 teams and 18 against Quad One foes.

NO LUMP OF COLE

• Cole Carlon has shown no signs that moving to a starting role has fazed him this season, entering this weekend ranked third in the nation with his 115 strikeouts and also fourth with his with his 14.79 strikeouts per nine innings.
• Carlon’s 12.84 career K/9 is 11th among active Division I players. Carlon’s 235 career strikeouts are fifth-most at ASU since the 1999 season. His 115 strikeouts this season are the eighth-most at ASU for a single season since 1999.
• Carlon picked up a winning decision in each of his first two appearances of the season but didn’t pick up his third until April 17 at BYU - and has since earned three Friday-night victories in his last four starts. 
• Carlon has been at his best with traffic on the bases as he has allowed just a .129 batting average against (9-for-70) with runners in scoring position - the sixth-lowest tally in the nation (min. 60 innings). He has allowed just one extra-base hit with a runner in scoring position, tied for fourth-lowest.
• With a runner in scoring position and two outs on the board, Carlon’s 20-inning ending strikeouts are most in the country (min. 60 innings).
• Carlon’s 96.0 MPH fastball/sinker average velocity is fifth-best among pitchers with 60.0+ innings of action this season. His fastest velo of the season of 100.7 is third-best as an individual with at least 60.0 innings of work this season.
• Only 26.9 percent of Carlon’s pitches have ended up in play this season, the
  second-lowest total nationally (min. 60 innings).
• Opponents have swung and missed on 251 of Carlon’s pitches this season, the highest total in the country - 23 more than any other player.
• Carlon’s overall whiff rate on pitches in the zone of 34.3 percent is second among all pitchers with 60+ innings of work (398 total). His 45.3 overall miss percentage is first in the nation. 
• Carlon became one of the top relievers in college baseball last year, earning All- America honors from the NCBWA to become ASU’ 135th all-time All-American. He also earned All-Big 12 first team recognition and was named the Collegiate National Team for USA Baseball.
• Carlon received a slew of preseason recognition coming into 2026 with a trophy case that includes  being D1 Baseball’s #9 Big 12 2026 Draft Prospect, D1 Baseball’s #68 of Top 200 starting pitchers , a 3rd Team NCBWA Division 1 Preseason All-American, Baseball America’s #8 Big 12 2026 Draft Prospect , Baseball America’ 3rd Team Preseason All-American (Relief Pitcher) and on the Big 12 Preseason Team (Relief Pitcher).
• Last season, Among D1 pitchers with at least 500+ pitches in the regular season, Carlon’s 41.9 whiff percentage was 2nd in the nation. His 55.3 whiff percentage on his slider was fifth among pitchers who threw it at least 150 times.
• He had 82 strikeouts in the regular season, third on the Sun Devils, 10th in the Big 12 and 105th in the nation - but notable as all came out of the bullpen. Of the 117 players in D1 baseball to record 80 strikeouts in the regular season, Carlon accomplished the feat in the second fewest innings of work (Vanderbilt’s Connor Fennell, 82 in 50.1 innings).

SLIDING INTO THE DM’S

• Among pitchers with at least 350 sliders thrown this season, Carlon’s .203 average against on the pitch is the 17th-lowest in the country.
• He has induced an in-zone whiff percentage of 41.9 percent on the slider that is highest of any pitcher in the country that has thrown it at least 350 times this season and fifth-lowest among ALL pitchers with 50+ innings of work, regardless of total sliders thrown.
• Batters are making contact in the zone on the slider just 60.3 percent of the time, which is the the lowest total in the country (min. 350 sliders).
• Carlon is getting batters to swing on the slider 53.5 percent of the time, which is fifth-most in the country (min. 350 sliders).
• His 56.5 overall slider whiff percentage (including sliders out of the zone) is most in the country among those with 350+ thrown. He has gotten batters to chase out of the zone 39.9 percent of the time, seventh-best in the country.
• His 86.7 MPH average velo on the slider is third in the nation among pitchers with at least 350 sliders thrown.

HAIRY BONDS

• Landon Hairston has not experienced any sort of sophomore slump in Year Two with the program, quickly establishing himself as one of the elite pure AND power hitters in the country.
• Hairston is third in the nation with his .421 batting average. He had his 28-game hitting streak ended at UCF earlier in May, which was tied for the fifth-longest in Sun Devil school history.
• Hairston enters the weekend 25 home runs, a total that is fifth in nation and tied with Spencer Torkelson (2018) and Bob Horner (1978) for second-most in single season history. ASU’s single school record of 27, set by Mitch Jones in 2000 is very much worth keeping an eye on in coming weeks.
• His 19 doubles this season are tied for 29th the country and second in the Big 12. 
• Should he reach 20 in both doubles and homers, he would join Bob Horner’s 1978 season as the only other time a player reached the 20/20 club at ASU.
• He enters the weekend as one of just 15 players in the nation with at least 15 homers AND 15 doubles. 
• Hairston’s leads the entire nation with his 1.434 OPS (min. 3 PA per game) - over 60 points higher than the next closest player. His .906 slugging percentage is also tops in the nation
• Of his 81 hits this season, 46 have gone for extra bases (19 doubles, 25 homers, 2 triples) - three more than any other player.
• Hairston had just one extra-base hit through his first 27 games as a Sun Devil. In his 78 games since, he has 62 extra-base hits.
• He has had just 18 games this season WITHOUT an extra base hit. He had a
  streak of 13 consecutive games with an extra-base hit ended against Arizona on April 13.
• Hairston is the national leader with his four grand slams this season - also tying the ASU school record in the process. The NCAA single season record is six.
• His 407.95 average distance on his homers is 15th among D1 players with 14+ home runs this season (144 total). Hairston’s 94.1 average exit velocity is 42nd in the nation.
• Hairston’s WAR of 4.91 is tops in the country while his 64.39 total Offensive Runs over Replacement is also first - five more than any other player.
  Five-Time NCAA Champions (1965, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1981).

ALL EYES ON THREE

• Landon Hairston (who wears #3) has 74 RBIs this season, good for second country and five off the national lead. HOWEVER, all 74 RBIs have come while hitting as the leadoff batter in the Sun Devil lineup, which is easily the most of any Division I player - 19 more than Graham Grahovac at Texas A&M.
• For perspective, that total is already for most for ANY leadoff hitter in Division RBIs for a season since at least 2019, surpassing Christian Moore’s 71 over 65 games in 2024.
• 25 of Hairston’s RBIs this season have come in pitcher’s counts (0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2) - 13th-most in the nation. His eight homers while trailing in the count are tied for eighth nationally.
• His 32 hits overall in pitcher’s counts are tied for 33rd-best in the country with his .400 average in that scenario good for sixth and his .813 slugging percentage is first.
• Hairston is batting .345 overall with two strikes this season, good for 13th in the nation.
• Other teams have continuously tried to keep Landon Hairston off guard as 59 times this season an opponent has made a pitching change either directly before facing the lefty or within two batters of facing him. And continuously, Hairston has shown that it doesn’t make a difference.
• His 11 home runs as one of the first three batters an opponent reliever has faced are 1st in the country and three more than any other player. He has 25 hits and 32 RBIs in that scenario, ranking first in both categories. He is batting .543 off new pitchers that face him within their first three batters faced - third-best in the country. His absurd 2.079 OPS off those new pitchers is near .300 points higher than any other player. In fact, that’s the highest of any player in the country since AT LEAST 2019.
• Hairston has been equally a pest as the very first batter of a game, having recorded a hit to leadoff a game 22 times (in 51 games) - the second-highest total in the country (UT Martin’s TJ Grimes, 25).
• His .468 average to lead off games is eighth among all players with at least 30 games led off. He has a hit on the FIRST PITCH of a game nine times - two more than anyone else in the nation.
• Hairston is also second in the country with his 73 runs scored, two off the national lead.
• Opponents have intentionally walked Hairston 11 times this season, the third-highest total in the country.
• Landon Hairston became ASU’s 38th Freshman All-American last season, as selected by the NCBWA and was named to the All-Big 12 first team as a utility player and to the Big 12 All-Freshman team.
• Hairston moved from D1Baseball’s No. 101 outfield in its preseason rankings to its No. 2 outfielder in its Week 6 update.

NOT SO NU’U ANYMORE

• Nu Contrades is ASU’s most veteran presence as he enters his fourth year with the program - a rarity in the modern age of college baseball.  Contrades was selected by his teammates as a Co-Captain of the 2026 squad entering the year.
• Since the start of April, Contrades has at least one extra-base hit in 15 of 21 games. His 18 extra-base hits in that time are 15th in the country as he vaulted to the No. 2 ranking among second basemen by D1Baseball in their Week 12 update.
• Contrades’ 15 homers are 10th in the conference despite missing a decent chunk of time this season and batting off one leg for the majority of the season.
• Contrades is one of 15 players with at least 15 doubles and 15 homers this season.
• Contrades’ 408.22 average distance on his homers is 13th in the nation among players with at least 14 homers this season.
• Contrades has homered four times off relievers entering the game as the first batter they have faced, tied for fourth-most in the country. His 11 RBIs in that scenario are tied for 13th in the country.
• Contrades has struck out just 24 times this season (14.5 percent on 165 ABs). Last season, he notably struck out just 30 times - compared to 28 walks - on 181 ABs on the year (16.6 percent) after striking out 51 times with just 9 walks his freshman season on 217 ABs (23.5 percent).
• Unfortunately the veteran was down a couple games while dealing with a hamstring injury sustained in the finale against LMU, missing nearly three weeks and the first two weekends of Big 12 action. Even with returning to the lineup, Contrades has operated mostly under 100 percent with the injury lingering.
• Prior to his injury, Contrades was credited with saving 3.09 runs on infield ground balls this season, good for 34th in the nation but third among all second basemen.
• Contrades made his long awaited return to the diamond last season after missing the majority of 2024 season with a back injury. He enteredl last season on D1Baseball’s sixth-ranked third baseman in the country and the No. 22 MLB Draft prospect in the Big 12. Contrades has shifted over to second base this season. He was ranked by D1Baseball as the #21 second basemen in the country entering the year.
• Unfortunately, after a strong season for the majority of last year, Contrades missed ASU’s final month of the season with a hand injury. Prior to the injury, Contrades was reaching base at a .416 clip over his .309 average while posting 15 doubles, three triples and six homers. His 24 extra-base hits were tied for second on the team at the time
• He ranked third in the Big 12 at the time with those 15 doubles and tied for second in the Big 12 with nine doubles in conference-only games.
• Contrades was 14-for-15 on stolen bases last year, The 14 stolen bases were tied for 9th in the Big 12 at the time of the injury. Contrades batted out of the leadoff position often last year and reached on 21-of-51 (.412) leadoff opportunities
• He was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week for his efforts against Oral Roberts, where he homered three times and batted at a .385 average with five RBIs and six runs scored. 

TOIG-A PARTY

• Dean Toigo was voted by the Big 12 coaches as the conference’s Preseason Newcomer of the Year and has been one of the most prolific offensive threats in the conference thus season.
• Toigo’s 16 homers this year are Top-75 in the country and seventh in the Big 12. His 405.91 average distance on his homers is 22nd among those with at least 14 homers.
• Toigo has at least one RBI in 24 of his last 37 games. He had nine RBIs through his first 13 games this season and has 38 since then.
• After having just eight hits in the first 10 games of the season, Toigo has 53 in the last 41 to bring his season average to .316.
• Toigo’s OBP is over 100 points higher than his average at .430, due in large part to being a magnet for the baseball as his 16 HBPs this season are third in the Big 12.
• The transfer from UNLV was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on March 16 for his efforts against TCU and named to Baseball American’s National Team of the Week as well.

BIGGIE SMALS

• New Sun Devil infielder Dominic Smaldino is anything but small, giving his teammates a 6-6, 230-pound target over at first base.
• Since starting the game on the bench in ASU’s series finale at BYU, Smaldino has recorded multiple hits in seven of the last 10 games, homering in five of those.
• His three-home run effort in the finale against Oklahoma State tied an ASU school record and marked him as the first ASU player to achieve the feat in the BBCOR era. His five homers in the series garnered him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week recognition.
• Of the D1 baseball players averaging 3+ plate appearances per game this season (2,135 total), Smaldino’s 94.8 average exit velocity is 26th in the country and his 414.76 average home run distance is third in the country among players with at least 14 homers this year.
• Smaldino’ mammoth blast against Mississippi State at Globe Life Field was
  officially logged at 480.74 feet RECORDED homer by any Division I player this
  season and the longest recorded by a Sun Devil since 2019.
• Smaldino’s 10 homers since the start of April are 22nd-most in the country.
• Smaldino has seen his line drive percentage jump to 31.3 percent this season, which is the 36th-highest rate in the nation. That total is especially notable as it sat at just 14.8 percent as a freshman and 24.8 last season. His 47 total line drives are Top-50 in the country.
• Conversely he has watched his groundball rate drop from nearly 45 percent in 2024 to 34.0 percent this season

LASER SHOW

• Arizona State’s average exit velocity at the plate this season is 90.9 MPH - good for the fifth-highest tally in Division I.
• The Sun Devils currently have a hard-hit ball average (exit velo over 95 MPH) of 45.8 percent, which is 19th in Division I baseball and the team’s 426 hard-hit balls (exit velo over 95 MPH) are 13th.
• ASU has put a barrel on 298 balls this season, good for 11th in the country and the squad’s 21.3 overall barrel percentage is 30th.
• 19.6 percent of ASU’s balls put into play this season have qualified as line drives with an exit velocity over 95 MPH with a launch angle between 10-30 degrees, the 14th-highest percentage in the country.
• Four players rank in the Top-100 nationally in the category: Dominic Smaldino (26th, 94.8), Landon Hairston (42nd, 94.1), Nu’u Contrades (65th, 93.6), Dean Toigo (75th, 93.4).

A DISCIPLINED APPROACH

• The Sun Devils have recorded a 53.5 quality at-bat percentage this season (plate appearance ending in a hit, walk, sac bunt, sac fly or HBP, is eight pitches or longer, moves the runner, or with an exit velo over 95 MPH). That total is currently tied for 12th nationally.
• ASU has done a good job of not simply watching pitches taken for strikes, with an in-zone swing percentage of 70.0 percent that is 21st in the country.
• The team makes contact on 87.0 percent of the pitches in the zone, the 35th-highest total in the nation.
• When sticking to the team’s approach of hunting pitches in the upper half of the zone, few teams are better than the Sun Devils and their .370 team average that is eighth nationally. The team sees its average drop to .281 when chasing pitches in the lower third of the zone.
• The Sun Devils are batting .267 as a team when trailing in the count this season, which is the fourth-highest in the country. The team’s .459 slugging percentage in pitcher’s counts is second in the country behind Georgia Tech (.487).
• The Sun Devils have recorded 79 of their RBIs this season by way of hits to the opposite field, the 30th-most in the nation while ranking 21st as a team with a .386 average to opposite field.
• Arizona State is 19-6 in games in which it has at least three hits to opposite field this season compared toa 15-11 record when it doesn’t. 
• Among D1 teams with at least 50 games played this season, ASU’s 337 strikeouts offensively are the 17th-fewest in the country. 
• The team has just 81 strikeouts looking on the season, which is fifth-lowest
  among teams with 50+ games.
• The Sun Devils are producing quality at-bats even while being agressive at the plate. The team’s .421 average on first pitches put into play this season is 17th nationally. The squad’s 130 hits on first pitches are the 12th in the country and the 22 first pitch homers are fifth. 
• Arizona State has advanced a runner from first to third base on a single 44 times this season, 13th-most in the country.

THE HEAT SHEETS

• Sun Devil pitchers have posted an average fastball/sinker velocity of 93.2 this season, a total that currently sets good for ninth among all Division I programs. 
• Arizona State also ranked ninth last season at 92.5. ASU ranked no higher than 28th in the category from 2019-2024 (28th in 2019 at 89.5 MPH).
• The only non-SEC team in the Top 10 in the category outside ASU is Wake Forest, which leads the country at a 94.4 MPH rate. 
• ASU’s overall average pitch velocity on all pitches is 88.3, good for 10th in the country.
• Among pitchers with at least 25.0 innings pitched this season, ASU has the No. 16 (Cole Carlon, 96.0), No. 25 (Derek Schaefer, 95.5) and No. 26 (Alex Overbay, 95.4) pitchers in the country in average fastball velo.
• For perspective, from 2019-2025 the Sun Devils had just one player TOTAL that averaged 95+ MPH fast balls for a season in over 20 innings (Lucas Kelly last season).
• Colin Linder has a swinging strike rate (misses/pitches) of 13.9 percent on his fastball this year that is 25th-best among all pitchers with at least 400 fastballs thrown.
• Opponents are putting Linder’s fastball into play just 26.4 percent of the time - the 10th-lowest total in the country among pitchers with 400+ fastballs.
• Opponents are making contact with the pitch just 69.7.4 percent of the time, which is 16th-lowest among the 400+ crew.

FITZ-MAGIC

• Sean Fitzpatrick enters his fourth season of college baseball and third season with the Sun Devils and was elected team captain by his teammates entering this season. The southpaw bulked up over the offseason and it has resulted in a noticeably uptick in velocity.
• Fitzpatrick has appeared in 81 games over his career in relief (78 at ASU), which currently ranks 10th among active Division I players.
• Fitzpatrick has recorded 69 outs this season and 40 of those have come by way of strikeout. Among pitchers with 20.0+ innings of work, his 15.65 K/9 is sixth-best in the country.
• He has inherited a team-high 34 baserunners this season - the eighth-most in the country - and just 12 have scored.
• Out of all D1 pitchers with at least 20 appearances this season (462 total),
  Fitzpatrick has given up just one base hit to the first batter he has seen in an appearance, tied for the second-lowest total in the country (out of 26 appearances).
• He has struck out the first batter he has seen 12 times, which is the third-most in the country (min. 20 appearances). 
• Fitzpatrick is getting a called strike 45.2 percent of the time he throws his slider, the 14th-best percentage in the country among pitchers with at least 200 sliders thrown.
• Conversely, Fitzpatrick gets a swinging strike on 18.0 percent of his fastballs
  thrown, the eighth-highest percent in the country among pitchers with at least 20 innings of work. Opponents put Fitzpatrick’s fastball into play just 11.5 percent of the time - the third-lowest percentage in the country among those with at least 20 innings.
• The 55.7 contact rate on Fitzpatrick’s fastball is also the second-lowest among all pitchers with at least 20 innings of work.

YOUR BEST SALES PITCH

• Sun Devil pitching coach Jeremy Accardo’s addition to the staff paid immediate dividends last seasonand continues to excel this season.
• The team has a K/9 ratio of 11.6 that is seventh in the country and tops in the Big 12. ASU has struck out double digit batters in 34 games this season.
• The team is inducing a 22.9 whiff rate on pitches IN the zone that is third in the country while the 33.4 OVERALL miss rate is second.
• The team is allowing a Z-Contact rate (pitches in the zone where contact was made divided by total pitches in the zone) of just 49.0 percent, the sixth-lowest total in the country.
• The team’s 1,210 overall swings-and-misses induced are the second-most in the country - 13 behind Ole Miss.
• Only 32.8 percent of ASU pitches have been put into play this season, the fifth-lowest total in the country.
• Opponents are missing (swing and miss/total swings) offspeed/breaking
  pitches 42.6 percent of the time - the seventh-highest total in the country and an improvement from its 39.7 mark last season. In 2024, opponents missed those pitches just 35.6 percent of the time.
• Kole Klecker has had plenty of success getting batters to chase his slider OUT of the zone, with a 42.8 percent chase rate that is ninth in the nation among pitchers with at least 200 sliders thrown. His 54.1 percent swing rate induced on the slider in general is 17th-highest in the nation (min. 200 sliders thrown).
• Taylor Penn is getting a swing and miss rate (miss/swings) of 40.7 on his
  changeup - Top-50 among pitchers that have thrown at least 150 changeups this year. His swinging strike rate (miss/pitches) on the pitch of 20.5 percent is also Top-50 among those pitchers.
• Penn has stranded approximately 85.8 percent of his baserunners, a total good for 39th in the nation among players with at least 20 innings of work.
• Last season, ASU had seven pitchers with 10.0+ innings pitched and a sub-4.55 ERA in the regular season. In 2024, the team had just a single player that met that criteria.
• ASU’s overall team WHIP was 78th nationally at 1.48 last year. While not eye popping, It was notable as the team had not finished in the Top-100 in the category since 2012 (6th, 1.17). In fact, ASU had been outside the Top-200 five
  different times since then and outside the Top-150 eight times.
• The team’s strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.44 ranked 36th in the nation. The Sun Devils had not ranked in the Top-100 in that category in a non-COVID season since the 2015 campaign where ASU checked in at 79th in the nation with a ratio of 2.20.
• ASU was first in the Big 12 with a 11.3 K/9 average last season, good for third nationally. The Sun Devils struck out double digit batters in 37 of 60 games.
• ASU was one of just three schools in the nation with three different pitchers with 80+ strikeouts (Vanderbilt, Florida State) in the regular season.
• ASU struck out 653 batters last season, the seventh-most in the country. The tally was the second-most in school history in the aluminum bat era, just behind the school record 675 set by the 1975 team

GRABBING THE BULL-PEN BY THE HORNS

• As many fresh faces as there are in the starting rotation and in the field, the most veteran force on the roster likely comes from the team’s bullpen.
• The bullpen has a 5.25 ERA this season with a 22-7 record and a 321-121 strikeout to walk rate over 243.1 innings. The 321 strikeouts are the third-most of any bullpen in the nation.
• Derek Schaefer has taken hold of the back end of the bullpen, settling in as the team’s closer with a mid-90s fastball and electric secondary pitches. Schaefer’s 95.5 average fastball velo is 25th in the country among pitchers with at least 25.0 innings of work.
• Schaefer seven saves are 36th in the nation this season and first in the Big 12. He was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award Midseason Watch List.
• Schaefer was ASU’s fireman when its needed it last season, allowing just three of his 15 inherited runners on the season to score.
• Taylor Penn has ate up valuable middle relief innings, posting a 4-0 record over his 23.0 innings out of the pen, striking out 28 and posting a 2.35 ERA.
• Last regular season, ASU had three players with a bullpen ERA of 3.00 or less with 10.0+ innings pitched (Cole Carlon, Easton Barrett, Jaden Alba) - a feat that hadn’t been achieved through the regular season at ASU since the 2013 team (Ryan Burr, Matt Dunbar, Josh McAlister). 

HEADED TO THE GAP

• The Sun Devils currently rank 36th in the country and third in the Big 12 with 106 doubles this season, paced by Landon Hairston’s 19.
• The team has recorded at least one double in all but eight games this season and has multiple doubles in 29 games.
• ASU led the nation with its 149 doubles last season and  recorded multiple doubles in 42 of 60 games. The team was  seventh in country at 2.48 per game.
• ASU has had a player reach 20 doubles five times under Willie Bloomquist and at least one player do so in each season (2022-p). ASU had just two players, total,  reach 20 doubles from 2011-21.
• 11 players recorded at least four doubles last season and eight reached double digits in the category.
• The Sun Devils were tops in the Pac-12 and sixth in the country with 143 doubles in 2024 in 58 games and the 2.47 doubles per game were fourth in the nation. The total was 15 more than any other team in the Pac-12 even without making the postseason. 15 different Sun Devils had multiple doubles that season - the most of any school in the Pac-12.

CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL

• Arizona State is currently ninth in the nation with 99 home runs. Thirteen different players have homered for the Sun Devils as the team has already surpassed its total of 87 from last year.
• The 1981 program record of 110 homers is very much at risk of falling with the Sun Devils have at least 16 games left this season.
• ASU is 23-6 when recording two or more homers this season and have four or more homers in ten games.
• The team hasn’t had many cheapies either, with its average home run distance of 403.26 ranking fourth in the country.
• The squad’s 17 opposite field homers are tied for 12th in the nation and its 30 homers to center are sixth.
• The Sun Devils are third in the nation when behind in the count with 36 homers.
• ASU’s nine grand slams this season are tops in the country.
• Arizona State had 87 home runs last season, a total that was fourth in the Big 12 and 38th in the country.  ASU was 19-3 when hitting two or more homers in a game.
• Five times last season, ASU recorded five or more homers. That included a school record eight homers against BYU and 6 in two other games that were tied for third in school history.
• The Sun Devils set a school record with eight home runs in the finale of the BYU series, surpassing its previous record of seven against Arizona on March 4, 2000. ASU got that in the first two innings of the game alone as eight of the team’s first 10 hits all left the ballpark.  ASU’s 15 home runs in the BYU series (8 Saturday, 6 Friday and 1 Thursday) were a school record for a three-game series.
• The Sun Devils had 102 homers in 2024, good for 30th nationally and surpassing the program’s BBCOR record of 94 from the 2019 season. ASU became just the eighth Sun Devil team in the program’s illustrious history to reach 100 home runs and the first to do it since having 101 in 1990. The 2024 Sun Devils were the fastest to reach triple digits in the category in program history, doing so in 56 games.
• ASU had five Sun Devils reach doublle digit homers in 2024 (Ryan Campos, Kien Vu, Brandon Compton, Jacob Tobias and Nick McLain), marking the first time at ASU since 1993 that five players accomplished the feat (Todd Cady, Doug Newstrom, Antone Williamson, Paul Lo Duca, Jacob Cruz). It was the first season that even four had reached the tally since 1994. The 2024 Sun Devils were the first ASU team to have 13 players homer since the 2008 squad also had 13.
  

COMING IN HOT

• ASU has outscored opponents 1138-739 over its last 124 regular season games, going 83-38 in the process.
• ASU has scored multiple runs in 96 of its 171 half-innings with runs this season. ASU has 56 innings with at least three runs scored, 30 with at least four and 23 with at least five.
• Last season, The Sun Devils put up 69 innings where the team had scored at
  least three runs, 32 with four or more and 21 with 5 or more.
• The team has reached double digit hits in 35 games this season.
• ASU’s 582 total hits this season are sixth in the country as is team’s .326 average AND the team’s .565 slugging percentage.
• ASU is averaging 8.6 runs per game, good for 15th nationally.
• ASU scored 253 runs in its 30 conference games last season (8.4 per game) - tops in the league. The team bat .328 in Big 12 games - tops in the league by 11 points.
• Last season, ASU ranked 9th nationally and 2nd in the Big 12 with a .318 batting average in the regular eason and was 19th in the country and first in the league with a .527 slugging percentage. ASU was first in the Big 12 and 27th nationally with 8.4 runs per game in the regular season.
• Eight times in the Willie Bloomquist tenure have the Sun Devils recorded 20 or more hits (since 2022). The team had just eight from 2008-21 and only three from 2011-21.
• Both of ASU’s 20-hit games last season came on the road and three of the eight total under Bloomquist have met that criteria. Of the team’s 36 games with 20+ hits from 2000-2021, only eight came on the road.
• The Sun Devils have scored 20 or more runs six times in 4+ seasons under head coach Willie Bloomquist. That total is notable as the team had just five such games TOTAL from 2009-2021.

HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS

• The team posted the game-winning RBI/run in the sixth inning or later in 12 of the team’s wins last year. It has done so 10 times this season. The team has eight wins in one or two-run games on the year (8-7).
• The Sun Devils have walked off ten games over the last two-plus seasons (not including run-rule games).
• On the season, when ASU has a potential go-ahead or game-tying plate
  appearance (7th inn. or later), the team’s .365 average (46-for-126) in the 16
  games the scenario has occured is fifth in the country.
• ASU has trailed at one point in 73 of its last 114 victories dating back to 2023- including 20 of its wins last season and 17 times this season.
• With the team’s 9-3 loss in the finale of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series at Globe Life, the Sun Devils lost their first regular season game by more than five runs since a 17-7 run-rule loss at Cal State Fullerton on April 17, 2024 - ending its nation-leading streak of 85-straight regular season games.
• In four seasons under Willie Bloomquist, the Sun Devils have shown that no opponent lead is safe, with plenty of grit in erasing multi-run deficits. ASU has 25 wins over the last three+ seasons when trailing by at least three runs at some point in the game.
• In 2022, the seven-run deficit overcome by the Sun Devils to defeat and take the series from Cal was the most since March 3, 2000 against Arizona. ASU doubled down at that in 2023  with the victories over North Dakota State and GCU, overcoming a 7-0 deficit in both (and 9-2 in entering the eighth against GCU) for victories in both.
• ASU came from behind 13-6 in the regular season finale in 2024 against UNLV to walk it off in the ninth - the fourth seven-run comeback in the Bloomquist era.
• It added its fifth and six such comebacks this season after rallying from a 7-0 deficit at Grand Canyon to win 12-8 and also from 7-0 against BYU to win 12-8 as well.
• ASU has won 13 games in which it has trailed by at least five runs at some point in the game under Willie Bloomquist.

A FRESH LOOK

• The Sun Devil roster will look quite a bit different in 2026, especially in the field. Arizona State welcomes a whopping 27 new faces (12 on the mound anf 15 position players) as ASU was aggressive in both the transfer portal and the high school ranks.
• The Sun Devils brought in the nation’s No. 11 portal class according to 64Analytics. It was the highest-ranked class west of the Mississippi and the highest ranked class NOT in the SEC (8 teams) or ACC (2 teams).
• ASU brought in six portal players rated in the Top-250 in the nation while not losing any players to the portal that were ranked in that Top-250.
• Right-handed pitcher Kole Klecker was the highest-rated of the group, checking in at No. 54 after returning back home to the Valley after his time at TCU. Klecker was a Freshman All-American in 2023 and started a game for the Horned Frogs in Omaha at the College World Series. The Chandler native previous starred at Hamilton High School, winning a State Title as the starting pitcher his senior year in the championship game.
• A pair of Cal transfers in PJ Moutzouridis (No. 98) and Dominic Smaldino (No. 155) will look to serve a prominent role in ASU’s infield. Moutzouridis was a Freshman All-American himself in 2024. Smaldino is anything BUT small, standing at 6-6 and offering a big target over at first base. The junior launched 11 homers for Cal last season and figures to greatly enjoy the lefty-friendly hitting confines of Phoenix Muni this season.
• Dean Toigo has already been asterisked by the Big 12 coaches, who voted him the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year entering 2026. Toigo was the Mountain West Co-Player of the Year for UNLV last season and was also named a NCBWA Preseason All-American heading into this year as 64Analytics’ No. 187 transfer.
• A pair of ACC transfers in Florida State’s Brady Louck and Virginia Tech’s Garrett Michel checked in at No. 242 and No. 243 in the transfer rankings. Louck was the top-rated southpaw out of Illinois out of high school while Michel is a light tower power-wielding bat that has battled through injuries in the last two seasons after a freshman campaign that saw him log 11 homers and 16 doubles.
• Austin Roellig looks to man the hot corner for ASU this season and just missed being a Top-250 transfer prospect, checking in at No. 255. Roellig earned Big 12 All-Freshman honors and was a All-Big 12 Honorable Mention after his redshirt freshman campaign at Utah last year.
• Junior College transfer RHP Finn Edwards was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 18th round of the 2025 MLB Draft before electing to continue his collegiate career with the Sun Devils thus year.
• Alex Overbay (UNLV), Nick Annello (Jacksonville), Colby Guy (UNC Asheville)  and Taylor Penn (Western Kentucky)  bring a glutton of experience to the mound while Coen Niclai (Oregon), Dominic Longo (Utah Valley), Matt Polk (Vanderbilt) and Sam Myers (TCU) all figure to contribute in the field over the course of the season.
• ASU signed the nation’s No. 22 freshman class in 2025 and while the veteran-heavy lineup will allow the group to mature, there is plenty of talent in the form of INF Finn Leach (No. 141 prospect nationally by Perfect Game), Marcelo Rodriguez (No. 244), Austin Musso (No. 331), Cooper Clouser (No. 416), Brenden Lewis (No. 433) all flashing throughout Fall and Spring practices.