Matt King continued his torrential tear, recording two homers on four hits with six RBIs to pace the ASU (22-11) offense. He had an eight at-bat hitting streak over three games ended in the ninth inning on a borderline called strike three, one shy of tying the ASU’s school record of nine-straight ABs with a hit – last reached by Mike Pagel in 1982.
Landon Hairston had a career high three hits and Brandon Compton picked up three hits, three RBIs and four runs scored in the all-around effort. Jacob Tobias homered and added three RBIs with Nu’u Contrades tacking on a three RBI day as well.
ASU recorded 16 hits and walked 11 times as every starter reached base in the game and 11 players reached base overall.
Jonah Giblin earned his team-leading fifth win of the season with his 1.2 scoreless innings of work in his return from battling the flu. Derek Schaefer tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with three strikeouts, no walks and just one hit and eight Sun Devil pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts.
The Sun Devils now head on the road for four games in the Midwest across two states, trekking to Cincinnati for a three-game Big 12 series beginning Friday before heading over to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on Purdue in a Monday midweek game.
TURNING POINT
After ASU took a 4-0 lead out the gates in the first inning behind Matt King’s first two-run homer of the day, the Matadors came roaring back with a five-run third to take the lead. King was unfazed, putting the team on his back with his SECOND two-run homer of the game (and third in his previous four ABs) to retake the lead in the bottom half of the frame – a 6-5 lead the Sun Devils would never relinquish.
BIG MOMENT
The Sun Devils left no doubt in the middle innings, throwing up a six-spot in the fourth and tacking on five more in the fifth to put the game squarely out of reach at 17-5. Josiah Cromwick and Jacob Tobias each had two-run homers in the offensive explosion while King added a two-RBI single for his fifth and sixth RBIs of the day.
FINAL STRAW
The Sun Devils got an opportunity to bring veteran Tyler Meyer to the bump for the first time this season. One of ASU’s top scholar-athletes and most active members in the community, Meyer has been hampered with injuries that have forced him to the sidelines for much of the last two-plus season. Meyer topped the radar gun at 96 miles per hour and picked up ASU’s 10th strikeout of the game on a 95 MPH heater to cap off the big victory.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
Easton Barrett got the start for the Sun Devils. He issued a leadoff walk and a single before retiring the side and hanging a zero on the board.
The Sun Devils jumped all over the Matadors in the first inning, plating four runs on three hits. Matt Kingbrought out the tape measure, as he connected on a two-run shot for his second home run of the season.
Second Inning
Barrett worked his second straight scoreless inning with a little help from Brandon Compton. Compton gunned down a CSUN runner at the plate that tried to take the extra base on a defensive miscue, which kept the ballgame at 4-0.
Landon Hairston ripped a base knock up the middle but the Sun Devils couldn’t get anything else going in the second.
Third Inning
Barrett ran into trouble and was chased after leaving the bases loaded before recording an out. Jonah Giblin inherited the scenario as the inning saw four hits, passed balls and defensive miscues leading to five runs for CSUN. The bleeding was stopped after Isaiah Jackson threw out a runner at the plate to finally end the inning after a five spot for the Matadors.
Matt King remained scorching hot as he launched yet another home run, his second of the game and third in two games to put the Sun Devils back on top, 6-5. That would be all for ASU in the frame after the big swing by King.
Fourth Inning
Giblin returned to the bump, working around a single and posting a scoreless fourth.
The Sun Devils enjoyed a monster fourth inning that saw six runs touch home plate. Nu’u Contrades started the party with a two-run double before Matt King drove in another pair on a base knock – his sixth RBI of the afternoon. Josiah Cromwick landed a big punch, driving out a two-run homer to increase his team’s lead to 12-5 as the inning concluded shortly after.
Fifth Inning
The ball was handed to Derek Schaefer as the fifth commenced. Schaefer issued a leadoff single, but worked right around that as he retired the next three batters in order.
More crooked numbers were hung in the fifth inning as the Sun Devils plated five more runs on four hits. Jacob Tobias launched his 40th career home run with a two-run shot that traveled 421 feet. Kyle Walkerscored on a wild pitch as Isaiah Jackson and Kien Vu each collected RBIs to tally up the five piece and extend the lead to 17-5.
Sixth Inning
Schaefer returned for the sixth and mowed down the order as he needed just seven pitches to do so.
The Sun Devils went down in 1-2-3 fashion for the first time in the afternoon in the sixth.
Seventh Inning
Max Arlich toed the rubber for the seventh, posting a scoreless frame capped off with a 6-4-3 double play.
Matt King reached for the fifth time of the afternoon by way of walk, but that was the lone base runner for ASU in the seventh.
Eighth Inning
Eli Buxton took over in the eighth, where CSUN tagged him for four runs. Buxton surrendered a three-run homer and three hits before being pulled in favor of Wyatt Halvorson.
A load of replacements took place in the eighth, as four pinch hitters saw at-bats. Hairston, Beckett Zavorekand Ky McGary all reached as Brandon Compton drove them in on a bases clearing double that cemented a 20-run effort for the Sun Devils.
Ninth Inning
Will Koger began the final frame for ASU. He issued a leadoff single and then picked up back-to-back strikeouts. Koger was then relieved as Tyler Meyer was called upon to get the final out of this one. After a two-run double, Meyer picked up a strikeout to close out the 20-11 win.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
On Matt King’s career day
“He’s been swinging the bat extremely well, this isn’t the only day he’s been swinging good. He’s just been really carrying us offensively for a little while now. So, when you’re in that kind of zone, you’re seeing everything big and he’s on time. Seeing pitches up in the zone and not missing them. He’s just been outstanding for us.”
On where the team stands in the Big 12
“We have a long way to go. We have to get a lot better. I think today even though the score indicates that we won by a wide margin. I thought offensively we played great, but the rest of the game we were very, very sloppy. I was not really pleased with them. I don’t want them to think that they had a great game. There were some innings there where we gave away a lot of runs that just were petty fundamental mistakes. (When) we get better teams, they’re going to expose the heck out of that and we don’t win that game. So I can’t let them get away with that and think that they had a great game all the way around. We have a lot to improve upon.. We’re in a solid spot, but we’re not satisfied with where we’re at as a team. So if we focus on just continuing to get better and fix the things that we need to fix and adjust on those things, then we’ll take the results as they come. Hopefully these kids are confident. Swinging the bat has been one part that I’ve been addressing quite frequently that we need to be better at. Today was a great day from the offensive standpoint, but, as a team we still have room to get better.”
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremy Hawkes
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