(Phoenix, AZ) Khristian Curtis spun a gem in his Sun Devil Baseball debut and ASU escaped a ninth-inning threat behind closer Brock Peery to earn a 5-3 win over San Diego State and take the series victory at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Saturday.
Luke Keaschall and Isaiah Jackson homered early while the Sun Devil manufactured three pivotal insurance runs in the eighth inning in what was otherwise a pitchers duel throughout.
Curtis, who was making his first appearance after season-ending surgery last season at Texas A&M, was outstanding. He retired the first eight batters he faced, touched 97 on the radar gun and mixed a flurry of pitches effectively to keep SDSU off balance, finishing with 5.0 IP and six strikeouts with just two hits allowed to earn the win. ASU posted 8.2 shutout innings behind Curtis, Matt Tieding and Blake Pivaroff before the late Aztec rally and overcame a sluggish start in the field last night with an errorless effort today.
THE TURNING POINT
ASU took a lead it would not relinquish on the very first pitch of the game as Luke Keaschall lined one over the wall in left for the first homer of his Sun Devil career. Freshman Isaiah Jackson followed in the second with the first of his career to give ASU a 2-0 lead before five scoreless innings between the two teams over the middle of the game.
THE BIG MOMENT
Khristian Curtis, who was otherwise electric, was caught in a jam in the fifth inning after allowing the Aztecs to load the bases with one out and the top of the SDSU order coming to bat. Curtis induced an infield fly to himself for the second out before squaring off with D1Baseball’s Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year Cole Carrigg. Curtis fell behind 3-1 in the count but rallied back to strike out Carrigg and keep SDSU off the board.
THE FINAL STRAW
The Sun Devils posted what would prove to be some much-needed insurance in the bottom of the eighth, scoring three runs to extend the lead to 5-0 thanks to manufactured runs with two sac flies from Luke Hill and Ryan Campos and an RBI chopper from Nu’u Contrades. Those runs would prove pivotal as SDSU mounted a massive ninth inning two-out rally to cut the lead to 5-3 with the go-ahead run at the dish. ASU turned to closer Brock Peery and the Pac-12 leader in saves last season notched his first of 2023 with a strikeout of SDSU cleanup hitter TJ Fondtain to secure the victory.
NOTABLES
Luke Keaschall’s first pitch home run was the first leadoff homer for the Sun Devils since Joe Lampe’s on March 26th, 2022 against UNLV. It was the second extra-base hit of Keaschall’s ASU career in as many hits after his huge ninth inning triple last night.
Isaiah Jackson’s 2nd inning solo home run was the first of his young career.
It was the first multi-homer game for ASU since 5/10/22 @ GCU. The Sun Devils had 18 games in 2022 of at least two home runs.
Ryan Campos threw out a runner in the game, the eighth of his career.
Brock Peery earned his first save of the 2023 season. The Sun Devil had 10 saves last year to lead the Pac-12.
ASU had logged six double-digit hitting games in a row dating back last year prior to its five-hit effort today.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
Khristian Curtis made his Sun Devil debut retiring the side on only ten pitches and added his first career strikeout to his ASU resume.
Luke Keaschall immediately followed in the bottom half of the inning with a first pitch lead-off home run. The rest of the order went down silently.
Second Inning
Curtis needed only six pitches to get through another 1-2-3 inning in the second. The Aztecs went down on a couple of groundouts and a fly out.
Isaiah Jackson added his own home run to the scoreboard that gave the Sun Devils a 2-0 lead with one out. Wyatt Crenshaw followed with a single, but a double play ended the inning.
Third Inning
Khristian Curtis struck out SDSU’s Xavier Gonzalez, but he reached on a passed ball. Ryan Campos recorded his first caught stealing of the season, throwing out Gonzalez. Curtis allowed his first walk of the season, but followed with another strikeout to hold the Aztecs to nothing in the frame. Through three innings, Curtis had not allowed a hit.
Not much came for the Sun Devils in the bottom half as SDSU’s Chris Canada struck out the side.
Fourth Inning
Curtis struck out two early, but allowed his first hit of the game. A pop up ensued immediately after to keep the Aztecs at bay.
A flyout, strikeout, and groundout had nothing going for the Sun Devils in the bottom half.
Fifth Inning
The Aztecs started the inning with a leadoff double to the right-center gap. A couple of walks loaded the bases for SDSU, but Curtis worked hard to get out of the jam with a strikeout to end the inning and strand the bases loaded.
The Sun Devils went down in order for the third consecutive inning.
Sixth Inning
Matt Tieding made his Sun Devil debut and relieved Khristian Curtis of his outing. Aside from a hit-by-pitch, Tieding handled the rest of the inning soundly to keep the Sun Devils ahead 2-0.
Keaschall got the Sun Devils going with a walk to start the action for ASU, but a double play from Ryan Campos quickly ended the threat.
Seventh Inning
The Aztecs began the inning with a lead-off single, but a sharp lineout to Ethan Longallowed a double-play for ASU as he stepped on the bag as soon as he snagged it. The Aztecs immediately answered with a two-out double to the left. A flyout to Rogers ended the inning for the Aztecs.
The Sun Devil bats remained quiet with a couple of flyouts and a groundout.
Eighth Inning
Blake Pivaroff entered the game in the eighth for the Sun Devils. Aside from a two-out base hit, Pivaroff took care of the rest, ending it with a foulout.
Isaiah Jackson led the inning off with a leadoff HBP. Wyatt Crenshaw followed with a ground-rule double in right-center to give the Sun Devils action. Luke Hill then drove in the Sun Devil’s third run of the day on a sacrifice-fly to right field. Nu’u Contrades immediately followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0. Another sacrifice fly by Ryan Camposgave the Sun Devils a five nothing ballgame.
Ninth Inning
A two-out bases loaded jam for Pivaroff led to a bloop single to center field and gave the Aztecs their first run of the game. A Sun Devil pitching change brought Brock Peery in the bases loaded situation where he allowed a 2-run RBI single. In the end, Peery was able to record the final out of the game via a strikeout which secured the win and gave Peery his first save of the season.
ON DECK
Sun Devil Baseball looks to sweep the Aztecs on Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. MST start to cap off their opening weekend. The game can be heard on KDUS 1060 AM and seen on the ASU live stream.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Keenan O’Rourke, Sun Devil Media Relations
Click on Logo
