ASU Baseball: Tobias homers twice as Sun Devils sweep Utah

Staying hot

It was a nearly three and a half hour game at Phoenix Muni on Sunday afternoon. Arizona State (23-25, 12-12 Pac-12) was in control for all but about fifteen minutes in its 13-6 route of Utah (25-20-1, 10-14).

With two outs in the bottom of the first, the Sun Devils rattled off six-straight hits that produced a 6-0 lead that would only grow from there. The two out hitting was a constant all afternoon as ASU was batting 10-17 (.588) and tallied 10 RBIs when in that situation.

In innings three to five, at least one Sun Devil homered. Jacob Tobias hit his first of two on the afternoon as a towering shot to right and the other barely cleared the wall in center. Tobias finished the day 4-5 with two homers, two doubles and five RBIs.

Nate Baez also continued his hot streak for Arizona State. He hit one over the wall in right-center field that accounted for his fourth dinger in as many games. Baez totaled eight RBIs over the weekend.

It was an offensive showcase for ASU, where every starter recorded a hit and all but one player scored a run. Sean McLain was the only one not to come around to score, and the closest he got was standing on third after a RBI triple in the seventh.

Eight pitchers were used out of the Arizona State bullpen with no one throwing more than two innings. Boyd Vander Kooi got the win after a solid two innings of work to start the game.

Besides the typical relievers of Graham Osman, Chase Webster, Will Levine, Christian Bodlovich and Danny Marshall, two players who typically play the field got a chance on the mound.

Both Ethan Long (who has been out with an arm injury) and Will Rogers (who threw one pitch for the final out of the game) were able to get some time on the rubber.

Head coach Willie Bloomquist mentioned postgame that Long and Rogers are two arms that he could see helping the team as they come down the stretch and that today presented a good opportunity for them to sharpen their stuff.

Sunday’s win secured the series sweep for ASU, after a five-game losing streak entering the weekend. The Sun Devils are in sole possession of sixth place in the conference standings as well.

The final game of Arizona State’s non-conference slate will be on Tuesday night when they travel to Grand Canyon. They are looking to avenge a 7-5 loss that happened at Phoenix Muni earlier this season. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. AZ/MST.