PHOENIX — After Arizona State’s heartbreaking 5-4 loss on Friday, March 13, junior designated hitter Garret Michel said the team looked forward to another opportunity to play better and get a win on Saturday.

The Sun Devils lived up to that on Saturday, March 14, when sophomore left fielder Landon Hairston hit a grand slam that punctuated a nine-run third inning, as ASU (13-5, 1-1 Big 12) overwhelmed No. 17 TCU (11-7, 1-1 Big 12) 15-8 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

“We did a good job sticking to a plan today,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said. “We’ve kind of gotten away from that at times and continuing to drive home what we believe is going to be successful for these guys.”

ASU sent 12 batters to the plate in the third inning and kept the approach simple, stringing together multiple RBI singles before Hairston’s big blast.

Bloomquist liked the Sun Devils’ approach of not trying to do too much at the plate, mentioning that it wore down the Horned Frogs’ pitching.

“One good at bat after another and passing the torch to the next guy,” Bloomquist said. “That was very encouraging and a step in the right direction.”

ASU went up 5-1 before Hairston launched his third grand slam of the season to right field to blow it open.

You can’t hit a grand slam if your teammates don’t get on base, which Hairston quickly pointed out.

“A lot of credit to the guys in front of me,” Hairston said. “That doesn’t happen if they don’t get on, so it’s really a team stat if you ask me.”

On the mound, junior right-hander Alex Overbay pitched three solid innings, allowing only one run on two hits.

However, Overbay rested a long time while the Sun Devils were busy scoring in bunches in the third, and he wasn’t the same in the fourth.

TCU scored five runs off Overbay in the fourth inning, immediately punching back after ASU’s massive third inning.

Bloomquist said the one downside of scoring nine runs in an inning is your pitcher has to sit for a long time.

With five runs scored and nobody out, the Horned Frogs had a chance to make that inning worse.

However, sophomore right-hander Taylor Penn stopped the bleeding by inducing a double play to graduate second baseman Cole Cramer.

Penn continued his stellar performance on the mound, pitching four scoreless innings in relief.

“You just got to stick to the easy approach, you’re just looking for one out at a time,” Penn said. “You can’t do too much because that’s when it spirals.”

After the Sun Devils used five pitchers out of the bullpen the day before, Penn pitching four innings made it a lot easier for Bloomquist to keep his pitchers rested.

“We were just really hoping to get through probably the sixth, we would have been lucky to get through the sixth with him and he got us through the seventh,” Bloomquist said.

On offense, graduate right fielder Dean Toigo had a terrific night, going 5-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and a home run.

Toigo went 0-for-4 the previous day with three strikeouts.

“You got to have a short memory, it’s baseball,” Toigo said. “You’re going to have bad games, so it’s just how you bounce back from those.”

 Saturday marked the first five-hit game for an ASU player since Nick McClain on May 5, 2024 against Washington.

For the rubber match on Sunday, the Sun Devils expect to send senior right-hander Kole Klecker, who transferred from TCU this season, to the mound to pitch against his former team.

“He’s faced these hitters probably several times, they’ve seen him several times, but he’s a different pitcher now than he was when he left there last year,” Bloomquist said.