Jacob Tobias homered on the first postseason pitch he has ever seen in his four-year career, adding two doubles and scoring three runs to pave the way for the Sun Devils (36-22), who will now take on host and 13th-ranked UCLA tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. AZT for a chance to advance to the regional final.
Isaiah Jackson also homered and added a pivotal late-inning insurance RBI and the Arizona State pitchers did the rest as the combination of Ben Jacobs, Jonah Giblin and Cole Carlon limited the potent Anteater offense to just two runs on five hits with 11 strikeouts
ASU shook off some self-inflicted wounds after six walks, a hit by pitch and two errors as the pitchers stranded 10 Irvine baserunners while the defense made the play of the season with a massive double play in the eighth inning when UCI had the bases loaded and just one out in a 4-2 game.
TURNING POINT
Having waited multiple years for the opportunity to shine in the postseason, Jacob Tobias, Kien Vu and Isaiah Jackson led the way offensively for the Sun Devils on a night where runs were at a premium. Batting 4-6 in the lineup, the trio of left-handed hitters combined for six of the team’s eight hits, four of them for extra bases, and all of its RBIs. Tobias and Jackson teamed up for a pair of solo home runs in the second inning, both continuing their contributions the rest of the night with Tobias slashing a pair of doubles, and Jackson plating a key insurance run in the eighth. Vu’s fourth-inning two-bagger that scored Tobias helped shed a multi-run answer from UCI in the second, and give ASU a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
BIG MOMENT
After adding an insurance run to their lead in the top of the eighth inning, the Sun Devils ran into trouble in the bottom half. Having been shut down by Jonah Giblin in the sixth and seventh, UCI put its first two batters on base against the seasoned righty, eventually moving the tying runs into scoring position with one out. A subsequent walk would load the bases for the Anteaters, and force an early call for the closer. Following two strong innings out of the bullpen, southpaw Cole Carlon relieved Giblin with three runners aboard. On a 2-1 offering, Carlon spotted a fastball down in the zone to perfection, getting a hard-hit ground ball heading straight for Kyle Walker at second base. Matt King dug out the flip from Walker, and fired to first in time to turn the double play and snuff out the UCI rally in the eighth.
FINAL STRAW
After tossing four scoreless innings and five total, Ben Jacobs was picked up on the backend by Jonah Giblin in the sixth, who wasted no time in putting up zeroes of his own. Giblin sat down the first six hitters he faced in the sixth and seventh, striking out three and allowing just one baserunner. After Irvine put the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the eighth, Carlon got the ball and kept Giblin’s book clean with a lead-preserving double play to get out of the frame unscathed. Staying on the bump for the ninth inning, Carlon punched out the first hitter, but found himself facing the tying run at the dish following a one-out double. Not to be fazed, Carlon kept firing against the heart of the Irvine order, retiring the next two hitters to clinch Arizona State’s first NCAA Tournament victory under Coach Bloomquist.
INNING BY INNING
First Inning
The Sun Devil offense went quietly to get things underway. Ben Jacobs picked his team up by working a scoreless bottom half of the inning despite a two-out walk to keep zeros across the board.
Second Inning
On the first pitch of his postseason career, Jacob Tobias led off the frame with the 43rd home run of his Arizona State career over the right field wall to provide the Sun Devils an early lead. Isaiah Jacksonfollowed it up two batters later with a solo blast of his own, his team-leading 17th of the year, to extend the Sun Devil advantage to two runs.
The Anteaters answered the Sun Devils pair of power punches with two, two-out scores in the bottom half of the inning off a double and an error. Jacobs composed himself in time to strand the bases loaded and limit the damage to a 2-2 tie.
Third Inning
The offensive side of things brought some loud contact but had nothing to show for it, going down in 1-2-3 fashion. Jacobs then worked a scoreless third, capping things with a strikeout to conclude the side.
Fourth Inning
Tobias again led off the inning with an extra-base hit, beating the shift with a hard grounder down the left field line that went for a double. Kien Vu traded places with Tobias in a similar fashion, lacing a two-base hit just inside the third base bag to score Tobias and regain the lead for Arizona State. The consecutive doubles would be the only offense on display for ASU in the top of the fourth, with Vu being left on base.
Jacobs protected the 3-2 advantage for ASU, notching a pair of strikeouts to nullify a one-out walk and post his third scoreless frame of the evening.
Fifth Inning
Kyle Walker legged-out an infield single to give the Sun Devils some momentum, but Landon Hairston ran into some tough luck as he hit a rocket that resulted in a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Jacobs ran into the most traffic of his outing after UCI reached on an error and followed that with a walk. The Anteaters executed a successful sacrifice bunt to advance runners to second and third with just one-out. After a lengthy mound visit from Bloomquist, Jacobs dialed it back up and escaped the jam after picking up a strikeout and a flyout prior to leaving the field with an emphatic fist-pump to end his outing and preserve the 3-2 lead.
Sixth Inning
Arizona State couldn’t pad their lead in the sixth, with an infield web gem denying Tobias his third hit and a two-out walk to Vu going by the wayside.
As customary, Jonah Giblin relieved Jacobs to start the bottom half and retired the bottom third of Irvine’s lineup in order, mixing in a pair of strikeouts to maintain the one-run edge.
Seventh Inning
Josiah Cromwick led off the frame with an opposite field double to put ASU in business early. Compton was hit by the very next pitch to put two runners on with no outs. Jax Ryan attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but fouled off three-consecutive pitches to ultimately go down on strikes. UCI then made its first call to the pen with the top of the order looming for ASU. Walker grounded out on a check swing that advanced runners to second and third, but Hairston struckout to end the threat.
Giblin remained locked in as he retired the side in a mere 12 pitches to turn it over back to the offense.
Eighth Inning
Capping off a postseason debut four years in the making, Tobias roped his third extra-base hit of the night off the left field wall for his second double. With two away, Isaiah Jackson brought him home with a base hit through the right side, with Tobias’s hustle home pushing Arizona State’s lead to two.
UC Irvine wasted no time threatening ASU’s 4-2 advantage, with a hit-by-pitch, hard single, and sacrifice bunt putting the tying runs in scoring position with one out. After a walk to load the bases, Giblin would give the ball to southpaw Cole Carlon with a pair of lefties due up. On a 2-1 pitch, Carlon induced a 4-6-3 twin killing to escape the jam spotless and bring the Sun Devil faithful on hand to their feet.
Ninth Inning
With one out, Ryan hit a skyscraping pop-up that UCI couldn’t make a play on, which put him on second base via error. The Sun Devils couldn’t capitalize on the miscue and things turned to the bottom of the ninth with a 4-2 lead at hand.
Cole Carlon returned for the ninth and picked up a strikeout almost immediately. The next at-bat resulted in a double down the line to give the Anteaters some late life with just one out. Carlon then battled out a gutsy matchup, resulting in another strikeout to bring ASU right up to the finish line. The final act ended in a flyout to center field on the first-pitch to secure the Sun Devils first regional victory since 2021.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening Statement
“I’m extremely happy for these guys and for our team. Getting that first one out of the way is huge for us. We made big pitches when he had to, Benny dug deep when he had to there in the 5th to get out of that. Jonah (Giblin) threw the heck out of the ball for a better part of three innings there. Cole (Carlon) picked him up with a double play ball and then finished off. And then offensively we did enough. That young man had a pretty good mix going against us that was tough, held the running game very well against us, so we couldn’t take a whole lot of extra bases. So exciting game, well played game on both parts and happy too come out on top.”
On bouncing back after four-game skid to end the season
“The first thing I would say is, it’s tough to win in college baseball, you see what’s going on today and the upsets that are happening. Anybody can beat anybody. So, for us, it was going out, focusing on ourselves and playing our best baseball. We mentioned before, obviously we didn’t finish the last part of the regular season and conference tournament the way we wanted to, but maybe there’s a reason for that. Our guys got to rest up a little bit and hopefully get to go on a run here. So for us, we’ve always believed in ourselves, we stubbed our toe there a little bit, but we know that we’re what we’re capable of and I think it’s it’s one of those things where the external distractions get more and more, we get tighter and tighter in our clubhouse. We got each other’s back in here. We’re going to continue to believe in each other and to me that’s what makes this special, today being a special game, but you know just this whole year with these guys has been extremely special for me and I think they would say the same. We’re just a very tight knit group and something great can happen when we play for each other.
On long-time Sun Devils being key parts of the win
“I could not hand pick four better guys to essentially be the players in the game right here. Toby’s been with me for four years. Benny, I’ve seen him grow tremendously since we’ve had him in the past couple of years. Isaiah. What can we say about him just as far as the transformation he’s made from an offensive standpoint. We always knew he could play defense, but the offense is rolling the way it is. Cole Carlon just doing what he does and continuing to make a huge strive forward from last year. I give the credit to my coaches. My coaches are the ones that have developed these young men and continue to grind with them, but also give the credit to my players. They’re the ones that buy into what we’re selling. They believe in themselves. They believe in us coaches and what we’re doing. And for this to be a staple win as we move forward in this season, we knew the first one was gonna be the toughest one. So we got that first one out of the way and now we, now we roll. So we’re, we’re eager to tee up against UCLA tomorrow should be another dogfight.
Next Game:
UCLA Saturday My 31st, 2025 at 6 p.m. on ESPN+
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremy Hawkes
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