ASU baseball freshman Spencer Torkelson made history by pounding his 12th home run against the Washington State Cougars on Thursday night, breaking the school record for home runs by a freshman in a single season previously held by MLB legend Barry Bonds.
Bonds, who wore the Sun Devil uniform from 1983 to 1985, hit 11 home runs in his freshman campaign, a record that stood for 35 years.
But Bonds needed 64 games and 206 at-bats to hit 11 homers. Torkelson needed less than half of that.
In addition, it took a Sun Devil player 29 games to leave the yard four times last season; Torkelson only needed six.
Of course, Bonds went on to cement a legacy of greatness. At the collegiate level, his 45 home runs are tied for fourth all-time in program history. At the professional level, he is still the all-time single season (73 in 2001) and career home run king (762).
Torkelson's college career just started, but what he has done to this point has been impressive nonetheless.
The Sun Devils' primary first baseman currently tied for second in the nation in home runs.
No freshman has ever led the nation in home runs at the end of a season according to NCAA records dating back to 1965. The last time an ASU player led the nation in home runs was in 2000 when Mitch Jones hit 27.
Torkelson hit three home runs in five days on his way to winning Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the week of March 6. Additionally, he has hit two home runs in one game twice; first against Miami University on Feb. 17 and then against Long Beach State on March 28.
Reach the reporter at jpjacqu1@asu.edu or follow @joejacquezaz on Twitter.
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