There aren't many things better for a college team than sending your rival home for the season. That was the case Friday afternoon as Arizona eliminated in-state rival Arizona State from the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament with an 8-6 comeback win at Scottsdale Stadium.
The Sun Devils were in control of the game in the eighth inning before the Wildcats loaded the bases with one out. That is when center fielder Mac Bingham sent a ball over the head of ASU center fielder Joe Lampe for a bases-clearing triple to put the Wildcats ahead by two runs.
Reliever Trevor Long came in to close out the game in the ninth inning and secure the victory for UA and earn his second save of the tournament.
The win for the Wildcats (37-22) means they will face Stanford at 9 a.m. on Saturday in what will be another elimination game for UA. It will take beating the Cardinal twice on Saturday for Arizona to advance to the tournament championship.
For now, UA can relish in its latest victory knowing that it effectively ended ASU's season Friday.
The game had plenty of interesting twists and turns before arriving at the eighth-inning moment the sealed the win for UA.
The Sun Devils (26-32) took an early 2-0 lead as they opened the game with three hits, including a double, to build some early momentum against Arizona starter TJ Nichols. Nichols would eventually settle in allowing the UA bats to go to work.
The Wildcats' offense exploded in the third inning as five batters were able to collect a hit in the inning highlighted by back-to-back opposite field home runs by catcher Daniel Susac and right fielder Tanner O'Tremba.
Susac's home run was a three-run shot to right field that brought in Bingham and shortstop Nik McClaughry. Bingham reached base with a single while McClaughry was hit by a pitch.
UA closed out the big inning by scoring a run on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Garen Caulfield that brought in left fielder Chase Davis. Third baseman Tony Bullard had a double in the inning as well.
At that point in the game it looked like UA would be on its way to an easy elimination victory, but things started to break down a bit in the middle innings.
The Wildcats had two errors in the top of the fifth inning allowing the Sun Devils to tack on two runs and shrink the lead to 5-4.
With UA's bats suddenly quiet, the Sun Devils added on two more runs in the seventh against Wildcats relief pitcher Quinn Flanagan. Lampe doubled to left field to set the table and would eventually come around to score on a two-run double from ASU catcher Ryan Campos to put the Sun Devils back on top by one run.
Despite allowing two runs, Flanagan (5-1) finished the game with the win Friday after pitching two innings and surrendering three hits.
Bingham's performance highlighted the day for the Wildcats at the plate as he finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBIs and one run hitting ninth in the order.
Susac turned in another strong performance at the plate in the win as he tied Bingham for the team lead with three RBIs on his home run. He did leave the game before the start of the fourth inning because of an illness that could keep him out of Saturday's game.
The Wildcats' matchup with the Cardinal will open up the fourth day of action at the Pac-12 Tournament.
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