PHOENIX—Through four innings on Friday night, all signs pointed to ASU taking the opening game of the rivalry series. The Sun Devils were hitting them where Arizona fielders weren’t, while ASU pitcher Ben Jacobs was carving up the Wildcats on the mound.
But as the UA showed so often last season, and a few times already this spring, the game isn’t over until all the outs are recorded.
Arizona scored seven runs between the 5th and 7th innings to beat ASU 8-5 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, its fourth straight win over the Sun Devils. The crowd of 7,084 was the largest since ASU (20-10, 7-3) moved off campus in 2015.
“We’re never out of a game,” said junior Maddox Mihalakis, who drove in four and whose 2-run home run in the top of the 7th broke a 5-5 tie. “We know how to play from behind.”
Arizona (21-8, 7-3 Big 12) got five 2-out RBI, getting seven of its 14 hits with two down. Six consecutive Wildcats reached with two out in the top of the 5th including four straight hits to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead.
“It was very impressive, because 4-1 they got all the momentum,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “They’ve been playing great. They got the crowd behind them, and our guys just stood up and said no, not gonna let this happen.”
Jacobs, a left-hander, struck out 10 over the first four innings, including the last two UA hitters in the 4th with runners on second and third and ASU up only 2-1. The Sun Devils chased Arizona starter Collin McKinney after 3.1 innings, with three straight singles bringing in two runs to make it 4-1.
Casey Hintz got out of the jam with a strikeout and Adonys Guzman threw out a runner trying to steal third to end the inning and keep it a 3-run game. Hintz would go 3.2 innings, giving up a run on three hits and earning his sixth win in relief.
Jacobs got the first two in the 5th before walking Aaron Walton, who blasted a solo homer in the top of the 1st to give Arizona an early 1-0 lead. Mason White was hit by a pitch, then Guzman bounced one up the line that would have driven in two but instead was ruled a single because it hit the third base umpire behind the bag.
“We couldn’t let that get to us, it could have been like a turning point in the game if we didn’t come through,” said Guzman, who was 4 for 5.
Mihalakis singled through the right side, scoring two to cut it to 4-3, then Tommy Splaine tied it with an RBI single and Mathis Meurant singled to put Arizona in front.
ASU tied it in the bottom of the 5th on back-to-back 2-out doubles but only had two more hits the rest of the game. It had two on with no out in the 7th but Hintz induced a double play and then got another groundout.
That came after Arizona took the lead for good with three in the top of the 7th. A 1-out single by Guzman was followed by a 431-foot shot to right by Mihalakis, who knew it was gone as soon as he turned on the hanging curve.
The UA would add another in the 7th on a 2-out RBI triple by Gunner Geile.
Garrett Hicks threw the final two innings, striking out three to pick up his second save. The Phoenix-area native was making his first trip to Phoenix Municipal Stadium since he was was young and the result wasn’t to his liking.
“The one game I went to ASU walked (Arizona) off so I never went again,” he said.
Righty Owen Kramkowski will start for Arizona on Saturday night. A win would give the Wildcats its first series victory at ASU since 2021.