The Arizona Wildcats baseball team are “swinging for the fences” with what has been a bittersweet season as they enter the inaugural NCAA Pac 12 Tournament.
Redemption is the mindset for No. 5 seed Wildcats looking to avenge their loss in a rematch against No. 4 seed Oregon on Wednesday, 9 a.m. (MST). The Ducks swept the three-game series this past weekend making it the first time Arizona has been swept in a series since the 2019 season against Oregon State.
“Probably depth, we have guys and we have gone through some sickness and some aches and pains,” said head coach Chip Hale when asked about what went wrong against the Ducks. “And we don’t have a lot of guys that we have been able to turn to on the mound or at the position.”
Despite not having some key players throughout the season, the Wildcats have all hands-on deck as they enter the Pac-12 tournament.
“We’re prepared for any scenario.” Hale said when asked about the challenges the team face in the new tournament. “And we have built enough pitching now in the later weeks to be able to play a bunch of games in 5 days.”
Right-handed sophomore pitcher Dawson Netz will take the bump for the Wildcats this Wednesday morning. Netz has embraced the moment in the brightest lights, last postseason as a freshman he posted a 2.84 ERA and held hitters to a .136 batting average in 6 games including a start against Ole Miss.
“He commanded the zone really well, and towards the end of his outings his [velocity] started climbing,” sophomore catcher Daniel Susac said when asked about Netz. “I feel full confident in Dawson, he is one of the most confident guys on the team when I'm out there catching so I think he's gonna do a good job setting an example for us.”
Wednesday’s contest will see Arizona playing a bullpen game where they will have multiple pitchers take the mound throughout the game, relieving Netz.
“The difference is that you have to lock in with more than one pitcher,” Susac said when asked about the adjustments he needs to make as a catch during a bullpen game. “But the biggest thing is that you'll have six or seven arms that you have to treat differently because everybody’s different when you're out there on the mound and you have to tackle it a little different.”
Susac mentioned that in the Utah series, there was a noticeable lack of energy due to the early start time of the game. When you take a look at the series against the Utes, the Wildcats found themselves trailing in in the first four innings in all three games.
“It is important, I think energy is a big thing in baseball and how the game flows ultimately,” outfielder Tanner O’Tremba noted. “But I think the idea of postseason [tournament] is really exciting… and when you get to the postseason, nobody is worried about anything except winning that game and going 1-0."
“You can never give up.” That is the mentality that Susac took from last season’s campaign and is eyeing to use it this postseason and use this ideology for anything that comes their way in the Pac-12 tournament.
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