| Wide: | yes |
| Arizona–Arizona State baseball rivalry | |
| Team1logo: | Arizona Wildcats logo.svg |
| Team2logo: | Arizona State Athletics wordmark.svg |
| Firstmeeting: | 1907 |
| Mostrecent: | May 7, 2024 Arizona 5 – Arizona State 3 |
| Nextmeeting: | TBD |
| Stadiums: | Hi Corbett Field, Tucson Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Phoenix |
| Total: | 489 |
| Series: | Arizona leads, 263–229-1 |
| Largestvictory: | Arizona State by 29 (March 4, 2000) |
| Currentstreak: | Arizona, 2 (March 17, 2024–present) |
The Arizona–Arizona State baseball rivalry is a college baseball rivalry between the University of Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State University Sun Devils. Both programs are two of the most storied and successful in college baseball history, combining for a total of 9 College World Series championships, 40 College World Series appearances, 82 NCAA tournament appearances and 27 conference regular-season championships. Since Arizona State (then-Tempe Normal School) founded a baseball program in 1907 the teams have met 489 times.[1] [2]
Though both teams had fielded baseball teams since the beginning of the century, the rivalry did not truly develop until the 1950s. Prior the establishment of the varsity baseball program at Arizona State in 1959, Arizona had dominated the Sun Devils collecting a record of 115–18. Things would change quickly beginning with Bobby Winkles' tenure: by 1965, Arizona State had doubled its total number of victories over Arizona, appeared in the College World Series twice and had won its 1st College World Series championship - something Arizona had yet to do in 7 College World Series appearances to that point. Before the end of the decade the Sun Devils would win two more College World Series in 1967 and 1969.
Under the helms of Jim Brock and Jerry Kindall, the rivalry reached a new level of intensity. Longtime sports columnist Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star described the rivalry between Brock and Kindall as the greatest between any Arizona-Arizona State coaching duo in any sport.[3] During the 1970s and early 1980s, the teams reached the peak of their joint prominence: the Wildcats and Sun Devils would win College World Series titles back-to-back with each other in 1976–77 and 1980–81. Perhaps the most important game played between the two was a 1976 College World Series semi-final matchup (see below) in which Arizona defeated Arizona State 5–1 to advance to the College World Series title game against Eastern Michigan, ending Arizona State's season. The Wildcats won their first College World Series title the next game.
In recent years the rivalry has been dominated in stretches by each team. Arizona State generally dominated the rivalry in the 1990s and 2000s, making many College World Series appearances while Arizona struggled and made only a single one - in 2004.
The 2010s were however dominated by Arizona, who have made 3 College World Series appearances since the Sun Devils' last appearance - winning once and running-up once. The Wildcats have also won 2 Pac-12 titles since the Sun Devils' last in 2010.
Aside from 6 games, each game in the series has been played either at the Wildcats' home fields in Tucson or the Sun Devils' home fields in Phoenix and Tempe. In fact, only a single regular season game has been played outside of the state of Arizona - a 1994 matchup held at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN.
Arizona's home field was UA Field from 1929 to 1966, Wildcat Field (later Frank Sancet Stadium then Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium) from 1967 to 2011 and Hi Corbett Field from 2012–Present. Arizona played selected home games at Hi Corbett Field from 1940 to 1975, including all games against Arizona State between 1965 and 1974.[4]
Arizona State's home field was Goodwin Stadium from 1959 to 1963, Phoenix Municipal Stadium from 1964 to 1973 and Packard Stadium from 1974 to 2014. In 2015, the Sun Devils returned to Phoenix Municipal Stadium where they remain today. Arizona State played the 2002 season at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ due to construction at Packard Stadium, however the only games played that season between the teams were held in Tucson.
| Arizona State | ||||||
| Coach | Years | Record v.Arizona State | Coach | Years | Record v.Arizona | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Sancet | 1950–1972 | 63–47 (.573) | Bobby Winkles | 1959–1971 | 39–34 (.534) | |
| Jerry Kindall | 1973–1996 | 70–93–1 (.427) | Jim Brock | 1972–1994 | 91–53–1 (.628) | |
| Jerry Stitt | 1997–2001 | 10–17 (.370) | Pat Murphy | 1995–2009 | 47–26 (.644) | |
| Andy Lopez | 2002–2015 | 26–37 (.413) | Tim Esmay | 2010–2014 | 14–11 (.560) | |
| Jay Johnson | 2016–2021 | 12–10 (.545) | Tracy Smith | 2015–2021 | 12–14 (.462) | |
| Chip Hale | 2022–Present | 7–7 (.500) | Willie Bloomquist | 2022–Present | 7–7 (.500) |
The Wildcats and Sun Devils have been members of the same conference since 1931 - the Border Conference from 1931 to 1962, Western Athletic Conference from 1962 to 1978 and Pacific-10 (now Pac-12) Conference from 1978–Present. From 1963 to 2000, the teams played 6 conference games a year. Since 2001 the Wildcats and Sun Devils have played 3 conference games a season - alternating hosts each year - usually supplemented with a pair of non-conference matchups hosted by the team not hosting the conference games. Over the years the Wildcats and Sun Devils have also participated in multi-year events against each other:
See also: Pac-12 Conference Baseball Tournament and List of Pac-12 Conference champions.
| Season | Conference Regular season Champions | Conference Tournament Champions | Arizona's performance in in the NCAA tournament | Arizona State's performance in the NCAA tournament | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Border Conference | |||||
| 1959 | Incomplete Records | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1960 | Incomplete Records | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1961 | Incomplete Records | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1962 | Incomplete Records | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| Western Athletic Conference - South Division | |||||
| 1963 | Arizona | Arizona | Did not qualify | ||
| 1964 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1965 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1966 | Arizona | Arizona | Did not qualify | ||
| 1967 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1968 | Arizona | BYU | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| 1969 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1970 | Arizona | Arizona | Did not qualify | ||
| 1971 | Arizona State | BYU | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| 1972 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1973 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1974 | Arizona | Arizona | Did not qualify | ||
| 1975 | Arizona State | Arizona State | |||
| 1976 | Arizona State | Arizona State | |||
| 1977 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Did not qualify | ||
| 1978 | Arizona State | Arizona State | |||
| Pacific-10 Conference - South Division | |||||
| 1979 | UCLA | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1980 | Arizona/California (co-champs) | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1981 | Arizona State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1982 | Arizona State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1983 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1984 | Arizona State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1985 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1986 | UCLA | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1987 | Stanford | -- | |||
| 1988 | Arizona State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1989 | Arizona | -- | |||
| 1990 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1991 | USC | -- | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| 1992 | Arizona | -- | |||
| 1993 | Arizona State | -- | |||
| 1994 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1995 | USC | -- | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| 1996 | USC | -- | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| 1997 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 1998 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| Pacific-10 Conference | |||||
| 1999 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2000 | Arizona State/Stanford/UCLA (co-champs) | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2001 | USC | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2002 | Oregon | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2003 | Stanford | -- | |||
| 2004 | Stanford | -- | |||
| 2005 | Oregon State | -- | |||
| 2006 | Oregon State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2007 | Arizona State | -- | |||
| 2008 | Arizona State | -- | |||
| 2009 | Arizona State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2010 | Arizona State | -- | |||
| 2011 | UCLA | -- | |||
| Pac-12 Conference | |||||
| 2012 | Arizona/UCLA (co-champs) | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2013 | Oregon State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2014 | Oregon State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2015 | UCLA | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2016 | Utah | -- | |||
| 2017 | Oregon State | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2018 | Stanford | -- | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |
| 2019 | UCLA | -- | Did not qualify | ||
| 2020 | No Champion | -- | Tournament Cancelled due to COVID-19 | ||
| 2021 | Arizona | -- | |||
| 2022 | Stanford | Stanford | Did not qualify | ||
| 2023 | Stanford | Oregon | Did not qualify | ||
| 2024 | Arizona | Arizona | Did not qualify |