While ASU regularly refers to itself as No. 1 in innovation, a pretty obvious bit of imitation led to where Arizona will be playing the Sun Devils this weekend.
Three years after the UA moved to Hi Corbett Field in 2012, ASU left its on-campus stadium to play at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Like Hi Corbett, it’s a former Spring Training and minor league park and it also happens to have a city zoo out beyond the outfield wall.
Purely coincidental, right?
The UA has gone 9-12 at ASU’s current field, winning the most recent matchup there in 2024. But the year before the Wildcats were swept in a weekend series that counted toward the conference standings, as the one’s this weekend will.
The Sun Devils (20-9, 7-2 Big 12) are a game ahead of Arizona (20-8, 6-3) in the standings and the teams are in direct competition for the chance to host an NCAA Tournament regional. D1Baseball has ASU as the No. 13 seed in its midseason tourney projections, a spot that could go to the UA with a series win.
Arizona has dropped three of the last four, going 1-2 at home to Baylor last weekend before losing at Grand Canyon on Tuesday. ASU has won four in a row, sweeping Utah on the road last weekend.
“I don’t have to do any motivating, I can tell you that,” UA coach Chip Hale said of this weekend. “The guys are jacked up to play. They all love playing in that environment up in Phoenix Municipal Stadium. We have to kind of calm them down and get them to breathe and just understand what their jobs are on each pitch. I guess we’re more of a calming influence.”
Here’s what to watch for in the latest editions of the Arizona/ASU baseball rivalry, which will have its 500th game (the UA leads the series 262-233-1) on Sunday:
No free outs
Arizona committed two errors in Tuesday’s 11-5 loss at Grand Canyon, the first on a misplayed sacrifice bunt that led to the Antelopes scoring three runs and taking the lead for good. And Saturday’s 6-3 home loss to Baylor saw the Wildcats commit three errors that contributed to half of the Bears’ runs.
The UA has seven errors in its last three games, compared to 17 in the first 25.
“We just can’t continue to play defense like we have,” Hale said. “That’s really been the difference. We’re going to try to tighten that up this weekend. It’s going to be a real hostile environment. The guys will be jacked up, but they have to keep their wits about them, because it’s going to be paramount that we get every out that we can and not give ASU four or five outs an inning.”
ASU is hitting .363 in Big 12 play and .312 overall. The Sun Devils don’t bunt much, with just three sacrifices all season, but they do have 60 stolen bases and that kind of pressure could lead to balls getting thrown away.
“I think a lot of things just go fast, and guys get sped up, and things happen that you can’t control, but I think we’re doing the best we can, and it’s just baseball,” shortstop Mason White said. “You can’t predict it. And if it was predictable, no one would watch it.”
Finding the right lineup
Arizona is 2-3 since Brendan Summerhill went down with a fractured right hand, and while the Wildcats are still hitting .289 and scoring 6.4 runs per game his absence has definitely been felt.
“Any team with a guy that good is going to feel it,” White said. “If you look at the numbers (with) him in the leadoff hole, every time I come up, he’s standing on first or second or he’s already scored. We’re trying to replace that, and I think we’ve done a decent job, but we need to do better about it. But we’re definitely feeling it a little bit, but especially when he comes back, we’ll be that much better from it.”
Aaron Walton batted leadoff the first three games and struggled, while Garen Caulfield has been on base six times (with four walks) in the last two at No. 1.
“He’s patient, he’ll see pitches,” Hale said of Caulfield. “I think it helps Aaron down in the two hole. Sometimes it’s weird, if you look at guys’ numbers over their careers, certain guys that hit in certain spots, they hit in the two and the four hole, but they don’t hit in the one and the three. It’s just, it’s mind boggling, but it happens.”
White had an 11-game hit streak end at Grand Canyon but before that he was hitting .400 since going 0 for 4 with four strikeouts in a 3-2 home win over ASU on March 10. He’s using the middle of the field more, not just trying to pull everything.
“It’s just pitch selection for the most part,” he said. “If I get a pitch away, it’s not a bad pitch to hit, a great pitch to hit. So I always try to go with it if it’s in the zone, but if it’s not a strike, I try to leave it.”
Arizona continues to search for an everyday third baseman, with Maddox Mihalakis and Mathis Meurant trading off along with Richie Morales, while both corner outfield spots are in flux with the injuries to Summerhill and Easton Breyfogle, who could return this weekend. TJ Adams has started in left while freshman Gunner Geile has done well in right, which isn’t a surprise to former Salpointe Catholic High School teammate White.
“He’s got all the tools,” White said. “He’s got the right head on his shoulders, and he just got the tools. I saw him do it, like, the very first week of varsity. I was like, this guy’s legit.”
Pitching perspective
Arizona will continue with its all-righty weekend rotation of Collin McKinney, Owen Kramkowski and Smith Bailey. McKinney lasted only 1.1 innings last Friday, walking four against his old team, but Hale said the redshirt sophomore had a good bullpen and is rested.
Kramkowski has been the most consistent starter, going at least five innings in five of seven starts, while Bailey has run into some freshman growing pains the last two outings.
Length from the starters will be huge for Arizona after its bullpen had to throw more than 16 innings last weekend. It’s the complete opposite from last year when Jackson Kent, Clark Candiotti and Cam Walty were regularly going into the 6th or later.
“Having to kind of mish mash it like we did last weekend is tough on your bullpen,” Hale said. “It’s tough on the team.”
ASU will go with lefty Ben Jacobs on Friday, followed by Jack Martinez and Jaden Alba. Jacobs and Martinez are both averaging more than five innings per start, taking pressure off a Sun Devils bullpen that has had some blowups this season.
“We didn’t know their pitching was going to be this good, but they have very good hitters and they’re veteran and that wins in college baseball,” Hale said.
Arizona used some of its top arms on Tuesday but all will be good to go for multiple innings or outings this weekend. That includes senior righty Julian Tonghini, a transfer from Indiana who began his career with Boston College along with catcher Adonys Guzman and pitching coach Kevin Vance.
Tonghini is 3-0 with a 4.85 ERA in 10 appearances, striking out 24 in 13 innings including seven over a 3-inning stretch in the 16-inning win at West Virginia that saw Arizona strike out a school-record 26 batters.
“Since I’ve been here all my stuff has gotten significantly better,” he said. “Fastball, curveball, added a new slider, attacking hitters with that, and knowing what my strengths are and what hitters’ weaknesses might be, and attacking that.”
The vibes
All three games this weekend could be sellouts, and while there will be a fair amount of Arizona fans in attendance the crowds should be hostile. That’s nothing new when the Wildcats go to Phoenix, and it’s something White is looking forward to since it may be his last games there assuming he gets drafted in June.
“It’s super fun to be a part of it,” said White, a third generation UA player. “My family’s been a part of it for a long time now, so being able to play against those dudes is just so much fun, because everyone cares, and their side cares. We care. All the fanbases get into it. So it’s so much fun to be a part of it.”
ASU and Oregon State were the only hostile environments Arizona regularly played in while in the Pac-12—“when you go to the Bay Area or LA it’s more of a kinder, gentler league, let’s put it that way,” Hale joked—but already it has seen that things will be different in the Big 12. The first trip, to West Virginia, got feisty on Sunday with Guzman getting labeled a villain by the home crowd after hitting two home runs and pimping the first.
“Now this weekend is going to be ugly again, so it’ll be fun. But I think when we go to Texas Tech, we’ll see it, the crowds will be big, they’ll be rowdy. We’ll learn a lot about guys’ Instagram, and all their social media, we’ll learn about their girlfriends and their moms, which we did at West Virginia. So it’s a trip.”