Popular Former Seattle Mariners Player Kicks Off College Baseball Season with Coaching Win
Former Seattle Mariners infielder Willie Bloomquist led his Arizona State Sun Devils baseball team to a thrilling season-opening win over Ohio State on Friday night.
The Sun Devils, one of the proudest programs in the college baseball, beat Ohio State 9-8.
Opening day win for Sun Devil Baseball 🔱🔱
— Barstool ASU (@tempebarstool) February 15, 2025
pic.twitter.com/Fe52Df8r2N
Bloomquist is in his fourth year as the head coach of the program. The following comes from the ASU website:
The 2024 campaign saw the Sun Devils post one of the most prolific offenses in the country. ASU became just the eighth Sun Devil team in the program's illustrious history to reach 100 home runs and the first to do it since having 101 in 1990. The 2024 Sun Devils were the fastest to reach triple digits in the category in program history, doing so in 56 games and finished with 102 - 30th nationally and second in the Pac-12.
Bloomquist, 47, is a Washington native who played his college ball at Arizona State. He spent 14 years in the big leagues with the Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Valuable for his versatility, he played all over the diamond. He played nine seasons for the M's, hitting .269 for his entire career. He finished with 18 career homers and 225 career RBI. He also stole 133 bases.
Essentially, Bloomquist was Dylan Moore before Dylan Moore, though Moore has more power. Bloomquist's best offensive year came in 2009 when he had four homers and 29 RBI.
Arizona State last made the College World Series in 2010. They were runners up at the CWS in 1998.
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