(Fort Worth, TX) The Sun Devil Baseball bats came alive in historic fashion on Saturday afternoon, routing TCU 26-9 to force a rubber match Sunday in Fort Worth.
ASU’s 26 runs were tied for the most-ever allowed by the historic Horned Frogs’ program and the most for the Sun Devils (13-6, 1-1 Big 12) in a conference game since 2000. ASU recorded 28 hits in the contest, the most given up by TCU in a game in program history.
After consecutive 3-2 losses on Tuesday and Friday at Arizona and TCU, the offense wasted no time rectifying its woes on Saturday. Kyle Walker led the game off with a home run – one of five for the Sun Devils in the game – and ASU scored in eight of nine innings with multiple runs in five of those.
ASU jumped out to a 10-0 lead through just two innings and truly blew the game open with a nine-run fourth inning – with eight of the runs being scored with two outs.
Isaiah Jackson homered twice while Walker, Brandon Compton and Josiah Cromwick each added one. Seven different Sun Devils recorded at least three hits and of the 14 players that played, 12 recorded hits. Jackson and Cromwick led the way with six and five RBIs, respectively.
Lost in the offensive explosion was yet another exceptional effort on the mound by starter Jack Martinez. The senior – who frequently found himself sitting in the dugout for 20-30 minutes at a time while the offense rolled – remained locked in when it was his time to shine. Martinez recorded 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts and just one walk, allowing only two hits with no runs. Max Arlich added 1.1 scoreless innings of relief himself.
The Sun Devils will look to take the rubber match tomorrow at Lupton Stadium and earn a victory in the team’s first Big 12 Conference series, beginning at 10 a.m. AZT (2 p.m. local time).
TURNING POINT
Kyle Walker set the tone for the entire game as he was moved to the leadoff position in place of Kien Vu, who has been limited with an ankle injury. Walker responded by sending the fifth ball of the game over the left field fence for his first homer of the day, one of three hits and three RBIs he would record while scoring four runs. ASU would add three more runs in the frame to make it 4-0 and Jack Martinez responded with a scoreless bottom half of the frame to halt any ideas of a TCU rally.
BIG MOMENT
The offense didn’t settle for the early lead, adding six runs in the second and then exploding for nine runs in the fourth – eight of which came with two outs – to make it 20-0 through four innings. ASU’s offensive surge featured five homers and six doubles while the team boosted its overall batting average 20 points to .301 on the season. The big knocks came from Isaiah Jackson, whose three–run homer off the right field foul post in the second made it 10-0 while Josiah Cromwick added a three-run homer of his own in the fourth as the duo combined for 11 RBIs in the game.
FINAL STRAW
Jack Martinez eliminated any thoughts of a TCU rally with yet another solid outing. Martinez absolutely had the TCU batters on their toes, striking out seven batters with just one walk. He allowed just two hits and no runs over 5.2 innings while the Sun Devils continued to pour runs on.
PLAYER(S) OF THE GAME
While there was no shortage of options, the back-to-back pairing in the order of Isaiah Jackson and Josiah Cromwick combined for 11 RBIs on 7-of-11 hitting. Jackson recorded two homers while Cromwick added one of his one.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremy Hawkes
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