ASU baseball calmly plays underdog card ahead of Lincoln Regional
Arizona State baseball coach Willie Bloomquist is playing the underdog card.

His Sun Devils are headed to Nebraska for the Lincoln Regional, the first step on the path to a potential College World Series, an event for which the school hasn't qualified since 2010. But that isn't where he and his team are embracing the underdog role.

ASU (37-19) heads in as a No. 3 seed, even though most projections ahead of the NCAA tournament field announcement on May 25 had the Sun Devils as a No. 2. Six Big 12 teams made the tournament, with Kansas and West Virginia as No. 1 seeds and three others as No. 2. ASU finished ahead of all three No. 2 seeds in the regular standings: Oklahoma State, Central Florida and Cincinnati.

So Bloomquist is embracing the underdog role ahead of his team's 6 p.m. MST showdown Friday, May 29, against No. 2 seed Mississippi (36-21), the ninth-place finisher in the Southeastern Conference, which won its only College World Series title in 2022. The game will air on ESPN2.

While the Rebels placed in the bottom half of the powerful SEC, they did play the third-toughest schedule overall.

The other first-round pairing in the double-elimination regional will pit No. 1 and host Nebraska (42-15) against Summit League champion South Dakota State (24-31), the No. 4.

The winner of the Lincoln Regional advances to the super regional against the winner of the regional hosted by Auburn.

"We're the underdogs," said Bloomquist, rounding out his fifth year heading his alma mater. "They put us as a 3 seed, and so obviously we're the underdogs, going in there with something to prove."

The Sun Devils will be making their second postseason appearance in the Bloomquist tenure, the only other one coming a year ago, when they went 1-2 in a regional hosted by UCLA. They won the first game, then lost the next two.

Sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston leads the ASU offense. He leads the country in total bases and slugging percentage, ranks fourth in RBIs (79) and home runs (28), and is fifth in average (.413). He is another of the returning players with whom last season's finish did not sit well.

"Obviously, last year was not the result we wanted. We didn't play our best," he said. "It did nothing but motivate us, especially all the guys coming back. We know that feeling of losing a regional, so we're going to do our best not to let that happen again."

Junior left-hander Cole Carlon, the likely starter in the opener, appeared in relief in two of those three games. He earned a save in the opener, but surrendered four earned runs in the third game, which eliminated the Sun Devils. So he is looking forward to a shot at redemption.

Second baseman Nu'u Contrades is looking forward to the event for a different reason. He has spent four years in the program, and a hand injury forced him to miss the 2025 postseason. He wants to go out on a high note.

"This place is awesome," he said. "Arizona State is, I think, the best school in the nation. This program means so much to me. Coaches, my teammates, this past four years have been the best four years of my life."

ASU's .320 team batting average ranks sixth nationally, while Ole Miss is hitting just .266, ranking the Rebels 221st of 303 Division I programs. It has been feast or famine for Mississippi, which has totaled 100 home runs, 17th overall, but Mississippi batters have struck out 589 times, an average of 10.3 per game.

Ole Miss has a team ERA of 4.47, almost a full run better than ASU's 5.43. The Rebels rank second in the SEC and fifth nationally in strikeouts with 637, one spot ahead of ASU.

While neither head coach has tipped his hand on who the opening-game starter will be, Ole Miss' second-team All-SEC pick Cade Townsend (5-3, 3.81), a sophomore right-hander, looks like the choice. The Rebels' other main starter is junior left-hander Elliott Hunter (5-3, 5.07).

Mississippi has a reliable bullpen, with eight pitchers who have thrown at least 29 innings, and only two have ERAs above 4.25.

The Sun Devils say they are up to the challenge of a new opponent and a new environment.

“I think we don’t really mind who we play,” ASU sophomore catcher Brody Briggs said. “We’re just going to play our game regardless. It’s cool to go play (in) Nebraska, play somewhere different, and just go compete.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU baseball calmly plays underdog card ahead of Lincoln Regional

Reporting by Michelle Gardner, Arizona Republic / Arizona Republic

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

