ASU Baseball: Brandon Compton grand slam lifts Sun Devils over Buckeyes, ASU splits four-game series

Arizona State’s offense evened the series in the ‘dogfight’ over the Ohio State Buckeyes

TEMPE, Ariz.— ‘Dogfight’ was the term head coach Willie Bloomquist used to describe Arizona State’s (5-3) second series of the season against Ohio State. The four-game set produced back and forth shootouts in the previous three games with ASU taking the fourth to split the series in a 10-8 win in eight innings. The drop-dead time for 3 p.m. was met in the eighth inning, meaning at the end of the eighth inning, the game must be called due to arrangements for Ohio State travel.

Freshman designated hitter Brandon Compton hit the go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the Sun Devils ahead. It was the fifth lead change in the game as balls were batted all over the yard.

“In that moment it was bases loaded and no outs,” Compton said. “Honestly, I was just trying to do a team job, just put it in play, no double-plays and just get some runs because that’s what we needed.”

Compton drove the 1-1 offering to center field, a long drive that cleared the fence and ricocheted off the batter’s eye and push across four runs in the inning.

“It felt great,” said Compton. “Going up to that point I had two strikeouts and nothing up the middle, whatever that was, and I was just like ‘Man, I’ve got to do something,’ so that was huge.”

ASU had 15 hits in the final game, with six players log at least least two hits. Junior first baseman Jacob Tobias and sophomore centerfielder Isaiah Jackson continued their scorching starts to the year, with five hits and four RBIs between the two.

While the offense continued to bash, Ohio State managed to bat the ball around the park. Enetering the series, the Buckeyes averaged .206 asa. team, and after the four game tilt with the Sun Devils, they’re now batting .291.

The emphasis of pitching became the deciding factor for both programs.

“They really challenged us up and down the lineup,” said Bloomquist. “They didn’t give in on tough pitches. They had a good idea on what they were doing. We got challenged, I knew we were going to.”

Richard Martinez/ House of Sparky

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Tyler Meyer got the start on the day and went four and one-third innings, allowing five runs on four hits with four walks with two strikeouts and two hit batsmen. Only one of the five runs scored was earned due to a two-out Sun Devil error in the four-run top of the second.

After Ohio State took the 8-6 lead in the top of the fifth inning, Tobias doubled, senior second basemen Kevin Karstetter walked, brining up Jackson, who fell behind 0-2 but worked his way back into a 2-2 hit-by-pitch to load up the bases.

Enter Brandon Compton.

Compton’s slam was enough to propel the Sun Devils over the Buckeyes in a back-and-forth affair to split the series.

In the seventh and eighth, Bloomquist turned to freshman left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon. Tempe’s Corona del Sol High School product turned over two clean innings despite some risky pitches for the four-out save in the eighth inning.

“At the end of the day these guys are understanding the things that we have to get better at,” Bloomquist said. “I think if we can weather this storm and get through it, we’re going to hopefully be better in the long run because we’re going to understand that we can’t get away with mistakes against good teams, they’re going to beat us.”

Arizona State will now travel to Arlington, Texas to play a three games in the Globe Life Series.

Game 1 will be at 5 p.m. MST on Fri, March 1 against Texas A&M.

Game 2 will be at 5 p.m. MST on Sat, March 2 against TCU.

Game 3 will be at 10 a.m. MST on Sun, March 3 against Texas A&M.