Arizona State sweeps BYU powered by Saturday night home run show

(Arizona State Athletics photo)

By James Gravley

The Arizona State Sun Devils are just marching themselves right up the Big 12 standings and while doing so, they used their pitchforks to keep the BYU Cougars at bay and not move outside of the elimination zone in the Big 12 standings.

Arizona State won the series by a combined score of 36-13, hit 15 total home runs, and had five players hit two home runs each in the three-game series. The pitching staff combined for 42 strikeouts, as the Sun Devils moved to 28-16 overall and 14-7 in the Big 12, which puts them at 4th place.

Game One: ASU 8, BYU 3

The Sun Devils were really carried by two bats on Thursday night, and it came from the 2-4, three RBI effort of Matt King, and the 1-4, HR, two RBI output of Landon Hairston. That was the freshman’s third home run of the season.

Ben Jacobs  earned the win for the Devils, working 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, and striking out 11 batters along the way. On the night, Arizona State pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts total. Three of them came from Lucas Kelly over 1.2 innings of work, and two more from Cole Carlon over one inning of work.

Game Two: ASU 12, BYU 4

This is the game where the long ball was awakened by the devil himself, as Arizona State blasted a total of six home runs, with Kien Vu and Nu’u Contrades both hitting two home runs. Kyle Walker and Jacob Tobias had one each.

·       Contrades went 3-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI —  it was his 5th and  6th home run of the season

·       Vu went 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI — it was his his 7th  and  8th home run of the season

·       Tobias went 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI — it was his 6th home run of the season

·       Walker went 2-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — it was his 4th home run of the season

ASU pitching was once again hot, Jack Martinez earning his fifth win of the season behind a six-inning, two-run, two-hit outing with a blistering 10 strikeouts. The ASU pitching staff combined for four more strikeouts, two by Sean Fitzpatrick and one each from Will Koger and Derek Schaefer.

Game Three: ASU 16, BYU 6

Arizona State hit eight home runs this game, but that wasn’t the most impressive part. Those eight home runs came in the first two innings against the Cougars pitching staff.

Vu hit his second homer of the series, giving him nine on the season. Tobias also hit a home run, his second of the series, raising his season total to seven. King hit two for the Devils, his fifth and sixth, and Isaiah Jackson hit two, his seventh and eighth. They were joined by Brody Briggs, who hit his third and fourth.

The Sun Devils pitching in the series finale combined for 12 strikeouts. Relief pitcher Jaden Alba went three innings, allowing two runs on three hits with six strikeouts, and earned the win, his second of the season. Josh Butler worked two innings of three-strikeout baseball. Easton Barrett, who started for the Devils, worked two innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts. Lucas Kelly worked one inning with one strikeout.

The Devils have made the announcement clear that they aren’t going to go down without a fight and will be a dangerous team to play against when the Big 12 tournament starts in a few weeks.

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