D1Baseball wrote this past week that Arizona State was sitting on the doorstep of the Top 25. After the series win over then No. 17 TCU, the outlet noted the Sun Devils looked like a team trending toward something bigger, pointing to the emergence of arms such as junior left-hander Cole Carlon and senior right-hander Kole Klecker as the type of pitching that could push ASU from dangerous to elite.
If that label was going to hold any weight, this weekend was the test. Kansas State entered the series with the second-ranked offense in the Big 12 and one of the hottest lineups in the country, fresh off 42 runs against Houston, 13 against Baylor and a season-high 24 against Penn State. Manhattan has not been kind to visiting staffs, and ASU walked into it needing to prove its recent run was more than a good stretch. It needed to look like a contender again…