ASU baseball looks to rebound against Arizona after Texas trip

PHOENIX – Willie Bloomquist could not rein in his disappointment over how his Arizona State baseball team ended a much-anticipated slate of games last weekend against a trio of ranked teams. 

“Today was pretty pathetic in a lot of ways,” the Sun Devils coach said after his team lost 9-3 to No. 23-ranked Texas A&M. “We’re not there yet.”

ASU will host cross-state rival Arizona on Tuesday, with the Sun Devils looking to rebuild their confidence before Big 12 play after losing all three games in the Amegy Bank series in Arlington, Texas, by a combined score of 22-10.

While ASU and Arizona are Big 12 rivals, Tuesday’s game is scheduled as a nonconference game that will not count in the conference standings. ASU and UA do this often to save on travel costs.

ASU was 8-1 before the Amegy Bank series began, but it’s clear that there are areas in which the team needs to improve. Before the Big 12 conference games kick in, and before the rivals meet, the Sun Devils are home this weekend at Phoenix Municipal Stadium for a three-game series against Loyola Marymount, which plays in the West Coast Conference, while Arizona welcomes Fresno State in Tucson.

A shaky pitching staff is at the forefront of ASU’s issues. So far this season, the pitchers have been inconsistent; at times, they look rock solid, and at other times, they have struggled to get an out.

The Sun Devils staff allowed 26 runs over the course of the four-game losing streak, including a blown save resulting in a loss against Oklahoma that started the skid.

ASU’s projected starter against Arizona is senior Kole Klecker, who has been solid in the midweek role, pitching to the tune of a 3.60 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 10 innings this year.

“We don’t like them, they don’t like us,” Klecker said of the Wildcats. “Those are games that are circled on the schedule for us.”

Before the season, Bloomquist said he looked at the schedule and wanted to have Klecker pitch against Arizona, but with Easton Barrett’s struggles to start the season – the left-handed sophomore has walked 13 batters in only 4⅓ innings, and has a 16.61 ERA – Klecker could potentially move into the Sunday starter role.

If Bloomquist doesn’t go that route, he could start Jaden Alba, who has looked solid outside of last Sunday against Texas A&M when he gave up six earned runs and hit three batters in only three innings of work.

Wyatt Halvorson and Taylor Penn have both pitched well out of the bullpen and have also shown the ability to start games.

Last year, in its first season in the Big 12, Arizona won the conference tournament, defeating TCU in extra innings. That conference championship, followed by a trip to Omaha for the College World Series, earned Wildcats coach Chip Hale a four-year extension that will keep him at the helm through 2030.

Unlike ASU, Arizona began the season on a rocky note. After the Sun Devils beat UConn 17-7 on Feb. 17, the Huskies, who were 0-4 at the time, won three of four games against the Wildcats the following weekend.

The Wildcats bounced back by winning two in a row against solid opponents in UC Irvine and Vanderbilt during the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic, but lost a close game Tuesday to Grand Canyon University to drop their record to 3-9.

Nate Novitske, a freshman from California, had a breakout weekend for the Wildcats and was named the MVP of the Vegas tournament after going 9 for 14 with four RBIs. 

Arizona’s starter against ASU is still up in the air. The Wildcats have started two different midweek pitchers so far and neither has pitched particularly well.

ASU and Arizona will meet five times this year, with two games in Phoenix and three in Tucson.

“Really excited we play them pretty early this year, so definitely looking forward to it,” ASU outfielder Landon Hairston said.

Both Bloomquist and Hale began their tenures with their respective teams in 2022. Hale has the edge over Bloomquist with a 10-8 record against the Sun Devils.

This rivalry runs deep, with a lot of players competing with or against each other in Arizona high schools. Hairston, ASU’s standout sophomore from Casteel High, graduated and played with the Wildcats’ identical twins, Mason and Tyler Russell.

For Bloomquist, all of that takes a back seat to his team’s current struggles.

“Right now, we’re not hitting very well with runners in scoring position, the home runs we’re hitting are usually solo shots that aren’t doing much damage,” he said. “We’re not stringing a whole lot of things together offensively right now.”

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