Dominic Smaldino hit two home runs, including a grand slam, to help the Sun Devils take the victory and move on to Sunday evening’s game.
Dominic Smaldino hit two home runs, including a grand slam, to help the Sun Devils take the victory and move on to Sunday evening’s game.
LINCOLN, Neb. – No. 22 Sun Devil Baseball kept the bats hot while staving off a frantic rally as it advanced to the final of the Lincoln Regional, knocking off host and No. 13 national seed Nebraska in an 11-8 elimination game victory on Sunday afternoon at Haymarket Park.
Colby Guy gave the Sun Devils (39-20) his longest outing since 2024, going 6.0 innings in the start and allowing just one run on four hits as he absolutely stymied the Nebraska (43-17) offense with seven strikeouts and no walks. Derek Schaefer earned his ninth save of the season
Dominic Smaldino homered twice, including a massive grand slam in the sixth inning that gave ASU an 11-1 lead – of which ASU would need every bit of after the Huskers would rally to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth.
Nu’u Contrades recorded his fourth home run of the regional and Dominic Longo also recorded a two-run shot as the Sun Devils were able to overcome the emotional ejection of standout Landon Hairston in the fourth inning with eight other players combining for the team’s 13 hits.
With the victory, the Sun Devils advanced to a NCAA Regional final for the first time since 2016. The Sun Devils will take on the regionals’ No. 2 seed Ole Miss after dropping a 14-inning heartbreaker to the Rebels on Friday night. The Sun Devils will need to defeat Ole Miss twice to advance to the Super Regional round.
Turning point
The Sun Devils were gifted the turning point in Sunday afternoon’s game in the third inning. After the Huskers tied the game at 1-1 with a solo shot in the top of the third, ASU looked to have hit into an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the inning. Instead, the Nebraska second baseman sailed the throw to second and everyone was safe while ASU plated the go-ahead run in the process. Not content, a Dominic Smaldino sac fly made it 3-1 before Dominic Longo opened the game up with a tower blast over the berm in left field, a two-run shot that made it 5-1.
Big moment
Emotions were running high in the fourth inning following a Landon Hairston ejection that electrified the home Husker crowd and could have proved to be a pivotal turning point in the contest. There was a palpable buzz with ASU’s star player escorted from the stadium, a long trip that delayed the start of the fifth inning. Colby Guy was absolutely unaffected by the drama, working around a one-out single to quietly retire the Husker side of the order after the theatrics and keeping the game 5-1.
Ky McGary, called into action in left field in Hairston’s stead, got a huge sixth inning rally started with his one-out double and ASU loaded the bases on Contrades’ intentional walk. Toigo recorded a soft dribbler to the first baseman, avoided the tag running down the line and Nebraska was too slow in getting the out at home on the fielder’s choice as ASU made it 7-1 and then Smaldino immediately blew the game open with ASU’s third grand slam of the weekend and 12th of the season – another opposite field shot that made it a 11-1 game.
Final straw
As has been the case throughout the season, nothing was going to come easy in the latter innings. The Sun Devils would need every bit of those 10 runs as Nebraska mounted a furious rally down the stretch, starting with answering the ASU five-spot with five runs of its own in the top of the seventh to get back within 11-6. After a scoreless eighth and a strikeout to start the top of the ninth, the Huskers continued the rally and found gaps across the park and the defense, scoring a run and loading the bases with one out to get within one swing of tying things. Derek Schaefer entered and the Sun Devils made the wise choice to take a much-needed out in foul territory, allowing the sac fly in the process to get to two outs and an 11-8 game. With the tying run still at the plate, Schaefer got a lineout to right to escape and earn his ninth save of the season in the process.
The big number
6.0 – Colby Guy struck out a season-high seven batters in his start, pitching six innings for the first time this season. It was Guy’s longest outing since April 20, 2024 while he was at UNC Asheville (8 innings). Guy has started just two games for the Sun Devils this season before delivering the heroic outing to save the majority of the ASU bullpen in Saturday’s win-or-go-home outing. Guy did not walk any batters and allowed just one run on four hits.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.