On Deck: Baseball Concludes Regular Season in the Palouse

May 18, 2022

PULLMAN -- Sun Devil Baseball will conclude the 2022 regular season this weekend on the road at Washington State with a three-game Pac-12 series scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 19. The series, which will be broadcast on Pac-12 Washington, will get underway at 6 p.m. AZT on Thursday, continue at 4 p.m. Friday and conclude at 12 p.m. on Saturday.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

All three games in this series will be carried by the Pac-12 Networks via Pac-12 Washington, with Greg Heister on the call all weekend.
Additionally, the series will be broadcast over the airwaves on KDUS 1060 AM on Thursday and Saturday and on KAZG 1440 AM on Friday with the Voice of the Sun Devils Tim Healey alongside analyst Max Rossiter.
Fans are encouraged to follow along pre-game and in-game content and updates throughout the weekend on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account: @ASU_Baseball, especially for key weather updates and time changes.

#10THINGS (Twitter-Friendly Notes)

1. The Sun Devil defense has turned 43 double plays so far this season, a total good for 26th in the nation.

2. ASU has four players (Lampe, Murphy, Campos, Davis) in the top-50 of the Pac-12 in fielding percentage (min. 100 chances), tops in league.

3. The Sun Devils are 6th in the nation with 125 doubles this season and have multiple doubles in and 34 of 52 games.

4. ASU has has double digit hits in 23 of its last 28 games and 32 times in 52 games over the season.

5. Joe Lampe is ranked in Top-10 in the league in hits, runs, doubles, triples, homers, stolen bases and slugging - 1 of just 2 players to do so.

6. ASU has had at least one runner on base on 22 of the last 34 homers. It had a runner(s) on just 8 of the team's first 27 homers this year.

7. Will Rogers' 24 extra-base hits (15 doubles, one triple, 8 homers) are third among Pac-12 frosh - two off the lead.

8. ASU's 125 doubles are the fifth-most in a regular season since 1998 and the most in the BBCOR era (since 2011).

9. Despite missing two games, Sean McLain has 158 defensive assists this season, good for second in the Pac-12.

10. Brock Peery is tied for first in the Pac-12 with nine saves. He needs one tie for 7th-most at ASU since 1998 and first double digits since '16.

BY THE NUMBERS

23 - The Sun Devils have recorded double-digit hits in 23 of the last 28 games and 32 times in 52 games overall. The Devils are 17th in the country with 552 hits. On March 20, the team was 72nd in the nation in total hits. Through the Oregon State series (first 21 games through March 20), ASU was batting just .231 with runners in scoring position. In the last 28 games, ASU is batting .319 with runners in scoring position. As a team, ASU is batting .298 on the year which is good for 41st nationally and second in the Pac-12, behind only Oregon (.303).

4 - ASU has four fielders in the Top-30 in fielding percentage in the Pac-12 this year (min. 100 chances) in Joe Lampe, Kai Murphy, Ryan Campos and Conor Davis. That is tied with Washington for the most in the Pac-12.ASU's primary trio of outfielders (Joe Lampe, Kai Murphy and Will Rogers) have accounted for 86.5 percent of the starts in the ASU outfield this year (with Lampe and Murphy combining for 99 of the 104 possible starts in center and right). The trio has just three total errors between them on the year (1 each) for a combined .991 fielding percentage (3 errors on 295 chances).

2 - Deuces have wild for the Sun Devils this season with ASU excelling in two categories on the year: doubles by the offense and double plays turned by the defense. ASU has turned 43 double plays on the year - good for 26th among all Division 1 programs. Additionally, ASU has 125 doubles on offense so far this year - good for 7th in Division 1 baseball. The 125 doubles are the most in a regular season in the BBCOR era (since 2011) and the fifth-most in a regular season overall since 1998. ASU has seven players with double-digit doubles, most in the league.

1 - Ryan Campos enters the weekend with a team-leading .354 average and is tops in the Pac-12 in batting .386 in Pac-12 games. If the season ended today, it would be the seventh-best freshman batting average in program history. It would also mark the second straight season a true freshman led the team in average (Ethan Long last year) - something that has never happened in consecutive years in program history. He has 17 multi-hit games this season and has hits in 19 of the last 21 games - multiple in 12 of those.

On the Cougars/Conference Standings

The Sun Devils own a 63-19 all-time record over the Cougars and swept Washington State in Phoenix last season, including two shutouts.
The Cougars had won three straight series (Oregon, USC, Utah Valley) before getting swept by UCLA last weekend, being eliminated for the Pac-12 Tournament in the process.
WSU picked up road series wins over two top-10 teams this season (Oregon and Arizona).
Jack Smith enters the week leading the Pac-12 with a .373 batting average, team-high 19 multiple-hit games. Jacob McKeon was named Pac-12 Player of the Week April 25, hit .529 (9-17), 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 1.176 SLG%
ASU has already locked in a spot in next week's Pac-12 Tournament and will be playing for seeding this weekend. Currently, ASU sits sixth in the league and half a game ahead of Washington and two games behind fifth-place Oregon.
ASU is guaranteed to finish no worse than sixth in the league with one win this weekend.

Big Sean

Sean McLain was named Pac-12 Player of the Week following a 4-0 week against Santa Clara and a sweep of USC after batting .688 and leading the team in runs and RBIs.
McLain became a staple in the Sun Devil infield and batting order last season en route to being named a freshman All-American, Pac-12 All-Conference selection and ABCA All-West Region pick. McLain entered the season as the No. 33 overall collegiate prospect in the 2022 class, according to Baseball America.
McLain has the longest reached-base streak of the Sun Devils this season at 22.
McLain sits at .325 on the season (fourth on the team) and is also fourth on the roster with 33 RBIs.
He is second on the team with 53 runs this season - sixth in the Pac 12.
McLain has drawn 20 walks and a team-high 19 HBP - the most in the Pac-12 and 14th nationally - giving him a .426 OBP (second on team) over his .310 average. The 19 times he has been hit by a pitch are third-most at ASU since 1998.
The redshirt sophomore has been one of ASU's best hitters with two outs with a .377 average on 23-of-61 hitting and is second on the squad with 16 two-out RBIs - nearly half of his 33 on the year.
He has also been one of ASU's few reliable options with a runner on third with less than two outs, recording an RBI 14-out-of-16 times - three more than any other player and an .875 record mark that is tops among those with at least seven opportunities. Part of that is thanks to his five sac flies on the year, which are second in the Pac-12 and Top-65 nationally.
McLain has been a part of 33 of ASU's 43 double plays this season - good for 6th in the Pac-12.
He is second in the Pac-12 with 158 defensive assists despite missing two games this year - sixth off the Pac-12 lead.
McLain recorded a 23-game hitting streak as a freshman last season - tied for the third-longest at ASU since 1998 with Andre Ethier's 2003 23-game hitting streak
McLain was a Collegiate Baseball News freshman All-American, an ABCA All-West Region first team selection at second base and an honorable All-Pac-12 pick.
He was second on the team with a .322 average on the year, just outside ASU's all-time freshman top-10 in the category. McLain led the team in multi-hit games last year with 23. His 10 multi-RBI games were second on the team. McLain had 17 doubles in the regular season, good for sixth in the Pac-12 and finished with 18 on the year – tied for third in ASU freshman history.
He turned 48 double plays last season, two more than any other player in the league even including those with runs to the College World Series and 13 more than any other second baseman.

I Love Lamp

Joe Lampe has been a spark plug for the Sun Devils since he stepped foot on campus last year and that has continued this season.
Lampe is on an active 21-game hitting streak, the longest by any Sun Devil this season and tied for the third-longest at ASU since 2010. He is just the fourth Sun Devil since 2010 to record a 20-game hit streak in a season ('10 Riccio Torrez (26), '21 Sean McLain (23), '19 Torkelson (21)).
Lampe needs hits in the next two games to tie McLain and Andre Ethier (2003) for the third-longest hitting streak since 1998 and a hit in all three games this weekend would put him alone in third.
He is batting .333 this season (16th in the Pac-12) and leads the way with 54 runs - tied for 3rd in the Pac-12.
Lampe is tied for second on the team with 36 RBIs this year.
He is slugging .584 this season - good for 10th in the Pac-12. His 19 doubles are fourth in the Pac-12 and 36th in the nation.
His power numbers are especially notable as he has 33 extra-base hits this season (19 doubles, 3 triples, 11 homers) - third in the Pac-12 and three off the league lead. It's especially notable as he had 20 for the entirety of the 2021 campaign and he has more than doubled his home run output from last year (13 doubles, 4 triples, 3 homers).
With one more double, Lampe would join teammate Nate Baez as the first players to reach 20 doubles and 10 homers in one season since Riccio Torrez in 2010 (27 and 10). Since at least 1998, ASU has not had two players reach that milestone in the same season.
His 135 total bases are 41st in the nation and second in the league.
His 17 stolen bases are fourth in the Pac-12.
To recap, Lampe is 3rd in the league in runs (55), 3rd i9n hits (77), 4th in the league in doubles (19), 4th in stolen bases (17), 9th in triples (3), 9th in homers (10) and 10th in slugging (.584). He and Oregon State's Jacob Melton are the only Pac-12 players to rank in the Top-10 in all seven of those categories. Just one other player has five and no others have more than four.
He has just one error on 137 defensive chances, recording 132 putouts and four assists. He is one of just 8 players in the Pac-12 with over 130 defensive chances with one or fewer errors and the only centerfielder with such a claim.
His 136 putouts/assists are third among Pac-12 center fielders (Arizona's Mac Bingham (159) on an immensely larger home center field and Oregon's Colby Shade (147)). He was the last of the Pac-12 centerfielders to not commit an error, with his only one coming in the 37th game of the season, and that remains the fewest among centerfielders in the league.
The redshirt sophomore showed off his toughness against #4 Oklahoma State, dislocating his shoulder in the first inning while attempting to steal a base. He popped it back in in the clubhouse, returned to the game and later recorded a single, stolen base and run scored.
Last season, Lampe was one of three Sun Devils selected to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team last after not posting an error in center field in conference games all year. He finished the season with just one error and a .993 fielding percentage and was also named a ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Finalist as an outfielder. In the opener against USC, Lampe recorded nine putouts - the most by an ASU center fielder since at least 1998. Hunter Bishop had eight in 2019 and no other player had more than seven.

We Want EZ

Ethan Long is tabbed as the No. 37 overall collegiate prospect in the 2022 MLB Draft class by Baseball America.
The big bat was a little slow getting going this year, but Long settled into a nice pace and he is third on the team with seven homers on the year despite missing the last several month with a wrist injury.
He has used 18 walks and 3 HBPs to post a .384 OBP over his .300 average.
He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career following his efforts in the Washington series.
Long homered twice in the USC series, one on a three-run shot breaking a 7-7 tie in the sixth inning en route to a 14-12 victory and again in a tight 4-2 game in Game Two with a two-run blast in the seventh that effectively shut the door on the Trojans.
Four of his seven home runs have come in the sixth inning or later.
Long became the 129th Sun Devil to be named an All-American last seson, becoming a consensus selection after being named to teams by Collegiate Baseball News, NCBWA, and Baseball America
Also earned two freshman All-America nods (CBN/NCBWA) and was a First Team All-Pac-12 pick as well as an ACBA All-West Region second team selection and Pac-12 All-Conference first team pick
Long finished the 2021 regular season 22nd nationally and second in the Pac-12 with 16 home runs while finishing 13th nationally and leading the league with a .725 slugging percentage on .340 hitting. He was sixth in the league with 53 RBI. His .340 average was the ninth-highest freshman average in Sun Devil history.
Finished with a team-best 54 RBI, tied with Barry Bonds for fourth in ASU freshman history while his 16 homers on the year surpassed Bonds for second in ASU freshman history behind only Spencer Torkelson (25) and good for Top-Five in the league.
Behind Long's bat, ASU won five straight weekend series in the last half of the year. In a 19-game stretch, Long bat .444 with 40 RBI, 15 home runs, eight doubles, a 1.181 slugging percentage, a .500 OBP and an absurd 1.681 OPS. Of his 32 hits in that span, 23 were for extra bases.

Murphy's Law

One of the hottest batters in the Sun Devil lineup in the month of since the start of April has been Kai Murphy.
In 26 games from April 1 to now, Murphy has bat .361 - third on the team - and is second on the team with 22 RBIs and third with a .421 OBP.
His season average was .210 at the end of March and now sits at a healthy .292.
His 21 RBIs in these 26 games are notable as he had just four in the first 26 games of the season.
Perhaps the biggest difference? He has struck out just 15 times in 97 at-bats in those 23 games (15.5 percent) games after posting 19 in 81 (23.4 percent) to start the year and 43 of 135 (31.9) last season.
Murphy has been king of the productive outs this year as well, second on the team with 16 runners advanced with an out.
He has become ASU's best hitter with two outs by average, now batting .385 on the year with two outs on 20-of-52 hitting. His 15 two-out RBI are third on the team.

The Long Con-or

Sun Devil super senior Conor Davis might be among the oldest players in college baseball, but there is not denying his impact on the Sun Devil program early on.
After his senior season at Auburn was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis came to ASU as a graduate transfer expecting to fill some of the void left at first base with the departure of 2020 MLB No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson. In ASU's very last fall scrimmage prior to the 2021 campaign, Davis blew out his knee and was forced to sit out the season with ACL surgery.
Davis' appearance in the lineup on Opening Night was special regardless of the outcome but the "grandpa" - as his teammates call him - made it a night to remember as he launched a 1-2 offering to left field in his very first plate appearance in nearly two seasons - a solo shot that set the pace for ASU in a 3-1 victory.
Davis is batting .321 on the season to go with a .412 OBP (third on the team) and a .477 slugging percentage.
He is second on the team with 36 RBIs.
He has also drawn a team-best 26 walks this year. This includes a four-walk game against BYU that was tied for fifth in ASU single game history.
Davis has also quietly been one of ASU's best hitters in Pac-12 games, slashing .317/.386/.475.
Davis has been the mature bat numerous times on the season, as demonstrated by his team-leading six game-winning RBIs (the RBI responsible for putting ASU ahead for good in any given game) - two more than any of his teammates
While ASU as a whole has struggled advancing runners at times this season, Davis has exceeded and done so a team-best 62 times on 111 chances (.561) - 5 more than any other player on the team and the highest average on the squad (Ryan Campos at .556 and every other starter under .515).

Nate the Great

Nate Baez has been ASU's Swiss Army Knife this season and has shown the versatility to play a number of positions having seen action at catcher, second base, third base, left field and designated hitter this season.
Baez has quickly become one of the top players in the Pac-12 in the last month and a half and is playing at a level as good or better than any player in the league offensively.
At 21 doubles and 10 homers this year, Baez is the first Sun Devil to reach the 20 and 10 mark since Riccio Torrez (27 and 10) in 2010. The 21 doubles are good for 13th in the nation and lead the Pac-12 and tied for the 10th-most at ASU since 1998 and the second-most since 2011 (David Greer 23 in 2916).
He leads the team with 47 RBIs - 11 more than any of his teammates and good for tied for fifth in the Pac-12.
30 of those have come with two outs - 14 more than any of his teammates and 63.8 percent of his total RBIs.
Like last season, Baez has played his best as the season has gone on. He has been among ASU's hottest bats since the start of April. In 26 games played since April 1, Baez is second on the team with a .363 average with 31 RBIs - enine more than any teammate.
Since the start of April, Baez has eight home runs and 14 doubles for a gaudy .735 slugging percentage.
He has a .363 average in Pac-12 games, good for 6th in the league and his .696 slugging percentage in conference games is fourth in the league.
Baez has the best average on the squad with runners in scoring position at .385 (25-of-65) with five more hits in that scenario than any of his teammates. His 22 hits with two outs are third on the team (on 62 chances for a .355 average).
Baez has two grand slams this season - making up 2 of his 6 homers - marking him the first Sun Devil to have two in a season since Ike Davis in 2006.
He also has five homers that were three-run shots, a two-run homer and two solo shots - giving him 27 RBIs on his 10 homers this year with eight of those coming with runners on base.
Seven of his 10 home runs this year have come with two outs.
Baez bat a team-best .362 over the final 14 games of the 2021 season with team highs in homers (8) and RBI (20) in that stretch while slugging a gaudy .915. All eight of his home runs came in those 14 games.
He earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention accolades as a catcher in 2021, despite only playing behind the dish for the last month and a half of the season after being a career infielder prior to coming to ASU and including his first year and a half on the roster.

Welcome to the Jam

Christian Bodlovich has inherited 53 runners in his career at ASU, with only 12 scoring (22.6 percent), including an 7-for-31 count this season.
Will Levine has been impressive in the category through his career as well with only 14-of-49 scoring and just 8 on 29 chances this year.
ASU has stranded 449 opponent baserunners this season - an average of 8.6 per game.
ASU has done much of that through its mid-to-late relievers, who the team has relied heavily upon. Brock Peery is fifth in the nation with 30 appearances this season, Levine is 44th with 26 and Bodlovich 91st with 24.
Peery has quickly become one of the most reliable closers in the league, currently tied for first with nine saves (26th nationally).
With one more save, Peery would become the first Sun Devil to reach double digits in the category since Eder Erives in 2016 (10). If he reaches 10 saves, it would be the tied for seventh-most at ASU sine 1998. 11 would put him tied for fifth in that time and 12 would have him tied for third.

Playing the Field

The Sun Devils feature a moderately new look infield this year as the majority of the season has featured new or mostly new faces at every position.
ASU has turned 43 double plays on the year - a tally good for 26th in Division I and third in the Pac-12.
Sean McLain has the second-most defensive of assists of any player in the Pac-12 (158) despite missing two games. He has turned 33 double plays as well - good for 6th in the league.
Joe Lampe was the last centerfielder to record an error this year (doing so in his 37th game). He is one of just 8 Pac-12 players with over 130 defensive chances to have one or fewer errors.
Kai Murphy is one of just 10 Pac-12 players with over 115 defensive chances to have one or fewer errors.
ASU's primary trio of outfielders (Joe Lampe, Kai Murphy and Will Rogers) have accounted for 86.5 percent of the starts in the ASU outfield this year (with Lampe and Murphy combining for 99 of the 104 possible starts in center and right). The trio has just three total errors between them on the year (one each) for a combined .991 fielding percentage (three errors on 295 chances).
ASU has four fielders in the Top-30 in fielding percentage in the Pac-12 this year (min. 100 chances) in Lampe, Murphy, Ryan Campos and Conor Davis. That is tied with Washington for the most in the Pac-12.
It's the same tale for ASU as last year, the Sun Devils were likely one of the few teams in the country that did not returning a single position player to their 2020 positions in 2021. ASU's only veteran starter was Drew Swift - who shifted over to shortstop after spending the majority of his career at second base. All other positions on the diamond were replaced by newcomers.
Despite that, ASU had one or fewer errors in 40 games last year during the regular season, going 29-11 in those.
In 2021, ASU fielded at a very respectable .976 fielding percentage in the regular season - good for 47th nationally. ASU was first in the nation with 60 double plays turned last season, which is especially impressive since the team had just six in the first 14 games of the season.
Sean McLain (48), Drew Swift (32) and Hunter Haas (12) all led their respective positions in the Pac-12 in double plays turned in the regular season. McLain and Swift were first and third in the league in the category, regardless of position - incredibly notable as first basemen tend to lead the way in the area.

Adam's Family

Junior Adam Tulloch was exceptional through the first month of the season and earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after his 7.0 inning, 13 strikeout, 3 ER, no walk victory over San Francisco.
The victory was Tulloch's third-straight quality start for the Sun Devils. It was the first time a Sun Devil pitch had 13 strikeouts in a game since Jake Borup in 2010 and he was the first Sun Devil to be named a Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week since Ryan Hingst following his no-hitter in 2016. The 13 strikeouts were the most by any Pac-12 pitcher in a game this season.
In his first four STARTS this year, Tulloch had a 2.16 ERA with a 2-0 record over 25.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 36 batters to just seven walks while holding opponents to a meager .141 batting average.
Tulloch cooled some after his hot start in the middle of the year but the improvements have been clear in this back half of the season.
Tulloch is 2nd in the nation and tops in the Pac-12 with 15 starts.
Despite some of his struggles thus year, one thing has remained constant as Tulloch is still 6th in the Pac-12 with 76 strikeouts.
Tulloch has given ASU 6.2, 7.0, and 7.0 innings of work in three starts this season, notable as he never eclipsed 5.2 innings in any game at West Virginia last year.
At West Virginia last year, the 17th Round pick of the Dodgers struck out 52 in 37.1 innings pitched, including a 10-strikeout effort against Coastal Carolina.

A Little Luck-ham On Our Side

When Adam Tulloch struggled, Kyle Luckham stepped up in his place and easily assumed the mantle on Friday nights.
Luckham has ASU's two longest outings of the season, going a career-high 7.2 innings on the road against San Diego State before besting that with an 8.0 inning effort against San Francisco a week later.
It's notable as Luckham had never gone 7.0+ innings in his career in back-to-back starts, including his time at Cal State Fullerton.
Luckham now has six starts this season in which he has gone 7.0+ innings, recording quality starts in five of those - a team high. That's notable has he had made it to the 7.0 inning mark just five times in 24 career starts entering the season before doing so five times in 13 starts this year
Luckham has induced a team-best 11 double play balls.
His 75.2 innings pitched this season are 5th in the Pac-12.
His seven victories are fourth in the league and Top-50 in the nation.

Tyler The Negator

Transfer pitcher Tyler Meyer has been among the most pleasant surprises of the 2022 campaign.
Meyer is ninth in the Pac-12 in allowing just a .231 batting average in conference games. He has allowed just 18 runs in Pac-12 play, sixth among eligible pitchers.
His 24 total hits allowed are third-fewest and he has allowed the fifth fewest homers with just three allowed.
In his three midweek starts - against 2021 NCAA competitor Nevada, then fourth-ranked Oklahoma State and Preseason Top-25 UC Irvine - Meyer had a 2.45 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched with 16 strikeouts.
His efforts in midweek games have earned him the nod in the weekend rotation in which he delivered a Herculean effort against #3 Oregon State as he held OSU to just four hits in his career-high 7.0 innings of work. He struck out nine Beavers to just two walks, allowing just one run in the second inning – where two of those four hits occurred.
He followed that effort with another 7.0 inning quality start to earn the win and series victory over Washington to tie him with the team lead with three quality starts this year.
Meyer has allowed just six doubles this year, sixth-fewest in the Pac-12. His 35 total hits allowed are second-fewest among eligible pitchers in the league.
It has been an especially notable effort as Meyer didn't pitch last season after his previous school, Stanislaus State, cancelled its season.

Boom Goes the Dynamite

The Sun Devils have recorded 125 doubles on the year as well, good for sixth in the nation and tops in the Pac-12. Nate Baez is 13th nationally and first in the league with 21 and Joe Lampe is fourth in the league and 16th nationally with 19.
The 125 doubles are already the tied for the most for a Sun Devil team in the REGULAR SEASON in the BBCOR era (since 2011). The 2011 team had 125 in the regular season and finished with 136 with the benefit of several postseason games.
The 125 doubles are tied for the fifth-most in a regular season since 1998.
ASU has at least one double in all but five games so far this season and multiple doubles in 34 of 52 games.
There are 45 Pac-12 players with double-digit doubles this season, of which ASU has seven (Baez, Lampe, Rogers, McLain, Long, Davis, Murphy). No other team has more than six.
ASU has reached double digits in hits in 23 of the last 28 games and 32 times in 52 games. The Devils are 17th in the country with 552 hits. On March 20, the team was 72nd in the nation in total hits.
Through the Oregon State series (first 21 games through March 20), ASU was batting just .231 with runners in scoring position. In the last 31 games, ASU is batting .319 with runners in scoring position.
Of the nine position players with at least 30 starts this season, all nine have multiple home runs. ASU has ten total players with multiple homers.
ASU has five players with at least seven homers, tied for the second-most at ASU since 1998.
The timing of the home runs has improved immesely over the second half of the year. On 22 of the last 34 homers, ASU has had at least one runner on base. That is notable as ASU had runners on base just eight times on the teams first 27 homers.
The Sun Devils have four grand slams this year, the most it has had in a season since 2004 (also four). ASU has some work to do for the next milestone as the 2003 Sun Devils had 14 grand slams - an NCAA record.
Nate Baez is the first Sun Devil to have two grand slams in a season since Ike Davis in 2006.
ASU hit two grand slams (Will Rogers and Nate Baez) in consecutive innings (6th and 7th) in its 17-8 series clinching win against Dixie State on opening weekend. That was notable as prior to that, the Sun Devils had recorded just one single grand slam at Phoenix Municipal Stadium since moving there in 2015.
It was the first time ASU had two grand slams in a single game since 2003 when the Sun Devils did so against San Diego State on Jan. 26 (also in consecutive innings in the 3rd and 4th).

Hold on to Your Seats

ASU has played no shortage of tight games this season - for better or worse - with 23 of the teams 52 games being decided by one or two runs - the most since it played in 26 in 2017.
Unfortunately, ASU is 1-7 in one-run losses and 13 of the teams 27 losses have come by way of 1-2 runs.
That said, the Sun Devils have shown that no opponent lead is safe, showing off plenty of grit in erasing multi-run deficits.
On 10 occasions this season, ASU has erased a lead of at least three runs.
ASU has won seven games already this season when trailing after four innings, matching its total for all of 2021.
The seven-run deficit overcome by the Sun Devils to defeat and take the series from Cal were the most since March 3, 2000 against Arizona. The Wildcats jumped to a 7-0 lead before ASU rallied to win 9-7.
Three times this season that ASU has rallied from a deficit of five or more runs to tie or win the game - the first time that has happened since 2010 (also 3).

The Kids Will Be Alright

True freshman Ryan Campos has assumed the team's mantle of having the highest batting average and enters the weekend batting .354 on the year - good for ninth in the Pac-12.
If the season ended today, it would be the seventh-best freshman batting average in program history. It would also mark the second straight season a true freshman led the team in average (Ethan Long last year) - something that has never happened in consecutive years in program history.
His .386 average in league-only games is the highest in the conference.
His .461 OBP in league games in also tops on the team and fifth in the Pac-12.
Campos has the second best average on the team with runners in scoring position at 19-for-52 (.365).
Campos had a 10-game hitting streak during the month of April. He had multiple hits in eight of those games and at least one RBI in seven of them as well. He has 17 multi-hit games this year - one shy of tying for third on the team.
Will Rogers had eight homers this season, tied for sixth in ASU school history and Jacob Tobias has seven - good for eighth.
Rogers has 24 extra base hits this year (15 doubles, one triple, eight homers) - good for third among Pac-12 freshmen and just two shy of the lead.

Big Willie Style

One of the best players in the program's record books will start a new era of Sun Devil Baseball as Willie Bloomquist looks forward to his first season at the helm of the Devils.
A 14-year Major League Baseball veteran and with over 20 years of experience in professional baseball, Bloomquist returns to the Sun Devils as one of the most accomplished alumni in program history and has remained deeply entrenched in all levels of baseball.
Bloomquist spent five years as a Special Assistant to Arizona Diamondbacks President & CEO Derrick Hall after joining the front office in May 2016. In this role, Bloomquist assisted Hall and other departments throughout the baseball and business side of the organization, including working on-field with players at all levels of the organization, attending community events, meeting with corporate partners, interacting with season ticket holders and visiting D-backs Minor League affiliates.
The Port Orchard, Wash., native joined USA Baseball's Board of Directors in 2016, a post he has retained since then. Bloomquist is a two-time alum of Team USA, having played for the Collegiate National Team in 1998 and for the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Bloomquist became the first Arizona State Sun Devil to play for the Diamondbacks and spent three seasons with the franchise from 2011-13, serving a key role on the 2011 National League West Championship team. In 225 games for the D-backs, he hit .289 with 36 doubles, 8 triples, 4 homers, 63 RBI, 43 walks and 27 stolen bases. In the 2011 NL Division Series vs. Brewers, he hit .318 (7-for-22) with an RBI and three stolen bases in five games. In 2012, he set career highs with a .302 average and 21 doubles.
During his 14-year Major League career, which included time with the Mariners (2002-08, '14-15), Royals (2009-10) and Reds (2010), Bloomquist hit .269 with 778 hits, 110 doubles, 23 triples, 18 home runs, 225 RBI and 133 stolen bases in 1,055 career games. He compiled a .977 fielding percentage playing outfield (339 games), shortstop (305 games), third base (142), second base (141) and first base (47). Of the 111 Sun Devils to play in MLB, only seven earned more service time than Bloomquist.
Bloomquist played three seasons at ASU (1997-99) and earned 1999 Pac-10 Player of the Year honors as a junior. In 1998, he tied a College World Series single-game record with 5 hits in a game while leading a team that competed for the National Championship. Bloomquist was an All-American in both the 1998 and 1999 campaigns. He finished his college career with a .394 average before being drafted by the Mariners in the third round of the 1999 draft.
To this day, Bloomquist still holds the fourth-highest career batting average in school history (.394) while he remains fifth in ASU history in runs (216), fourth in triples (22) and fourth in stolen bases (72) and was named to the All-Packard Team in 2014.

IN THE HOLE - MAY 16 through MAY 22

Thursday, May 19, 6 p.m. | Arizona State at Washington State (Pullman) | WATCH LIVE: Pac-12 Washington | LISTEN: KDUS 1060 AM

Friday, May 20, 4 p.m. | Arizona State at Washington State (Pullman) | WATCH LIVE: Pac-12 Network | LISTEN: KAZG 1440 AM

Saturday May 21, 12 p.m. | Arizona State at Washington State (Pullman) | WATCH LIVE: Pac-12 Washington | LISTEN: KDUS 1060 AM

MAY 9 through MAY 15

Tuesday, May 10, 6 p.m. | Arizona State at Grand Canyon (Phoenix) | W, 6-4

Friday, May 13, 7 p.m. | Arizona State vs. Oregon (Phoenix) | L, 3-11

Saturday, May 14, 6 p.m. | Arizona State vs. Oregon (Phoenix) | W. 6-4

Sunday, May 15, 12 p.m. | Arizona State vs. Oregon (Phoenix) | L, 5-15

On Deck: Baseball Concludes Regular Season in the Palouse

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