Niclai’s slam caps ASU’s comeback win over GCU

When Coen Niclai sees GCU on the schedule, it never feels routine.

“Something’s different.”

Part of that comes from what he has done against the Lopes, and part of it comes from what he learned the last time they met. That mix surfaced Tuesday night again as he stepped into the box in the seventh inning with ASU trailing 8-4, bases loaded, and still climbing out of a 7-0 deficit at Brazell Field.

In his previous matchup with GCU, Niclai delivered in a big way, but two at-bats stood out more than the rest. A fourth-inning flyout with runners on first and second, then a groundout in the eighth in the same situation. In both, he admitted he sped himself up, trying to do too much instead of trusting his approach, something he carried into this meeting with a clear adjustment.

That perspective came despite another productive day at the plate, but the focus remained on the moments that hadn’t gone his way.

So when the opportunity returned, Niclai kept it simple. Do your job. Work the count. Find your pitch.

“Earlier in the year (against GCU), I didn’t really put together good at-bats with runners on,” Niclai said. “I knew they were going to come at me, so I had to be ready early and be aggressive.”

He got exactly what he was looking for, a fastball over the plate, and did not miss it, driving it deep to right field to tie the game and cap a seven-run comeback. It marked his second home run of the day and swung the momentum fully in ASU’s favor, setting the stage for sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston’s go-ahead home run, his 19th of the season, as the Sun Devils (24-9, 7-5 Big 12) powered their way to a 12-8 comeback win over cross-town rival GCU (11-22) behind six total home runs.

It was not clean, and midweeks rarely are, but this Sun Devil team once again showed the resilience that has come to define it, clawing out of a seven-run deficit that even head coach Willie Bloomquist admitted felt overwhelming at the start of the night.

“Obviously, you don’t like digging yourself a seven-run hole to dig out of,” Bloomquist said. “On a consistent basis, that’s going to eventually bite you. But I am proud of the way our guys continue to battle and not panic. I might have panicked a little bit there after the second inning, but our guys didn’t, which was great. And they kept battling and stayed focused.”

The early damage stemmed in large part from sophomore left-hander Easton Barrett. Entering the day, he had allowed just two earned runs over his previous 13 innings, a stretch that suggested progress after losing the Sunday rotation spot. Against GCU, the inconsistencies that surfaced earlier in the season returned.

Walks and a lack of command in key counts proved costly. Barrett lasted just 1 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and issuing three walks as GCU capitalized on patience and contact. 

After a first-inning run, the Lopes added three more on a steady mix of hard contact and disciplined at-bats, forcing Bloomquist to turn to junior right-hander Jaden Alba. The momentum only grew when Alba left a fastball over the plate that junior outfielder Trevor Schmidt drove deep to left for a three-run home run.

For GCU, it was a jolt. For ASU, it was a test. The Lopes entered at 11-21, yet suddenly had a chance to knock off No. 20 ASU at home.

Bloomquist, however, has seen his teams respond in these situations before. With four comebacks of seven runs or more already under his belt, ASU would eventually make it five, but not without methodically working its way back.

Graduate outfielder Dean Toigo and junior infielder Dominic Smaldino jump-started the offense in the third with back-to-back home runs. Toigo’s 13th of the season, paired with Smaldino’s two-run blast, trimmed the deficit and steadied a lineup that began to find its rhythm.

Then came Niclai.

In ASU’s last meeting with GCU on March 17th, he helped decide the game with a walk-off and also left the yard. That familiarity carried into this matchup, first in the fifth inning when he connected on an 0-1 pitch and sent a solo home run over the left-field wall to cut the deficit to three.

By the seventh, the opportunity had fully formed. A double, a single, and a walk loaded the bases and sent Niclai back to the plate with ASU trailing 8-4. This time, he stayed within the moment and delivered the swing that changed everything, launching a grand slam to right field. It was his fourth home run of the season and third against GCU this year, flipping the score and shifting momentum firmly to ASU.

“We had a lot of things going at that time in the dugout, a lot of guys ready to pinch hit, pinch run, going for defense, all kinds of different things,” Bloomquist said. “And we just kind of said, let’s see what Cohen does here. Maybe, maybe he’ll clean the bases with one swing. And we look up and boom, he does it.”

From there, Hairston took over. After sophomore infielder Beckett Zavorek worked a walk, Hairston stepped in following an 0-for-4 start and drove a middle-in fastball deep to right for a two-run home run that put ASU ahead. As he rounded the bases, the blast moved him within eight home runs of ASU’s single-season record of 27. 

ASU led 10-8, and the once-rowdy GCU crowd fell into a stunned silence as the Sun Devils completed the turnaround.

While the offense delivered the defining blows, the pitching staff stabilized the game. After Barrett’s exit, Alba, graduate right-hander Colby Guy, senior left-hander Sean Fitzpatrick, and junior right-hander Alex Overbay combined to cover 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs, eight strikeouts, and no walks, repeatedly stranding GCU runners and preventing further momentum swings.

Junior infielder PJ Moutzouridis added an insurance two-run home run in the ninth, but Hairston’s blast had already secured control as ASU closed out the win.

Wins like that rarely come clean in the middle of the week.

Wins like that rarely come clean in the middle of the week. Midweeks have become more about survival for ASU, whether it is a walk-off against GCU in the previous meeting or a narrow 12-11 escape over UNLV after a double-digit lead slipped. With ranked teams across the country dropping games in similar spots, including five top-25 losses on Tuesday, simply finishing carries added weight.

“Always good to get a win again,” Bloomquist said. “I’ve said it several times, there are a lot of top 25 teams that stub their toe today. We came out looking like we might, but we found a way to win. So at the end of the day, that’s what matters. Put a W on the board, and we move forward, learn from it, and try to get better and be ready for tomorrow.”