“Some of these guys are getting awfully complacent thinking they’re just going to write their name in the lineup every day,” Bloomquist said.

Thursday was the first game that ASU's lineup did not feature sophomore Brandon Compton, who was projected to be selected in the top two rounds of the MLB Draft this July. 

Overall, this season, Compton has seen an 80-point plunge in his batting average and a nearly 200-point drop in his slugging from his numbers in 2024. Compton has just five hits in his last 34 at-bats, only one of those five going for extra bases.

The open spot allowed sophomore Jax Ryan to start. It was his first in April and second overall appearance of the month. 

“[Ryan] added some life to the offense, but we gotta get some of these other guys going that are capable of swinging the bat a little bit better,” Bloomquist said. 

Ryan was one of two Sun Devil batters to get on base three times, and his 2-for-4 day brought his season average up to .340.

“Ryan’s a kid who’s a starter on most teams across the country,” Bloomquist said. “He and Matt King were in a dogfight earlier on in the year and they’re both great players.”

King also continued his dominance at the plate, picking up two hits and three RBIs. He has recorded a multi-hit game in eight of his last 11 games, cementing himself as someone Bloomquist “cannot take out of the lineup.”

Freshman Landon Hairston’s two-run home run in the fourth inning blew the game open for Arizona State, but this time with his own bat. 

Last week, Hairston had used Jacob Tobias’ bat since it was “heavier”, resulting in three extra-base hits in the Texas Tech series.

Bloomquist, who dubbed it a “head-scratcher," compared Hairston to former Sun Devil star and current St. Louis Cardinals prospect Ryan Campos and did not want to mess with the swing that Hairston has.

“By the time he leaves here, he’s gonna be an absolute unit of a player, and someone is gonna get a good one,” Bloomquist said. 

Hairston has hit .357 since the Arizona series to begin the month of April. 

Ben Jacobs got through six and a third innings despite getting knocked around a bit in the first inning, where hitters were bombarding his fastball early in counts. 

“Treat it like it’s zero-zero every inning and go compete my butt off and execute pitches,” Jacobs said. 

After the first inning, Jacobs kept BYU to just one run through his final five and a third, punching out 10 and earning his third win of the season. 

Arizona State used two of their steadiest relievers in the victory, with Lucas Kelly and Cole Carlon coming in following Jacobs to completely shut down BYU's offense, combining for three and two-thirds innings of shutout, five-strikeout baseball.

They allowed just one baserunner and got through those 11 outs on just 33 pitches, meaning they both could be available tomorrow. 

“We’ve been trying to get a middle guy to bridge to that back end,” Bloomquist said. “Today I’m just like ‘I’m not going to wait around’, I’m gonna go straight to [Kelly].” 

Arizona State will resume their series against BYU tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. back at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Jack Martinez, who has recorded more than 10 strikeouts in two of his last three starts, is the expected starter.