May 31, 2025
The wait is over: ASU baseball takes down UC Irvine to kick off LA Regional, secure NCAA tournament win
LOS ANGELES – After a four year wait, the Arizona State baseball team won an NCAA tournament game. Behind a strong combined pitching effort and Jacob Tobias’ home run and two doubles, the No. 3 seed Sun Devils beat No. 2 seed UC Irvine 4-2 in the Los Angeles Regional Friday. Arizona State (36-22) advances to play top-seed and host UCLA Saturday. “It’s tough to win in college baseball,” coach Willie Bloomquist said Friday after the game. “You see what’s going on today and the upsets that are happening. Anybody can beat anybody. So, for us, it was going out, focusing on ourselves and playing our best baseball.” Since Bloomquist took over, ASU has spent three seasons outside the tournament, having to watch postseason college baseball from the sidelines before the Sun Devils were selected Monday as one of the last four teams in. After finishing a regular season that included a 6-1 start, two five-game winning streaks, and a first-round loss in the Big 12 tournament, ASU looked ahead to the first round. With the sun setting on Jackie Robinson Stadium, ASU’s Ben Jacobs and UC Irvine’s Trevor Hansen took starting pitching duties ahead of a matchup that would see some strong performances on the mound. For ASU, Jacobs allowed two runs, three hits and five walks in five innings. Jonah Giblin pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings and Cole Carlon secured the final five outs for his fourth save. It was a full circle moment for Jacobs. “I was supposed to be a part of UC Irvine in high school, but it didn’t work out, so I played here at UCLA for a year,” said the left-hander, who stayed with the Bruins one season before transferring. “I’m pretty familiar with this field. It was just so fun to be out here and come back where I’m from. I lived an hour south from here and there was a lot of family out to see me. It’s just grinding through it.” The game started hot, with both teams scoring two runs in the second inning. Arizona State would get home runs from Tobias and Isaiah Jackson, while UC Irvine would find runs on a double followed up by an error. Both of the Anteaters’ runs would come with two outs in the second. In the fourth inning, Kien Vu would drive Tobias in after Tobias doubled to start the inning. Neither team would score a run until Jackson would bring Tobias in during the eighth inning to give Arizona State a 4-2 lead. Despite a lack of scoring in the opening innings, there was not a lack of action. After 11 of 14 batters would get out in the third and fourth innings, Irvine would put two runners in scoring position in the fifth before Jacobs would tally his last out of the game to force Irvine into a scoreless fifth. The action would continue in the seventh inning where ASU had two runners on base with zero outs before relief pitcher Ricky Ojeda would step onto the mound and force ASU scoreless. After the Sun Devils got on the board in the top of the eighth, the Anteaters would also have a burst of offense. UC Irvine would load the bases on ASU relief pitcher Giblin before Bloomquist would put in Cole Carlon, who would force a double play to end the inning. Arizona State wouldn’t put any runs up in the top of the ninth, leading to UC Irvine needing to score two runs in the ninth to keep its chances alive. Despite a single early in the bottom of the ninth, Carlon was able to pick up the save to close out the win for the Sun Devils. “That’s one thing that I just wanted to kind of (do), slow things down and just be in the now,” Carlon said. “Kind of like enjoy the moment. Just go out there and and trust myself, not try to do too much and just attack as much as I can.” In 2025, ASU’s 5.27 team ERA was 90th in the country and the game against UC Irvine was the ninth time the Sun Devils had held a team to two runs or fewer. Despite the performance on the season, the defensive side of the ball would be a focal point for ASU’s victory against UC Irvine. “You don’t want to go up against us right now like this,” Jacobs said. “We’re just leaving it all on the field.” Carlon pitched the final 1.2 innings for the Sun Devils and battled out of a bases loaded situation in the eighth inning. Forcing a double play seemed to give the ASU bench and fanbase energy. Center fielder Jackson tallied two RBIs against the Anteaters in his first college playoff game, but the moment that stuck out to him was on defense. The energy during the eighth inning double play was infectious. “Maybe watching the game you get some chills,” Jackson said. “But I was in center getting chills on that double play.” ASU plays at 6 p.m. Saturday against UCLA, which defeated Fresno State earlier on Friday 19-4. The Sun Devils played the Bruins earlier in the season in February for a two game series. UCLA won the first game 8-4, while the Sun Devils took game two 2-0. The first game saw Tobias tally four hits and four RBIs alongside a home run. In the second, ASU tallied a combined 12 strikeouts. The Sun Devils are now looking for their second NCAA tournament win in the Bloomquist era. “It should be a gloves off dog fight with these guys, and we’re looking forward to it,” Bloomquist said.
Cronkite News RSS Feed
