Shortly before Friday’s series opener against Utah, ASU Baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist approached Nate Baez with some news: Baez would be hitting cleanup that night. When Bloomquist saw Baez’s smile, the first-year Sun Devils’ head coach knew that his redshirt sophomore utility player was in for a good night.
The lineup change worked—ASU, losers of five straight heading into Friday night, scored 19 runs in a curb-stomping of Utah and would go on to sweep the Utes. Baez homered twice on Friday, added another home run on Sunday, and finished the weekend 8-for-14 with 8 RBIs, earning himself Pac-12 Player of the Week honors on Monday.