Arizona is still battling Oregon for the Pac-12 title, so every game this weekend against Oregon State matters for the Wildcats. The Ducks have one more series to play after it plays Stanford this weekend, but the Wildcats will be finished with conference play once Sunday arrives.
As much as the games this weekend matter for UA, there will be no scoreboard watching for the Wildcats. Head coach Jay Johnson's team has not had a ton of success against the Beavers in recent years, but the Wildcats took advantage of 11 walks to secure a 12-4 win over OSU in Corvallis on Friday night.
It marked the first road win against Oregon State for Arizona since 2015.
The Beavers, statistically, have the best pitching staff in the conference but the Wildcats have done a good job this year of making the players on the mound make strong pitches to have success. Oregon State had issues keeping UA off the base paths to open the three-game series.
Starter Kevin Abel walked five batters in his five innings on the mound negating the nine strikeouts he was able to get in the game. The Wildcats scored four times on just two hits against Abel with the fifth inning being the most crucial in the game.
Abel walked the first three batters that inning with a wild pitch and pass ball also taking place before the Wildcats even managed to get a hit in the inning. Left fielder Mac Bingham eventually made Abel and Oregon State pay with a single up the middle that brought in Kobe Kato and Tony Bullard.
First baseman Branden Boissiere flied out to bring in shortstop Nik McClaughry to bring in all three of the players who walked earlier in the inning.
The Beavers would ultimately tie the game, but Arizona would tack on two runs in the seventh and six in the eighth inning to secure a key victory to begin the series.
Freshman designated hitter Jacob Berry was a big part of both innings as he singled to bring in two runs to break the tie in the seventh inning before hitting his 14th home run this season to cap the big eighth inning for UA.
Donta' Williams (6) and Tyler Casagrande (1) also hit home runs for Arizona in the game.
On the mound UA ace Chase Silseth had some issues with wild pitches on balls that skipped away from catcher Daniel Susac, but he earned his eighth win of the season after allowing four earned runs in six innings with six strikeouts.
Arizona's bullpen continued to have an impressive showing as the Wildcats opened the weekend. Four pitchers worked in relief Friday night with just two Oregon State hits coming over the final three innings.
Arizona will look for its third Pac-12 series road win Saturday when the two teams meet up again Saturday evening. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. MST.
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