PHOENIX– A historic offensive explosion saw Arizona State (11-4) finish a three-game sweep of the Loyola-Marymount Lions (5-13) in a 29-4 victory Sunday. 15 different ASU batters recorded an RBI, six recording home runs. A five-spot in the first inning kick-started the barrage of runs, but also came at a cost.
Contrades goes down early
Junior infielder Nu’u Contrades left with what appeared to be a hamstring injury as he was approaching second base on an RBI-double. Contrades came into the matchup with just shy of a 1.200 OPS and a team-leading 19 RBIs. He was able to walk off the field on his own power, but ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist said postgame that he doesn’t anticipate Contrades’ injury as a day-to-day thing and that he would be out for an “extended period of time.”
Avalanche of runs
Sophomore OF/1B Landon Hairston, who now leads the team in RBIs, had a grand slam. Sophomore catcher Coen Niclai had five RBIs, including a home run that went 426 feet to left field.
Fifth-year outfielder Dean Toigo, junior infielder Dominic Longo, junior infielder Dominic Smaldino and sophomore infielder Beckett Zavorek all homered. Zavorek’s was the first of his career, a two-run shot in the first inning, while Niclai’s was his first as a Sun Devil and just the second of his collegiate career.
“It felt good,” Zavorek said. “Just trying to keep the momentum going so we could extend the lead a little bit.”
Sophomore infielder Austen Roellig was the only position player to touch the field and not record an RBI. Not that he wasn’t productive—Roeligg had four hits, two walks and scored five times.
The barrage caps a strong offensive weekend for the Sun Devils, scoring 50 runs throughout the LMU series. Despite the four-game losing streak coming into the series, Zavorek wasn’t surprised to see the team bounce right back.
“No one really panicked after last weekend,” Zavorek said. “I think we left [Arlington] knowing we could hang with everyone, we’re just playing the same game we’re taught to play in.”
Klecker sees first weekend start
Sunday’s game concluded the first set of games under a new weekend pitching staff, with senior right-hander Kole Klecker moving from the midweek spot into the Sunday starter role.
While he didn’t do quite as well in his new role as junior right-hander Alex Overbay did Saturday, Klecker did more than enough to get ASU the win with the avalanche of runs scored early on.
Klecker’s day finished after four innings, 59 pitches, after the lead was already 17-3. He allowed three runs to cross on six hits and a walk, striking out three.
The Sun Devils will play their first of five games throughout the season against Arizona on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. Big 12 conference play will begin with a three-game starting Friday against No. 17 TCU.
Bloomquist, as usual, is eager to get the rivalry started in 2026.
“Come ready to play, and be ready because this is fun,” Bloomquist said. “If you don’t like this, if you don’t like rivalries, you’re probably in the wrong business. This is what it’s all about. We get to square off against them, they got great arms, they got great position players, they got great coaching, and so do we. This is going to be a lot of fun and this is what college baseball is uspposed to be about.”
