Long ball propels Sun Devils to win in home finale

Dominic Smaldino is greeted at home plate by Dean Toigo and Ky McGary after his third inning home run. Photo: Tom Hardon

The name may be Smaldino, but the bat played enormous for the Sun Devils on Sunday afternoon.

After losing the first two games of the weekend, Arizona State was looking for a win on Mother's Day to end the home side of the season on a high note. It wasn't without some trepidation, but the Sun Devils held on to the 11-7 win over Oklahoma State. The win was of high importance as Arizona State (34-17, 17-10 Big 12) moved in to a tie for 3rd place with UCF heading to the final weekend of the regular season. Thanks to the series win in Orlando last weekend, the Sun Devils hold the tiebreaker over the Knights with three games to play.

Senior Kole Klecker took the ball and turned in a performance like what fans have come to expect from him down the stretch. A solid 5 innings pitched, giving up 1 run on 5 hits, with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. In postgame comments, Kole echoed comments from the last few weeks, crediting the entire pitching staff and saying that when this staff is on, they are the best staff in the country.

It was an all hands on deck kind of game to finish it out. Alex Overbay tossed 1.1 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. Sean Fitzpatrick and Finn Edwards combined to keep Oklahoma State scoreless over the next 1.2 innings. Derek Schaefer came on to nail down the final two outs after Colin Linder got touched up for 4 runs in the top of the 9th inning.

The story of the day was Dominic Smaldino. A school record-tying 3 home run performance, driving in 8 of the 11 runs for the Sun Devils on the day. In an extra special moment, he more than delivered on a request from his mom Shannon to hit a home run for her on Mother's Day.

The usual home run threat Landon Hairston contributed a multi-hit effort, but came in clutch with a leaping grab that saved sure extra bases to maintain what was then a 6 run lead for the Sun Devils.

With three games left at Houston, the playoff mentality is in full swing for the Sun Devils. They sit in the driver's seat for the time being, but the margin of error is slim against a Cougars team that looks to play spoiler. A sweep on the road will assure the Sun Devils of clinching a first round bye in the Big 12 Baseball Tournament.

Quotables

"At this stage of the game, every game's a big game, and that's what you hope for. You just play to win every game and let the chips fall where they may, and to me, that's got to be the mindset this time of year anyway."

Head coach Willie Bloomquist on the importance of closing the season strong.

"Do whatever it takes to win... This is the time where you put your head down, you play the best baseball you can, and you see where you're at when it ends. Just continue to go game by game."

Kole Klecker on the message in the dugout entering the final week.

Up Next

The Sun Devils will square off with the Houston Cougars from Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park for a three game series starting on Thursday, May 14th at 5:30pm Arizona Time. All three games will be available to stream on ESPN+.

The Big 12 Baseball Tournament will return to Arizona and be played from Surprise Stadium starting on May 19th.