ASU bats stay hot to fend off elimination in win over Nebraska, rematch with Ole Miss next

Nu’u Contrades continued his sensational Regional with a solo home run in the first inning to get ASU on the board, and the Sun Devils’ offense was off and running from there, scoring 10-plus runs for the second straight day to beat Nebraska 11-8, fending off elimination and setting up a rematch with Ole Miss.

Nebraska got on the board thanks to a solo shot from Joshua Overbeek in the third inning but ASU responded right away with four runs in the bottom of the inning, capped by a Dominic Longo two-run homer.

The Sun Devils’ other Dominic, Smaldino, launched a solo shot in the fifth inning and a grand slam in the sixth inning, which extended ASU’s lead to 11-1.

However, Nebraska wasn’t going down without a fight. The Cornhuskers lost one regular-season game at home all year, and after falling to Ole Miss Saturday into Sunday, they fought back against the Sun Devils but couldn’t complete the 10-run comeback.

Nebraska pushed five runs across in the seventh inning and added two more in the ninth to close the Sun Devils’ lead to three runs, but that was the end of the comeback attempt.

ASU’s starter Colby Guy threw six innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts, giving the Sun Devils exactly what they needed on the mound.

In the box, Smaldino, Longo, Austen Roellig and PJ Moutzouridis all had a multi-hit game. ASU’s offensive leader, outside of Contrades, Landon Hairston was hitless in the game and was ejected in the fourth inning after throwing his bat in the air with frustration after being called out on strikes.

The umpire talked with ASU manager Willie Bloomquist and gathered with the rest of the umpires before ejecting Hairston. With the ejection, the Sun Devils star will now miss Sunday night’s elimination game against Ole Miss.

ASU has a quick turnaround now. The Sun Devils will play Ole Miss at 5 p.m. in a rematch of the opener of the Lincoln Regional. Ole Miss won that game 7-6 in 14 innings, so the Sun Devils will need to beat the Rebels twice in order to advance.

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