In what was the deciding game of the series, Arizona came out strong and took care of business in the final home game of the season at Hi Corbett Field on Sunday afternoon beating Oregon State, 10-5.
It was the bullpen that stole the show Sunday pitching a combined six scoreless innings. Southpaw Javyn Pimental set the tone for the bullpen throwing two shutout innings and only allowing a single baserunner.
Right-handed pitcher Chris Barraza gave the Wildcats (35-18, 16-11 Pac-12) another clean inning of work in the sixth before right-handed pitchers Trevor Long and Quinn Flanagan had clean outings the last three innings to close out the game.
“Huge, coach [Dave Lawn] is working so hard with these guys and it’s paying off,” head coach Chip Hale said. “Javyn is getting better and better. He’s being a guy that we can really trust. Basically these Sunday games have become bullpen games because Tonko [Anthony Susac] is not that stretched out, so we are gonna try and get 75-80 pitches out of him and then everyone else is gonna have to pitch.”
Susac struggled in the win only managing to throw three innings while giving up four runs on four hits, which included a home run hit in the second, four walks and no strikeouts. He took the no-decision in the game.
“Well Tonko he just was up in the zone a little bit again,” Hale said. “He walked a couple in the first inning. And then we got caught in kind of a funky situation. The guy showed bunt and then pulled back and hit. That’s a double-play ball and we didn’t have a second baseman there. So that was just a mental mistake. After that, I thought he pitched better. He got us out there.”
Offensively, the Cats started off the game slow and only managed to score one run in the first four innings. Arizona then proceeded to score three runs in each of the next three innings including taking the lead in the fifth on a three-run home run by center fielder Mac Bingham.
“Just put the bat on the ball,” Bingham said about his thought process during his big at-bat. “The pitcher was throwing hard. It was mid-90s, it's a warm day. So I just wanted to put the bat on the ball and give us a chance, because you’re not gonna do anything if you strike out so as long as the ball is put into play we have a chance. And that’s the only thing that was going through my mind.”
Star catcher Daniel Susac built on of his two-RBI performance Saturday with four hits in Sunday’s win that included two doubles and another RBI. Susac went 6-for-13 in what was likely his final regular season home games at Arizona. The draft-eligible sophomore catcher is projected to be a top-10 pick the 2022 MLB Draft.
Most notably, eight out of the nine Arizona starters got a base hit in the game. Four players had multi-hit games as the Wildcats finished the day with 14 hits overall.
Chase Davis helped even the game for the Wildcats with a towering two-run home run right before Tommy Splaine added an RBI of his own with a single up the middle to give Arizona a lead it would never relinquish.
Other notable players in the game included Tony Bullard, who had two hits and an RBI, and Garen Caulfield who had two RBIs off of a double in the seventh inning.
Despite the win, the Wildcats still struggled with strikeouts. Arizona struck out nine times as a team. UA batters drew nine walks in the win led by three for designated hitter Noah Turley, however the Wildcats had issues bringing those runners in to score ending the day with 13 runners left on base.
“It’s just something that you got to push through,” Davis said. “It happens in baseball all the time. We had some opportunities earlier in the game, but didn't take advantage of it. At the end of the day, it all works out and everything happens for a reason. So we did our best to keep going, keep pushing.”
With UCLA and Stanford winning, the standings in Pac-12 remain the same except for Arizona picking up a game up on Pac-12 leading Oregon State (40-11, 19-8). The Wildcats sit three games back of first place with three games to play in the regular season.
UA now shifts its focus to the final regular season series against Oregon (31-21, 15-12) next weekend on the road in Eugene. The Ducks currently sit just one game behind UA in the conference standings. If the two teams remain in their current positions, they would play each other to open the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament in Scottsdale on May 25.
The top eight teams in the conference to end the regular season will earn a spot in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament.
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