Baseball Sweeps Stanford to Conclude Pac-12 Era

STANFORD -  Sun Devil Baseball concluded its regular season Pac-12 era in historic fashion, sweeping the Stanford Cardinal with a 16-7 victory at the Sunken Diamond on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Sun Devils (29-24, 17-13 Pac-12) continued their torrential offensive pace in league games, recording 10 runs on 13 hits. It was the eighth time in the last 10 Pac-12 games that ASU reached double-digit scoring and the 10th time in the last 13 games overall accomplishing the feat. With 16 hits, it was the 13th time in the last 14 games that the team has recorded double-digit hits. 
 
The series marked the first time in program history ASU has scored double-digit runs in each game of a three-run series at the Farm and the first time doing so against the Cardinal, regardless of location, since 1989 at Packard Stadium.
 
ASU surpassed its conference win total from a season ago with 17 wins and is now victorious in four-straight weekend series, winning six Pac-12 series this season. ASU has scored 178 runs in its last 15 games, going 12
-3 in that span while averaging 11.9 runs per game. 
 
Jacob Tobias recorded a career-best six RBIs, including the dagger three-run shot in the eighth inning to giving ASU a 13-6 advantage. Steven Ondina recorded his first multi-homer game of the season and had three RBIs. Kevin Karstetter recorded his first homer as a Sun Devil and Brandon Compton added his 12th homer of the season as ASU's five homers were the most allowed by Stanford at the Sunken Diamond since Chase Utley's UCLA team on May 10, 2000. 
 
ASU pitchers stranded 11 Stanford baserunners and Sean Fitzpatrick, Ryan Schiefer and Cole Carlon combined to allow just three runs over the final 5.1 innings to stop any chance of a Stanford comeback. 
 
TURNING POINT
After ASU took a 4-0 lead in the early going, Stanford came roaring back with a four-run fourth to make it a brand new ball game. ASU wasted no time retaking that lead with a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer from Brandon Compton but Stanford matched that exact scenario in the bottom half of the frame to make it 6-6. ASU again had an answer in the sixth and it came on two straight pitches. Kevin Karstetter got a hold of one for his first homer of the season and on the very next pitch, Steven Ondina went yard for the second time on the day. A two-out RBI single from Jacob Tobias later in the inning made it 9-6 and ASU was in control from there.
 
BIG MOMENT
Stanford looked primed to mount another rally in the bottom of the sixth as it loaded the bases with two outs with Ryan Schiefer in the game. A tough bounce up the middle looked like trouble after Ondina couldn't quite glove it for the easy out at second but kept the ball in front of him and hummed it across the diamond to get the out at first and strand three runners in the process - part of 11 stranded base runners by the Cardinal on the day thanks to the Sun Devil pitchers and defense.
 
FINAL STRAW
Ondina tacked on another run in the seventh to make it 10-6 before ASU blew the game open in the eighth as Kien Vu reached on a HBP and Nick McLain singled to put two on with no outs for Jacob Tobias. The veteran put his stamp on the game with a wall scraper to the batter's eye, just past the leaping glove of the Stanford center fielder for a three-run shot and a 13-6 ASU lead. Two RBI singles from Campos and McLain in the ninth and another Tobias RBI on a groundout - his sixth RBI of the day - put the finishing touches on the 16-7 victory. 
 
NOTABLES 

• Ryan Campos' first-inning single on the very first pitch of the game means he has now reached base safely in 132-of-142 career games (93.0 percent) with the Sun Devils and all but one game this season.
• He notched his team-leading 22nd multi-hit game of the season with his two knocks today. 
• The Sun Devils have 92 homers this year, needing just three to surpass the program's BBCOR record of 94 from the 2019 season. ASU has a very real chance of becoming just the seventh Sun Devil team in the program's illustrious history to reach 100 home runs and the first to do it since having 101 in 1990. Outside that 2019 team, the 2024 Sun Devils are the first to reach the 90-homer mark since having 97 in 1993. 
• ASU has reached double digit hits in 36 of 53 games this season, posting 19 today. Today was the 13th time in the last 14 games the team reached the mark. 
• ASU's 16 runs were the most it has ever scored at the Sunken Diamond and tied for the most against Stanford since scoring 19 in a home game in 1982 (also score 16 in 1990 and 1997).
• Nick McLain extended his hitting streak to 15 games with his first inning single today, matching the longest for a Sun Devil this season. 
• McLain finished the four games this week batting .611 on 11-of-18 hitting, adding two doubles today to post a 1.222 slugging percentage while reaching at a .667 clip with three walks and striking out just once. He had a team-best eight RBIs and six runs scored.
• Stanford reliever Toran O'Harran had allowed just three homers in 33.0 innings entering the contest today before giving up three in just 3.0 innings of action. 
• Ethan Mendoza extended his active hitting streak to 13-straight games with his first-inning single.
• Steven Ondina recorded his first career multi-home run game and first career four-hit game, coming a triple short of the cycle. 
• ASU has scored three or more runs in 59 innings this season, four or more in 36 innings and five or more in 16 following the team's three-run first, sixth, eighth and ninth innings. ASU scored 10 runs in the first innings of the three games this weekend.
• The five homers by ASU were the most allowed by Stanford in a game this season and continued a trend for the Sun Devils, who have now had at least one game recording the most home runs against an opponent in a season in five-straight series (UCLA, USC, UCSD, UW, Stanford). It was the most home runs allowed by a Stanford team since giving up five to Cal in 2019. Stanford has not given up five homers at the Sunken Diamond since Chase Utley, Jim Hemming, Charles Merricks and Randall Shelley (2) on May 19, 2000. 
• The game marked the first time Stanford had allowed double digit runs in three-straight Pac-12 games since 1999 (one against USC, two against Cal). It was the first time it had allowed 10+ runs in each game of ANY three-game series against an opponent since Arizona did so in 1993.
• It was the first time ASU had scored 10 and more runs in all three games against Stanford since 1989 in a series at Packard Stadium. It was the first time in program history that ASU scored 10 or more runs in all three games of a series at the Sunken Diamond.
• Kevin Karstetter became the 13th Sun Devil to record a home run this season. 
• Jacob Tobias's eighth inning homer was his 15 of the year, tied with Kiel Roling (2007) for the most in a single season since 1998. It was his 32nd career homer, tied with Hunter Bishop for eighth at ASU since the 1998 campaign. 
• Stanford had posted a 16-3 record over the Sun Devils dating back to the 2017 season prior to this weekend's sweep, concluding ASU's first series victory over the Cardinal since sweeping Stanford at the Sunken Diamond in 2016. 

INNING BY INNING 
First Inning
Campos singled on the very first pitch of the game and McLain doubled to right after Vu gave one a ride to the warning track. With runners on second and third with one out and Campos would score on a wild pitch to get ASU on the board first. Tobias plated McLain on an RBI groundout to first. Compton and Mendoza reached on a pair of nubber infield singles and Williams rewarded the pressure with an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-0. Omlid sat down the Stanford side in order. 
 
Second Inning
Ondina notched his fifth homer of the year on a line drive over the left field wall to give ASU a 4-0 lead. Stanford got a one-out single for its first hit of the game, and the runner took second on a failed pickoff attempt but Omlid got a strikeout and flyout to strand him in scoring position. 
 
Third Inning
McLain notched a leadoff double but was thrown out trying to turn it into a triple. Tobias walked but a strikeout and flyout stranded him. Stanford got a two-out single hut Omlid fielded his position on a bunt attempt for the final out to keep the score at 4-0. 
 
Fourth Inning
Karstetter drew a one-out walk and took second on a wild pitch but was stranded in scoring position. Stanford got right back into the game on three swings with a single, double and three-run homer to get within 4-3. The Cardinal would then tie it with two outs on a single and triple to even things at 4-4. Fitzpatrick entered the game to strand the runner at third and keep the game tied. 
 
Fifth Inning
Vu reached on a leadoff HBP, leading to a Stanford pitching change and then caused a bit of chaos as he took off on a hit-and-run by McLain that was ran down in the gap in right center, forcing Vu to have to hustled back to touch second and slide back in to first. But the sophomore took advantage of some lackadaisical play from Stanford in between pitches as he took second as the pitcher received the ball from his first baseman and took his time walking back to the mound. The attempt to throw him out sailed into the outfield, allowing him to take third. A strikeout and quick 0-2 count to Compton put the threat in jeopardy but Compton unloaded on the two-strike pitch for his 12th homer of the year, a two-run shot to make it 6-4. Stanford had a two-out rally of its own in store with a two-out home to quickly net things back up at 6-6.
 
Sixth Inning
The Sun Devils had an answer yet again with Kevin Karstetter recording his first home run of the season on a one-out bomb to left center and that was followed on the very next pitch by Ondina's second homer of the day to make it 8-6. ASU then put together a two-out rally with back-to-back two out walks from Kien Vu and Nick McLain leading to an RBI single from Tobias to make it 9-6. Stanford threatened against, loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth before Schiefer notched an inning-ending groundout to strand the trio and keep ASU on top by three.
 
Seventh Inning
Mendoza doubled and Ondina continued his hot streak with an RBI single to get ASU into double digits and a 10-6 lead. Campos laced one to the gap in center field that looked like extra bases but an incredible leaping snag by the centerfielder rubbed him of that and kept the lead at four. Stanford got a two-out single by was hosed at second trying to turn it into a double on a throw from McLain in right and the relay from Mendoza to Ondina. 
 
Eighth Inning 
Vu was hit by a pitch and McLain singled for his third hit of the game. Tobias blew the game open with a three-run shot to give ASU a 13-6 advantage. Schiefer stranded two walks on the base paths.
 
Ninth Inning
The Sun Devils weren't done scoring, getting RBI singles from Ryan Campos and Nick McLain and capping it off with a Tobias RBI groundout for the team's fourth three-run frame of the game. Stanford got one back in the bottom of the ninth but the damage was already done. 
 
ON DECK: 
The Sun Devils return home for the final weekend of regular season action, oddly having its Pac-12 "bye" weekend. ASU will round out the season with two games against Texas Tech on Thursday and Friday at 6:30 p.m. AZT and conclude the season on Sunday against UNLV at the same time. All games will take place at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and broadcast on Pac-12 Arizona.