ASU hopes potential matches production in postseason play

Some seasons announce themselves with a signature win or a defining moment. Arizona State’s 2026 campaign did not start that way. It built slowly, sometimes unevenly, through stretches of dominance and reminders of fragility, until it finally reached a point where potential matched production.

Now, with the Big 12 Tournament beginning Thursday night against Cincinnati at 8 p.m., the Sun Devils stand in a familiar place with a different feel. Same program, same expectations, but a roster that insists it is no longer the same team that once let a promising season slip away.

“We still don’t think we’ve played our best baseball,” ASU junior infielder Nu’u Contrades said. “Everybody has learned how to handle adversity on both sides, offense, and pitching. I think that’s big. You have to be able to handle that stuff and handle that failure.”

That word, failure, is not mentioned without reason. It is a reminder for everyone. Last year’s late-season collapse, the early exit from the postseason, and all the questions asked about the roster filled with talent and lacking in success. It remains in memory despite the current team’s best efforts to change the script.

The Sun Devils enter the tournament with an overall record of 36-18, a Big 12 conference record of 19-11, and streaks of baseball where ASU ranked as high as No. 16 in the national polls according to D1Baseball. With a dangerous offense led by outstanding strikeout-pitching and an offensive lineup highlighted by one of the greatest single-season performances in school history.

That season belongs to sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston.

Hairston hit .421 with a national-best 1.434 OPS, 27 home runs, 74 RBIs, and 85 hits, tying the ASU single-season home run record set by Mitch Jones in 2000. He added 19 doubles and 10 stolen bases, making him one of the most complete offensive performers in college baseball.

The accolades followed: Big 12 Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team, Golden Spikes semifinalist, and national recognition that placed him among the sport’s elite. Still, Hairston’s reflection is less about accomplishment and more about responsibility.

“Super honored to be recognized with that award,” Hairston said. “I’m just super blessed to be in this position, and we’re playing with these guys every day. They make it easy to go out and play.”

At times, the weight of expectation became its own opponent. Hairston admitted there was a stretch when the power slowed, when the record chase tightened.

“It was definitely been on my mind,” he said. “It was just kind of a weird couple of weeks where I wasn’t hitting extra bases. Just hitting singles, taking my walks, and then luckily enough, in Houston, started getting some pitches to hit.”

That Houston series became the release point. The swing that tied the record was not just another home run. It was timing, pressure, and context colliding at once.

“It was awesome,” Hairston said. “Especially in the position that our team was in. We knew that we had to come in and win on Saturday against Houston.”

If Hairston has been the breakout star, Contrades has been the stabilizer. The veteran infielder, part of the program since 2023, delivered a career year that filled every corner of the box score. He hit .376 with a 1.179 OPS, 17 home runs, 53 RBI, and just 25 strikeouts in 178 at-bats, while going 8-for-8 on the bases and posting a .431 on-base percentage.

More than numbers, Contrades, one of ASU’s co-captains, has become a voice for a team that has learned how thin the line is between control and chaos.

“Everybody has learned how to handle adversity on both sides,” he said. “You have to be able to handle that stuff and handle that failure.”

He also described a clubhouse that has taken shape in a way last year’s never fully did.

“It’s been unbelievable,” Contrades said. “It’s one of the best clubhouses I’ve ever been a part of. It’s a family in there. It makes it more important to go to your job for the guy next to you.”

Junior left-handed pitcher Cole Carlon has also shown that identity on the mound, emerging as one of the top aces in the conference and perhaps even nationally. The 6 ‘5 southpaw recorded a 5-2 mark with a 3.64 ERA, fanned 118 batters over 71.2 frames, and limited opposing hitters to an average of just .221. His fastball has reached 100 mph, and his K/9 ratio is near the top of the national list.

However, during the last week of the regular season, it was Carlon’s health that generated discussion when he was taken from the game versus Houston in the fifth inning due to what appeared to be a brief velocity decline.

“He’s too special of an arm,” Bloomquist said. “I’m never going to put our guys’ health in jeopardy at the expense of a baseball game… It was a precautionary thing. He’s totally fine. He just had a little bit of a dead arm and was maybe fighting off an illness, too.”

Carlon himself downplayed concern.

“Just got a little banged up last week,” Carlon said. “It was a non-major bump in the road, so I was feeling good and ready to go whenever they need me this weekend.”

For ASU, the approach now is as much philosophical as it is tactical. Win-or-go-home baseball strips everything down, sharpening the focus to the most immediate task in front of them. 

“It’s one of those situations that is win or go home,” Bloomquist said. “We’re just focused on Cincinnati.”

In that setting, Bloomquist announced that senior right-handed pitcher Kole Klecker, who pitched in 2023 on an Omaha-bound TCU team, will get the start Thursday after being scratched from his Saturday outing due to food poisoning.

That opponent brings its own pressure. Cincinnati enters with one of the most aggressive baserunning profiles in the Big 12, going 113-for-131 on stolen bases, while also boasting one of the conference’s better pitching staffs by ERA. It is a combination that forces constant decision making, pitch by pitch.

Still, Bloomquist rejected the idea that ASU holds any real advantage by playing in Arizona.

“It’s just another baseball game at another venue that we got to go perform at,” he said.

The difference this year is not the environment. It is composition. Last year’s roster was experienced but uneven when it mattered most. This year’s group has a different foundation.

“This is a completely different team with new personnel and new players, a new bond,” Bloomquist said. “We just got to go play our game and play our best baseball.”

That sentiment is echoed throughout the clubhouse. Contrades points to shared adversity. Hairston points to consistency under pressure. Carlon points to trust in health and timing. Together, it forms a roster that believes it is no longer reacting to moments but shaping them.

Now, with the bracket set and elimination baseball beginning immediately, the margin for error disappears. What remains is the identity ASU has spent months trying to define.

For Hairston, it comes down to perspective.

“Everything that we’ve worked for from the fall, to spring, to early in the season, late in the season,” he said. “It all comes down to this last month of the season.”