Arizona

Arizona State baseball sets opening-weekend record

Published

11 months ago

February 17, 2025

Arizona State baseball sets opening-weekend record

Despite being picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 in the preseason coaches poll, the Arizona State baseball team looked the part of a contender in their season-opening sweep of Ohio State.

And ASU fans noticed.

Arizona State (3-0) set an opening weekend attendance record at Phoenix Muni Stadium with 10,570 fans showing up for the three-game series.

On Sunday, 3,780 fans showed up for the series finale — the largest crowd for a Sunday game during opening weekend in at least 25 years. Sunday’s crowd was bigger than ASU’s opening night crowd of 3,529.

The Sun Devils won the three games by scores of 9-8, 7-6 and 17-10. Redshirt sophomore first baseman Brandon Compton was the star for ASU, going 5-for-10 with 2 home runs, 7 RBI and 4 walks. Senior catcher Josiah Cromwick also had a big series with 2 home runs and 8 RBI.

“The thing I’ll say about Ohio State is they had plenty of chances to roll over and die and they didn’t,” Arizona State head coach Willie Bloomquist said after Sunday’s win. “They got some scrappers over there that just refused to give in. On the flip side of things, for us getting three wins this weekend, you always celebrate wins and especially a sweep against a team that battles like that.”

Arizona State continues its homestand on Monday against Austin Peay, followed by a three-game series against Oral Roberts.

The Sun Devils don’t play their first road game until they head to Los Angeles on Feb. 25 to play former Pac-12 foe UCLA in a two-game series.

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Arizona

AZ Digest. Diamondbacks’ game times set, Rising FC adds defender

Published

5 hours ago

January 21, 2026

Press Room

AZ Digest. Diamondbacks’ game times set, Rising FC adds defender

Winter is here in Arizona, and there’s plenty of sports activity. The college athletic seasons are well underway, including those at Arizona State and Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns’ NBA G League affiliate, the Valley Suns, has started its season.

Here are the news and events happening around Arizona sports:

Diamondbacks announce times for all games

The Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Jan. 20, joined Major League Baseball in announcing game times for all regular season and spring training games.

Spring training home games start at 1:10 p.m. MT, starting Feb. 20. The Diamondbacks play exhibition games on March 23 and 24 at 6:40 p.m. and 12:40 p.m.

Opening Day for the regular season is on Thursday, March 26. The Diamondbacks will be in Los Angeles to open 2026 against the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers at 5:30 p.m. Phoenix time.

The Diamondbacks’ home opener is March 30 against Detroit Tigers at 7:10 p.m. Arizona will be the home team for two games in Mexico City, hosting the San Diego Padres at 3:05 p.m. on April 25 and 1:05 p.m. on April 25.

Eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado, recently acquired by the Diamondbacks in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, will return to Busch Stadium when Arizona plays four-game series against the Cardinals starting on June 11.

The Diamondbacks have series against the Dodgers in June, July and August, the home series in June and August at Chase Field.

— José M. Romero

Rising FC signs former MLS draft pick

Phoenix Rising FC on Wednesday, Jan. 21, announced it has signed Serbian defender Aleksandar Vukovic to a multi-year contract.

Vukovic moved to the United States at the age of 20 to play college soccer. The defender recorded 10 goal contributions (six goals, four assists) in 84 appearances (68 starts) across four different schools, LSU-Eunice, California-Riverside, Marshall and Duke.

Drafted by Real Salt Lake in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft following the national title run, Vukovic elected to return for one more season of college soccer, playing his graduate season at Duke.

Vukovic is the seventh defender on the Rising FC roster at present.

-Jose M. Romero

ASU pitcher named to USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List

Arizona State softball pitcher Kenzie Brown was selected to the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

Brown is ASU’s first representative on the watch list since Kindra Hackbarth in the 2021 season.

In 2025, Brown posted a team-high 19 wins in 35 pitching appearances to go along with 289 strikeouts, the fourth most in Division I softball and second most in the Big 12. Her 11.60 strikeouts per seven innings ranked second in the nation and first in the conference. She also matched the program’s single-game strikeout record by recording 18 strikeouts against BYU on March 6.

The Top 25 finalists for the 2026 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be announced on April 29.

–Jenna Ortiz

ASU men’s tennis takes down UTSA

Arizona State men’s tennis defeated UTSA, 6-1, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Whiteman Tennis Center.

The Sun Devils improved to a program-best 6-0 start since the program’s reinstatement. ASU is already halfway to reaching its 2024-25 win total and has hit the six-win mark more than a month earlier than in the past year.

ASU will participate in the ITA Indoor Kickoffs hosted by USD at the Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center in San Diego, California, spanning January 23-24.

–Jenna Ortiz

ASU gymnastics to host 50th anniversary celebration

Arizona State gymnastics will kick off Big 12 competition with No. 22 BYU coming to Desert Financial Arena on Friday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m.

The meet will celebrate 50 years of the program, welcoming alumni back to Tempe. Fans will receive a keychain at the east tunnel before the meet.

ASU faced off against the Cougars twice last season, with the Sun Devils losing the first meeting but winning the second. ASU is 13-2 all-time against BYU.

The meet will be live on ESPN+, with live scoring available on Virtius as well.

–Jenna Ortiz

ASU sophomore named Big 12 Tennis Player of the Week

Arizona State sophomore Niels Villard was named Player of the Week on Jan. 20, following three singles and four doubles wins in four dual matches. ASU’s 5-0 start to the season is the best mark since the program’s reinstatement.

After picking up three singles wins last week from the third through fifth position, Villard has a team-leading four singles wins. Villard earned the team’s first weekly honor this season.

–Jenna Ortiz

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Storm on the way to Arizona with First Alert Days declared

Published

17 hours ago

January 21, 2026

Press Room

Storm on the way to Arizona with First Alert Days declared

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Big weather changes are on the way for Arizona during the second half of this week, with First Alert Weather Days issued for Friday and Saturday.

High pressure over the region will continue to bring warm and dry conditions today and tomorrow, but clouds will begin to increase ahead of a weather pattern change that arrives Friday. Look for mostly cloudy skies in the Valley today with a forecast high of 72 degrees. We’ll top out near 74 degrees with more cloud cover expected tomorrow.

On Friday, an area of low pressure is forecast to move into Arizona, bringing rain to the Valley. Rain chances are near 20% during the day Friday and jump to 50% Friday night. While light rain is possible Friday afternoon, more measurable and widespread rain is expected Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Saturday could also bring a few thunderstorms, with small hail possible. Afternoon temperatures will peak in the low 70s on Friday and upper 60s on Saturday. Rain chances are near 50% Saturday during the day and near 20% for Saturday night. Sunday looks dry in the Valley but cool with highs in the mid 60s.

In the high country, travel could be tricky Friday and Saturday with reduced visibility from rain and snow. Snow levels will start fairly high near 6,500 to 7,000 feet on Friday, but will eventually fall a bit. One or two inches of snow is likely for Flagstaff on Friday and Saturday, with 2 to 6 inches likely on the Mogollon Rim. In the White Mountains, more snow is expected with 8 inches or more above 8,000 feet.

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Who should be the next Arizona Cardinals head coach? Vote in our poll

Published

1 day ago

January 20, 2026

Press Room

Who should be the next Arizona Cardinals head coach? Vote in our poll

The Arizona Cardinals requested head coaching interviews with at least 14 candidates — more than nearly any other organization. But among those 14, the group of legitimate options is dwindling fast.

Two Cardinals’ candidates have already been hired elsewhere: Robert Saleh to the Titans and Jeff Hafley to the Dolphins. Three others have not yet been reported to conduct interviews with the Cardinals.

That leaves nine coaches who have both been interviewed by the Cardinals and who remain available.

Then there are the coaches who interviewed with the Cardinals but have since progressed in other teams’ searches — but not with the Cardinals. That group includes Anthony Weaver, Matt Nagy, Jesse Minter and Raheem Morris (as a defensive coordinator). All indications are that those coaches are unlikely to be finalists in Arizona —barring shifting circumstances elsewhere.

As such, the Cardinals have five coaches who currently appear to be frontrunners for the job. Here are those five candidates:

Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph
Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak
Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur
Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady

The first four names on that list all coach teams who are still alive in the playoffs, meaning that they cannot be brought back for an in-person interview until Jan. 26, after the conclusion of conference championship games.

Brady, meanwhile, only interviewed with the Cardinals on Jan. 20 — one day after the Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott in a surprise move. His candidacy has only just begun.

If those coaches are indeed the Cardinals’ preferred choices, it helps to explain why they have not yet conducted a second interview with any candidate.

But for now, the story of this hiring cycle has been the Cardinals’ status as a team on the outside looking in.

They weren’t close on John Harbaugh, with whom they only conducted a preliminary phone call. They were never publicly connected to Kevin Stefanski. Likewise, with Mike McDaniel, who prefers a great offensive coordinator job to a subpar head coach opening. McDermott has not yet been requested by the Cardinals and is said not to be interested in a rebuild.

Then there’s Saleh, who was set for a second interview with the Cardinals on Jan. 20 — only to snub them to accept the Titans job instead. It was a move that summed up the first two weeks of the Cardinals’ offseason.

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