ASU Baseball: Devils explode for 15 hits, four homers in 10-6 victory over Arizona to sweep Wildcats

TEMPE Ariz. - In last week’s Utah series, Arizona State was three innings away from a conference-opening sweep when the bullpen imploded. The Sun Devils won the series, but left the Pac-12 season-debut with a sour taste in their mouths.

Four wins in-a-row against GCU and Arizona was the perfect mouthwash.

“This is why I came back here,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “I wish we could do this every home game and have this type of atmosphere.”

The Sun Devils (15-8, 5-1 Pac-12) completed the in-state rivalry sweep with a 10-6 win over Arizona (13-9, 3-6 Pac-12) at Phoenix Municipal Stadium Sunday evening.

For the second night in-a-row, freshman third baseman Nu’u Contrades provided the heartbeat for ASU’s lineup. Contrades went 4-for-5 with three singles and a solo homer. He drove in three runs on the evening. Including Sunday’s game, Contrades is 17-for-34 (.500) in the last seven games.

Three other Devils collected solo homers Sunday: Ryan Campos, Wyatt Crenshaw and Kien Vu — his first in his collegiate career.

Second-baseman Luke Keaschall collected multiple hits in the GCU game and the opener against Arizona, but he went hitless Saturday night. Keaschall returned to form in Sunday’s matchup with two hits in four at-bats. Campos also recorded a multi-hit game.

First-baseman Jacob Tobias drove in two runs on two separate RBI-sac-flies.

Righty Jonah Giblin received his third start of the season. Giblin worked 4.2 innings, allowing three earned runs while striking out four. All of Giblin’s runs came on a three-run shot by Wildcat outfielder Chase Davis in the third inning. His ERA now sits at 3.08.

Timmy Manning worked his best and longest relief appearance of the year. In 2.1 innings of work, Manning allowed no runs or hits while striking out three hitters and walking just one. His ERA dropped over a point from 8.82 to 7.71.

Jesse Wainscott allowed three runs on four hits in one inning out of the bullpen.

Blake Pivaroff pitched a scoreless ninth inning to cap the sweep.

The Sun Devils hold the No. 1 spot in the Pac-12 following the Arizona series.