Baseball Takes Opener at Stanford in Historic Fashion

STANFORD -  Sun Devil Baseball kicked off its final regular season series of the Pac-12 era in historic fashion, picking up its largest victory at the Sunken Diamond in conference history with a 13-1 drubbing of Stanford on Friday evening in Palo Alto, Calif. 
 
ASU's 12-run margin of victory was tied with a 15-3 victory in 1982 for its largest at Klein FIeld at the Sunken Diamond since the team joined the Pac-10/12 Conference in 1978. It was ASU's largest win against the Cardinal, regardless of location, since a 16-1 victory at Packard Stadium in 1990. Additionally, the one run allowed  tonight (unearned) was the fewest ASU had given up at the Sunken Diamond since a 3-1 victory on March 27, 1993.
 
The Sun Devils (27-24, 15-13 Pac-12) continued their torrential offensive pace in league games, recording 13 runs on 13 hits. It was the sixth time in the last eight Pac-12 games that ASU reached double-digit scoring and the eighth time in the last 11 games overall accomplishing the feat. It was the 11th time in the last 12 games that the team has recorded double-digit hits. 
 
Nick McLain, the reigning National Player of the Week, continued his recent tear with his sixth homer in the last seven games and his eighth multi-RBI game in the last nine. The redshirt sophomore went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Brandon Compton added his team-leading eighth three-hit game of the season. Kien Vu shook off a rough Tuesday with a 2-for-5 showing with a double and three-run homer in the ninth inning. 
 
Ben Jacobs was electric on the bump, recording his second career quality start with 6.0 scoreless innings of work, striking out nine and allowing just four hits - three of which coming on two tough infield singles and a Texas Leaguer. Matt Tieding and Jaden Alba closed it out with a combined 3.0 innings of work without allowing an earned run. 
 
TURNING POINT
Chaos on the base path led to three runs for the Sun Devils in the first inning on just one hit - an infield single from Nick McLain that followed a one-out Kien Vu walk. Vu showed off the speed on the play, taking third as Stanford tried to record the out at first and sliding in ahead of the tag on the throw across the diamond. McLain stole second but ASU was in trouble of squandering the chance with a Jacob Tobias swinging strikeout on a ball in the dirt. Instead of getting the out at first, the Stanford catcher elected to try and catch Vu in a pickle at third but the third baseman missed the throw down and the ball sailed into the outfield to allowed Vu and McLain to score. Tobias would later score on a wild pitch to cap off the three-run inning which effectively proved to be all the offense ASU needed thanks to its pitchers. 
 
BIG MOMENT
Ben Jacobs was unfazed with runners on the base path, consistently finding his way out of jams by way of the strikeout. With ASU holding on to a 5-0 lead in the fifth, Stanford put two runners on with one out as it tried to get back into the game Jacobs shut that down with back-to-back backwards Ks. He doubled down on that in the bottom of the sixth with a 6-0 lead, as Stanford put two on with no outs before fanning three straight batters to strand those runners there and cap off his scoreless outing with his seventh, eighth and ninth strikeouts of the day.
 
FINAL STRAW
After Stanford got on the board in the eighth to make it 7-1, ASU shut down any hopes of any late theatrics in the ninth. The Sun Devils loaded the bases with no outs and pinch hitter Harris Williams drove in two with a single. After another score on an RBI groundout by Campos, Vu blew the game open with a towering three-run blast that stayed just inside the right field foul pole - his 11th homer of the year to cap off a six-run ninth and give ASU the 13-1 victory. 
 
 
NOTABLES 

• Ryan Campos' seventh-inning single means he has now reached base safely in 130-of-140 career games (92.9 percent) with the Sun Devils and all but one game this season.
• Campos also teamed up with Ethan Mendoza to sniff out a delayed double steal, getting the out at home on a 262, thus throwing out 17 of the last 46 attempted base stealers (37.0 percent) after getting just 2-of-21 to start the year. It was his Pac-12 lead 19th runner caught stealing this year.
• ASU has reached double digit hits in 34 of 51 games this season, posting 13 today. Today was the 11th time in the last 12 games the team reached the mark. 
• Nick McLain extended his hitting streak to 13 games with his first inning single today, now the longest active streak for the Sun Devils.
• His third-inning homer was his tenth of the season. In doing so, he became the fifth Sun Devil to reach double digits this season (Jacob Tobias, Brandon Compton, Ryan Campos and Kien Vu). In doing so, the 2024 Sun Devils became the first ASU squad since 1993 to have five different players accomplish the feat (Todd Cady, Doug Newstrom, Antone Williamson, Paul Lo Duca, Jacob Cruz).
• With his second RBI of the game in the sixth, he now has eight multi-RBI games in his last nine games.
• Ethan Mendoza extended his active hitting streak to 11-straight games with his ninth-inning single.
• ASU has scored three or more runs in 53 innings this season, four or more in 34 innings and five or more in 15 following the team's three-run first and six-run ninth.
• Tobias' fifth-inning homer was his 14th of the season, tied for 18th for Sun Devil batters in a single season since 1998 with Jason Kipnis (2008) and Andrew Beinbrink (1999). It was his 31st career homer, which is ninth among ASU players since 1998.
• ASU chased Stanford starter Matt Scott after just 4.1 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season and shortest since a 4.0 inning effort in Week Two of the year. 
• Brandon Compton added his team-leading eighth three-hit game of the season. 
• The 12-run margin of victory was its largest at the Sunken Diamond since also having a 12-run win in 1982 and thus tying the largest margin ASU's Pac-10/12 history. It was the largest win, regardless of location, since a 16-1 victory at Packard Stadium in 1990.
• The one run allowed by ASU was the fewest it had given up to Stanford since a 7-1 victory on May 1, 2011 - an ASU home game. It was the fewest ASU had allowed at the Sunken Diamond since giving up one in a 3-1 victory on March 27, 1993. 
• ASU struck out double-digit batters (13) for the 25th time this season after doing so just 21 times a season ago. 
• Stanford had posted a 16-3 record over the Sun Devils dating back to the 2017 season prior to tonight and ASU had not won a game at the Sunken Diamond since sweeping Stanford there in 2016. Today's victory marked the first time ASU sports information director Jeremy Hawkes has written a winning recap from Palo Alto, having gone 0-for-his 13+ year career at Arizona State across all his sports covered when he was on site for a Sun Devil Athletics event on The Farm. 

INNING BY INNING 
First Inning
Vu drew a one-out walk and showed off the speed as he went first to third on a ball into the hole on the right side from McLain that was corralled at the cut of the grass by the second baseman but the throw to first was not on time and Vu took advantage by sliding ahead of the throw across the diamond to third to put runners on the corners with one out McLain stole second. Chaos on the basepath erupted from there as Tobias struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. Instead of throwing down to first, the Stanford catcher attempted to catch Vu in a rundown at third but the ball sailed into the outfield, allowing Vu and McLain to score and Tobias to take second. Compton walked. ASU came inches away from a masterful hit and run from Mendoza with the runners going but the first baseman made a nice snag just past the bag to save extra bases and two runs. Tobias would score on a wild pitch and that would cap the scoring with a 3-0 ASU lead. 
 
Stanford drew a leadoff walk before Jacobs got the first two outs on a strikeout and check swing flyout. A Texas Leaguer down the left field line put runners on the corners. The Cardinal tried some trickeration with a delayed doublle steal. Campos threw down to Mendoza at second who immediately hummed in back to his catcher for the easy out at home to keep Stanford off the board.
 
Second Inning
The Devils went down in order in the top of the second. Jacobs issued a two-out walk but got a flyout to stand another runner and keep it 3-0. 
 
Third Inning
McLain continued his hot streak with his sixth homer in the last seven games, a one-out solo shot to make it 4-0. ASU threatened to add more, loading the bases with one out on an error, single and HBP but a strikeout and pop-out ended the threat. A leadoff single was unable to be wrangled by a sliding Mendoza at second but Jacobs was unfazed woth a flyout and a smooth double play from Demera to Mendoza to Tobias to keep Stanford off the board.
 
Fourth Inning
Vu notched a two-out double off the wall in left center and McLain gave another one a ride to the warning track in opposite left field but not quite enough juice to clear the wall and Vu was stranded at second. 
 
Fifth Inning
Tobias continued to tack on to the Sun Devil lead with a leadoff homer over the scoreboard in right center to make it 5-0. Compton doubled and Mendoza looked to all in attendance to have doubled as well but a foul ball call from the third base umpire robbed him of that and he flew out on a basket catch by the second baseman in left center on the next pitch, which also marked the end of starter Matt Scott's day. Tobias was hit by a pitch and Demera grounded into a fielder's choice that put runners on the corners with two outs but ASU ran itself out of the inning on a botched double steal attempt. 
 
Jacobs ran into his first real bout of trouble with two on and one out after a walk and tough infield single, but the sophomore settled in for another two strikeouts to escape the jam and keep the score at 5-0.
 
Sixth Inning
ASU manufactured a run in the sixth, getting a leadoff walk from Ondina, who moved to third on back-to-back groundouts from Campos and Vu and McLain poked one past the outstretched glove of the second baseman to his second RBI of the game to make it 6-0. A leadoff walk and Stanford's first hit of the game that wasn't an infield single or Texas Leaguer put two on with no outs for Jacobs. He did what he had done all night with runners on, striking out the side to complete his night with nine strikeouts and no runs against. 
 
Seventh Inning
Compton notched his third hit of the game on a bloop single to center but ended up stranded at second after stealing a base. Matt Tieding came into the game and quickly set the Cardinal down in order.
 
Eighth Inning 
A walk from Ondina and single from Campos both stole a base on a Vu strikeout. McLain drove in his third run of the game with a RBI groundout to make it 7-0. Stanford finally broke through with a two-out unearned run in the bottom half of the inning but Tieding didn't let the Cardinal get any more than that.
 
Ninth Inning
The Sun Devils were not content with a six-run lead and doubled it in the ninth inning, loading the bases with no outs on a Lance walk and singles from Mendoza and Jackson. Harris Williams knocked a pinch hit single through the left side to score two runs and Ondina drew a walk to reload the bases. Campos grounded out for the first out of the inning but drove a run in in the process to make it 10-1. Kien Vu did the rest with a majestic blast down the right field line that stayed just fair for a three-run bomb that made it 13-1. 
 
ON DECK: 
The Sun Devils will look to take their fourth consecutive Pac-12 series tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. AZT. The game will be available online via the Stanford live stream and over local airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM.