First pitch 6pm AZ time.

The UCLA v Fresno game about to start and all due respect but these 2 announcers sound terrible. I’m going to find Tim Healey on the radio tonight.

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An inside-the-park home run followed by a grand slam later in the second inning dug ASU a seven-run hole, leading to an 11-5 loss as the Sun Devils will try to stay alive in the Los Angeles regional facing UC Irvine once again on Sunday

"Last season, maybe we didn't earn the right to be the fourth seed. Maybe we were right to be the eighth seed. I believe you earn your way to those seeds." Dillingham is supportive of the proposed modification to the CFP format

"We all knew going into this we’re underdogs, being one of the last four teams in. We're playing with house money." A late four-game skid almost cost ASU a chance to play in a regional. They saw it as a wake-up call that manifested in a grind-out win over UC Irvine

"He's a Swiss Army knife; He's a connector, too, and he makes everyone around him better." More here on 6-foot-7 Jaion Pitt, ASU basketball's latest 2025 pledge, a Canadian native who represented his country in various tournaments

4 years ago Tracy Smith was fired after going 1-2 in the Austin, TX regional. He had the youngest lineup in America, lost 4 pitchers to tommy john surgery, and still made a regional for a 3rd straight season. Upon being eliminated, it was decided that a regional loss was too "mediocre" for ASU and Smith was fired.

At the press conference a hand was raised and a question asked. "Former Oregon State coach Pat Casey was looking to get back into coaching, is he someone you will call". The question was asked by Kendall Rodgers who owns D1Baseball. A site many believe is the premier college baseball site in the nation. It caught Ray Anderson off guard and he mumbled some type of "we will check all avenues" boiler plate response.

There would be no call to Pat Casey. There would be no coaching search. After a brief discussion with Andy Stankewicz that was more formality than anything else ASU only made 1 phone call.

Graham Rossini went with a fellow Pat Murphy alumnus and a former co-worker with the Diamondbacks. ASU Baseball's favorite son, Willie Bloomquist.

While publicly Bloomquist had supported Smith, behind the scenes he made it known that he wanted to be hired and believed that he was capable of taking ASU out of regionals and back to Omaha. Social media had been asking for a Bloomquist hire for years and message boards had pushed his name. Bloomquist was hired and a flood of optimism reentered the ASU program.

Former ASU Baseball players have made close to $500m in MLB salaries and fans believed that because Willie was "one of them" he could crack the code and open the wallets. After all, ASU Baseball is not Pitt Football. It was not some shadow of its former self. It wasn't long ago that Barry Bonds and Dustin Pedroia were earning MVPs, Andre Ethier was playing in all-star games, Kole Calhoun had won a gold glove, Fernando Vina was on Baseball Tonight, Pat Murphy and Don Wakamatsu were MLB managers, and Tork was a #1 overall pick. Sun Devils were at every level of baseball and Willie was the man to bring all of it back together.

Unfortunately to date, the only part of that plan that has been true is Willie has taken us out of regionals. Meaning he hasn't qualified.

College athletics run on emotion. Athletes and boosters alike want passion. Go and pull any Bloomquist interview from Hod's Youtube channel and listen to the coach. On a scale of 1 to Kenny Dillingham I don't think Willie is a 3 even at his best. He sucks the energy out of the room.

He complains about ASU's lack of NIL but his NIL pitch to the fan base is "NIL is ruining the game, will you write a check". To his credit he is fine with the AD paying players, but he does not want to compete in the NIL space. Because of him, ASU hasn't. He complains about the pitch clock about the transfer portal, and any other new change the game may have.

His pitching philosophy is aimed at high pitch count strike outs instead of efficiency leading to pitchers being gassed by the 4th inning. His hitting approach is to swing early never allowing opposing pitchers to shoot themselves in the foot. All 4 of ASUs non conference weekend series were against Q4 opponents at home which is an RPI nightmare.

The man who was hired because of how well he understood ASU has fundamentally misunderstood college baseball.

His apologists blame the lack of LSU level money while much lesser programs with newer coaches out perform us. Programs like Kansas, Cinci, and West Virginia. Not to mention the team down south that has not 1 advantage over ASU. When I ask what he has done to earn more time the only answer I get is Rossini writing more checks.

ASU's investment into scholarships and stadium upgrades isn't a reason to stick with a coach who is trying to figure it out. It is a reason to bring in a coach that has a Super Regional on his resume.

And here's the irony of it all. For all of his warts. For all of his missteps and shortcomings, Bloomquist has the chance to add a super regional to his resume and be that coach. He's got a roster stacked with upper classmen who will be drafted. He has experience on the mound and the pick of several guys who can throw 96 MPH+ from both the left and right side. He has speed and power, lefties and righties, a solid defense, a stacked offense, and one of the deepest bullpens ASU has ever had. Just go win.

High-scoring games could be the staple of the Los Angeles Regional, which will feature ASU, Host UCLA, UC Irvine, and Fresno State. Our George Lund takes a closer look at the postseason field for the Sun Devils this weekend

ASU's head coach media discusses those topics at the Big 12 Spring Business Meetings with Kansas head football coach Lance Leipold
Big 12 Chief Football Officer Scott Draper



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Really good story here on some of the winds that are swirling within college athletics

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With over 50 transfer portal additions, Rich Rodriguez returns to his old post as West Virginia's head coach with a clear mission of a massive revamping of the roster. How have these significant changes affected the Mountaineers' outlook following spring practice? WVSports Managing Editor Keenan Cummings discusses one of ASU's 2025 opponents.

Tyson 1st, round and No. 18 overall picked by the Minnesota Vikings

Leavitt 3rd round and no. 67 overall picked by the New Orleans Saints

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = On The Rise ?

If the Sun Devils make the playoffs this year will that indicate that our baseball program is on the rise under Willie..??

It looks likely that they will finally make the playoffs and we'll know for sure tomorrow when the playoff teams will be announced...

However, given the way the season ended, it seems that we are like a beggar with a tin cup pleading to make it, when we could have put all doubt aside by not fizzling out at the end, like we did...

To make matters worse, our in-state rivals have risen to the occasion, once again, by claiming the Big-12 tournament championship...

They apparently have more than enough resources to have success while Willie claims the Devils need more resources...

Obviously, something is wrong with that picture but Willie will have 34 scholarships with which to play with this next season...

But, will anything really be any different than what it is now under his leadership..??

That will be one of the primary issues that our AD will need to confront, especially if we finally make the playoffs, only to fold right up like a weed in the desert heat...

Rossini will also have to look at whether there is another coach out there that could most definitely elevate our program or not...

I'm confident that if Rossini decides to make a change that he will already have a well designed plan in place and not proceed the way Lisa did when she fired a coach...

It was always like...okay I fired him or her but what do I do now..??

So, what does Rossini do now..??

Stick with what you know or decide to make a change if the Devils don't make the playoffs or do another nose dive in the playoffs, if they get there..??

I wonder what the room will be like this evening when the Devils have their baseball award banquet..??

Will it be anything other than ambivalent given the pluses vs minuses within our baseball program these days..??

At least Dilly has risen to the occasion in football and our next season is only a few short months away now...

It would sure be nice to have a baseball program on the rise, once again, too...

But, is Willie the guy that will do that for us..??

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

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Despite a late-season slide, Arizona State baseball is heading to a NCAA Regional for the first time since 2021. Joined by former DevilsDigest reporter Jack Loder , @Joe Healey and I discuss the journey back to the postseason and preview the action in Los Angeles (32:48). We also get to know two recent Sun Devil commits: 2026 linebacker Mason Marden (4:35) and wide receiver transfer Akim Lanieux (54:34).

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I enjoy following ASU Mens/Womens golf teams, so will try to post updates a couple of times per month moving forward

It is hard finding updated info on the team rankings, but the one poll I am able to find that has current rankings has Men listed @ #7 currently.......most of the events were in the fall, which is more or less considered like FB or Basketball "non conference" games...the spring is pretty much considered regular season, so moving forward with the spring events there will be much more updated rankings that are more realistic
* https://scoreboard.clippd.com/ranki...Type=Team&gender=Men&division=NCAA+Division+I

The men have a Freshman - Wenyi Ding - who joined the team in DEC I believe, and just won an event in Hawaii with a NCAA Mens record 189 score over 3 rounds.......he broke the ncaa record of 192 score over 3 rounds in his 2nd event with ASU, and DEvils finished #2 to N Carolina who won the 2023 NCAA's and are pretty much the team to beat for 2024.....here is brief story
https://thesundevils.com/story.aspx...-needed-for-this-headline&file_date=2/10/2024

Next big Mens event is Feb 25-27 @ Vegas

Will get to the Womens 2024 spring updates tomorrow........but since we are ranked in top 10 after finishing #2 in 2023 should be fun to follow this spring

"Just be ourselves and go out and play aggressive baseball.” The postseason offers a chance of redemption for ASU to snap out of a current four-game skid, but they aim to thrive, not just to survive in the NCAA Tournament

News on several ASU prospects here