(Phoenix, AZ) Game one of a three a game series between a traditional basketball school and a football school as Arizona State hosted Kansas.
Both teams came in (2-1) in the Big XII with the #22 ranked Jayhawks sporting a (17-4) record and the hometown Sun Devils at (14-7).
Kansas started right hander Dominic Voegele (3-1) with an 5.06 ERA and the Devils countered with leftie Ben Jacobs (1-1) and a 4.73 ERA.
Jayhawk DH came in with a big bat with 11 home runs and 32 RBI, while first baseman Brady Ballinger was batting .416 in twenty one games.
ASU’s Matt King led the Sun Devils with a .328 batting average. First baseman Jacob Tobias paced the team with 22 RBI in twenty one games.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
The Devils’ Ben Jacobs walked the bases full, but got Brady Counsell to strike out swinging. Tommy Barth hit a ground ball to third base who got the force at home plate for the second out. Michael Brooks struck out on a half swing to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
ASU got the lead off batter on with a sharp ground ball to the shortstop which he legged out for a single. Brandon Compton followed with a line drive single to right field which put runners on the corners. Nu’u Contrades got the first run in on a fielder’s choice groundout. Jacob Tobias singles to right field. Matt King grounded out to shortstop. Isaiah Jackson field out to center field to end the inning. ASU 1-0
Second Inning
Kansas Ian Francis began with a pop up foul out to the catcher. Sawyer Smith stuck out. Chase Diggins followed with a walk. Cerda base hit through the hold into left field to put two runners aboard. Ballenger struck out swinging to end the inning.
Josiah Cromwick led off with a home run to right field. Landon Hairston singled to right field. The top of the order saw Walker sacrifice fly to right field that moved Hairston to third with two outs. Compton ended the innnig with a fly out to left field. ASU 2-0.
Third Inning
Jayhawks led off with a fly ball to center field. Counsell struck out for the second time. Barth struck out to end the inning.
Nu’u flied out to right field followed by Tobias who flew out to center field. King struck out as the Devils went down in order for the first time.
Fourth Inning
Again, Kansas got the lead off batter on by way of a walk. Francis struck out for the first out. A ground out to third base for the second out and an inning ending strike out to Diggins.
Jackson started the bottom of the fourth with a walk. Cromwick crushed a fast ball to straightaway center field for a two run RBI home run. Ryan flied out to center field for the second out. Leadoff batter Walker hit a ground ball single to right center field. Compton struck out to end the inning. ASU 4-0.
Fifth Inning
Cerda led off with his second walk. For the second time in the game, Jacob’s walked back to back players. That got Coach Bloomquist to go to his bullpen for reliever Jonah Giblin. Hague struck out on three pitched for the first out. A sharp ground ball to the shortstop got the runner out at second base on that was challenged but not overturned. Error on the shortstop got the Jayhawks on the scoreboard. The inning ended on a force play to second base. ASU 4-1.
Sun Devils went out in order on infield groundouts.
Sixth Inning
Francis led off with a fly out to the center field warning track. Smith hit a come backer to the pitcher for the second out. Kansas went down one, two, three on a grounder to third base.
Jackson struck out looking to start the bottom half of the inning. Cromwick was hit by a pitch. Hairston hit a sharp single to left field. With two runners on and one out, Kansas Coach Fitzgerald went to the mound to check on his pitcher but left him in. A pickoff play to first was called safe but again challenged and the call stood. Leadoff hitter Walker stroked one to right field for an RBI single. That brought Coach Fitzgerald to the mound for the second time in the inning. Reliever Robbie Knowles came in to pitch with runners on first and third bases. A stolen base put two runners in scoring position. That was followed by a two run RBI single to right field by Contrades. A grounder to second ended the inning. ASU 7-1.
Seventh Inning
A leadoff strike out began the top of the inning. Ballinger singled to right field and Hague hit a fly ball to the center field warning track for the second out. Councell hit a gapped to left center field to get the Jayhawks second run in. Barth struck out to end the inning. ASU 7-2.
Kansas changed pitcher again to Jake Cubbler to start the bottom half of the inning. A leadoff walk to King. After one pitch, Coach Fitzgerald frequented the mound again. A hit and run fielder’s choice by Jackson got the runner to second base. A fly out to center field was challenged due to Cerda dropping the ball after the catch on the transfer and was ruled safe on the error. That put two runners on with one out. A walk loaded the bases. The Jayhawks brought in their fourth pitcher Kasey Crawford. Ryan hit a sacrifice fly to right field to get a run home. Walker re-loaded the bases off a walk. A base hit off the pitcher’s leg scored another run. After ckecking on Crawford, his warm up pitch was ten feet to the left of the catcher and Fitzgerald had seen enough. The fifth Jayhawk pitcher Dalton Smith came on to pitch. Contrades’ line drive ricocheted off Smith to the second baseman who threw him out to end the inning. ASU 9-2
Eighth Inning
ASU brought in Cole Carlon to pitch. Brooks popped out in foul territory for the first out. Two consecutive strikeouts ended the inning.
Kansas went to their sixth pitcher of the game, Gavin Brasosky. An opposite field single to left for Tobias started the Devils off. A sliding catch in right field by Barth got the first out. Jackson walked to put runners on first and second bases. A two hopper to the first baseman ended the inning.
Ninth Inning
After two strikeouts to start the final inning, Ballinger singled to left field. Hague followed with a walk to put runners at first and second bases. Councel struck out looking to end the game.
Final ASU 9 Kansas 2
Attendance – 5834
Wrap Up
Arizona State showed off its offense tonight out of the gate and never looked back. Kansas used six pitchers which should help the Sun Devils the remainder of the series.
Game two of the series is Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
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