Willie Bloomquist Discusses Arizona State's Lively Home Crowd
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TEMPE -- The hope is that Arizona State baseball is seeing their once-proud herritage make a return in full force in year five of the Willie Bloomquist era.
The Sun Devils are off to a 4-0 start to the 2026 season, with three dominant wins on record - all of which have been in front of lively crowds at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
Bloomquist appeared pleased about the audience that watched the 17-7 win over UConn on Tuesday night in a post-game press conference, which only adds to the belief that Sun Devil baseball is making a comeback.
ASU's Home Crowd Praised
"Great to have them here at Muni and have a nice crowd here on a Tuesday, I think, is the weather continues to warm up, hopefully we continue to pack it, whether it's the weekend or or midweek games. It's awesome to have fans out here. And I've said it before, that's one of our best recruiting best recruiting tools to have, have our fans come out and support us, and they're seeing good baseball right now, and hopefully we can keep that going for them."
The crowd isn't everything when it comes to determining the outcome of a game, although players such as outfielder Dean Toigo have alluded to the fact that they are much more energized when fans are engaged in the action.
The way the audience engages games on a frequent basis supercede the on-field production - it sets the stage for Bloomquist and other coaches to make it a pitch to prospective recruits at all levels of the game.
Arizona State Seeking to Build Off Successful 2025 Season
The Sun Devils went 36-24 in 2025 - which was a success in some ways and a failure in others. Arizona State put together the best offensive output in the Big 12 on paper throughout the course of last season, which resulted in several position players being selected high in the MLB draft.
The ultimate undoing of the team came due to inconsistent pitching efforts, as the staff collectively threw for north of a 5.30 ERA - which put the team firmly on the tournament bubble. They still ultimately got selected for the tournament for the first time under Bloomquist and even won a game, which set the stage for the program to take a step forward in 2026.
The future of Arizona State baseball is bright, and the crowd will absolutely play a role in expanding on the newfound success.
Read more on the bold strategy that head coach Bobby Hurley employed with comments on 1/21 here, and on why Arizona State may have saved the season with the win over Cincinnati on Saturday here..
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.