What a difference 24 hours makes.

After a gut-punch defeat to rival Arizona on Friday that spoiled junior left-hander Cole Carlon’s career-high 12-strikeout performance, No. 25 Arizona State head coach Willie Bloomquist called his team's effort atrocious.

Bloomquist, who usually looks ahead after a loss, said Friday’s result was too tough to swallow.

"I can't just flush this one,” Bloomquist said. “This one stings a little bit, and they better learn from it."

In danger of dropping a series to the second-worst team in the Big 12 by record, the Sun Devils (23-9, 7-5 Big 12) left Tucson in a loud way, scoring six in the first and 15 runs total on Saturday, April 4. Unlike an evening ago, when the bullpen allowed seven runs, the duo of junior right-handers Colin Linder and Derek Schaefer kept the Wildcats’ (10-21, 3-9 Big 12) bats at bay in a 15-6 victory at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson.

Here are four takeaways from the action.

Smaldino to the rescue, 

Over the past month or so, there’s no doubt that sophomore left fielder Landon Hairston has received the majority of attention in the ASU offense. 

Yet on Saturday night, junior first baseman Dominic Smaldino stole the spotlight. 

Smaldino led the Sun Devils with four hits and a career-high six RBI. The first baseman left his biggest mark in the third inning, hitting a 404-foot two-run home run the opposite way to right-center field. 

Smaldino’s fifth home run marked the second consecutive season in which he’s hit at least five long balls.

Hairston’s historic pace.

Despite Smaldino’s 4-for-5 night, stealing the show on Saturday night, Hairston made sure to put on an encore. 

After a 0-for-2 start at the plate, which included making the first and third out in the first inning, the sophomore continued his march toward Sun Devil history, hitting his 18th home run to straightaway center field in the fourth inning. 

Hairston has eight homers in his last eight games and trails Mitch Jones’ 2000 record of 27 by just nine with 24 regular-season games to play. 

Although he finished the evening 1-for-6, the outfielder is hitting .461 with an OPS above 1.000. 

Full-squad effort 

In lieu of Hairston’s one-hit night, the entire Sun Devil lineup picked up the load. One through nine, all the ASU starters collected at least one hit, with five players posting multi-hit games. 

Besides Smaldino, graduate right fielder Matt Polk led the charge. 

Starting for the first time since March 22, the former Vanderbilt Commodore had four hits, including a pair of doubles. 

Alongside Polk at the bottom of the lineup, the 7-8-9 spots combined for 7 of the 18 ASU hits, with sophomore second baseman Beckett Zavorek boosting a two-hit two-RBI night. 

From the jump, the Sun Devils’ unselfish brand of baseball put together five consecutive base hits in the first inning with seven different players reaching base. 

The ASU bats finished the evening with eight extra-base hits and five walks compared to seven strikeouts. 

Pitching good enough

Given a 6-0 lead before he even took the mound, senior right-hander Kole Klecker looked to respond after an up-and-down previous start against No. 13 West Virginia on March. 29. Despite pitching five scoreless innings last Sunday, the right-hander surrendered a grand slam in the sixth on the losing end of a 9-5 outing. 

Flash forward to Saturday, and Klecker labored through four innings of work, throwing 86 pitches. The right-hander surrendered a pair of solo home runs and worked around some trouble, as he allowed four runs on six hits. 

Klecker struck out six Wildcats yet looked erratic at times, walking two. 

However, unlike Friday night, when the ASU bullpen allowed seven runs in three innings, the duo of Linder and Schaefer shut down any chance of an Arizona comeback. 

After Klecker’s early departure, Linder provided four key innings of relief. The right-hander allowed two runs on three hits while walking a single batter. Dating back to March 25, Linder has allowed just three earned runs over his last 11 innings. 

Behind Linder, Schaefer worked a scoreless ninth, only throwing 10 pitches.