Two Hairston homers not enough as ASU drops third straight midweek in extras

“Hairy Bonds” has followed sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston of late, a nod to Barry Bonds and the kind of production that warps a game.

It has never fit more than Wednesday night.

Two home runs. Three intentional walks. One more base on balls. An opponent unwilling to let him swing the result.

Pitch around him. Put him on. Trust the rest.

It is a familiar script. At his peak with the San Francisco Giants, Bonds was pitched around more than anyone in baseball history, often left to produce in isolation on teams that did not always match his output. The numbers piled up. The wins did not always follow.

Hairston stepped into that same space on Wednesday. Everything revolved around him, and still, it was not enough in an Arizona State loss.

Hairston controlled the game early, blasting two home runs before New Mexico State stopped pitching to him and turned every at-bat into a decision to concede. The free passes followed, and he still anchored an offense that produced nine runs and four home runs, but it unraveled elsewhere. New Mexico State struck for five runs in the first three innings, then flipped a 7-6 deficit in the eighth. ASU answered to force extras, but two runs in the 11th proved final, a 10-9 loss that wasted a night built almost entirely around Hairston.

This unsettling stretch continues for ASU, which falls to 8-8 over its last 16 games, a .500 run marked by three midweek losses, two defeats to in-state rival Arizona, and a mercy-rule loss to open the series against BYU. 

“This is an embarrassing loss,” head coach Willie Bloomquist said.” We didn’t come out ready to play like I thought we would. We had a good couple of days of practice the last two days, understood the assignment tonight, but we just didn’t get it done. And there were some opportunities there to win, and we just didn’t get it done.”

Wednesday carried more weight than most. This was not a throwaway midweek, not with the pitching plan deployed and a team aiming to stabilize before a weekend series with Baylor. Instead, it unraveled again, despite using seven arms, including four of the top five relievers by ERA, as New Mexico State piled up 14 hits in a night that exposed the staff more than usual.

It started before the bullpen ever entered the picture. Freshman right-hander Austin Musso made his third career start and never settled, allowing five hits and four earned runs in just 1.1 innings, including a triple and a solo home run that put ASU in an immediate hole.

“We just didn’t overly play well, didn’t pitch it well, didn’t hit it great,” Bloomquist said. “We continued to give them opportunities and free bases, and it bit us. When you have your horses coming out to throw, you don’t anticipate giving up ten. We just have to be better.”

The offense answered in kind, at least at first. Hairston homered to lead off the game. Junior infielder Dominic Smaldino followed with one in the third. Hairston struck again in the fourth, a two-run shot with sophomore infielder Beckett Zavorek aboard, as ASU scored in each of the first four innings and matched New Mexico State early, 6-5. 

Entering the night, ASU was 6-2 when scoring between six and nine runs and 17-0 when scoring ten or more, numbers that underscored just how vital offense has become to survival with a volatile pitching staff. For a moment, it looked like that formula would hold.

Junior right-handed pitcher Jaden Alba steadied things in the middle, a bounce-back outing after allowing nine earned runs to BYU, striking out a career-high eight over 3.2 innings to carry a 7-5 lead into the late innings after an RBI single from sophomore infielder Austin Roellig provided insurance.

But the lineup thinned behind the stars. Roellig finished 1-for-5. The 2-3-4 hitters went 3-for-16. And despite reaching base six times, Hairston scored only twice, both on his home runs. The rest of the traffic never moved him further.

“We’ve got to put somebody to protect (Hairston) a little bit better,” Bloomquist said. “Roelly came up with a big hit behind him once, but we have to either mix the lineup up a little bit or put somebody with a big threat behind him so they just can’t walk him. And if they do, there’s going to be somebody behind him that can hopefully make them pay.”

ASU still led 7-5 entering the seventh, but the cracks widened. A 23-pitch frame from the next arm junior right-handed pitcher Alex Overbay, built on two hits, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch, cut the lead to one. 

Then the game flipped. Sophomore right-hander Finn Edwards entered and could not slow the momentum, allowing a single and a double to tie the game before two wild pitches handed New Mexico State Aggies baseball an 8-7 lead. It marked another midweek unraveling for a No. 25 ASU team that has struggled to close against lesser opponents in the lingering weeks.

Even so, there is a pattern of response rather than resolution. ASU has shown resilience all season, but it rarely carries through in tight late-game moments, a 1-11 mark when trailing after the eighth underscoring how often comebacks stop just short of completion.

That same tension surfaced again in the ninth. Toigo, hitless to that point, finally broke through with a game-tying solo home run to force extras at 8-8, a swing that restored life to the dugout but also echoed a familiar script, effort arriving just late enough to extend the game rather than finish it.

In extra innings, that pattern held. A hit-by-pitch opened the 11th, and sophomore right-hander Taylor Penn surrendered a go-ahead RBI single through a drawn-in infield. ASU answered once more with a two-out RBI double from junior infielder Nu’u Contrades, but could not finish the rally, as graduate outfielder Matt Polk grounded out with the tying run stranded at second, sealing a 10-9 loss.

“I’ll take whatever responsibility that I can possibly take on this one,” Bloomquist said. “This one stings probably as much as any loss I’ve had since I’ve been here.”