Arizona has things rolling heading into the final month of the regular season. The Wildcats secured their ninth consecutive win Sunday as they capped a three-game sweep over Utah with a 15-3 victory at Hi Corbett Field.
It marks the second consecutive weekend sweep for Arizona, which won all three games against USC last weekend.
The UA offense bounced back from a challenging game Saturday night by coming alive for double-digit runs for the 18th time this season. After not having an extra base hit in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Utes, the Wildcats (30-11, 14-6 Pac-12) had freshman Jacob Berry hit a triple before fellow freshman Daniel Susac hit his 10th home run of the season.
Berry's triple capped the Wildcats' biggest inning as it brought in both Mac Bingham and Branden Boissiere who reached base on a walk and single, respectively. All the offense in that inning came with two outs as shortstop Nik McClaughry singled to begin the key stretch.
Center fielder Donta' Williams walked before Boissiere drove in both players with a single to left field for the first runs of the inning.
UA head coach Jay Johnson said after Saturday's win that the Wildcats took some uncharacteristic at-bats against the Utes, but it was a different story Sunday.
"Adversity, I think we've handled it a lot better," Susac said about the Wildcats at this point in the season. "I think last night showed that we can handle that a lot better."
Arizona has recently turned to junior reliever Austin Smith as its Sunday starter, and he had a standout performance against the Utes to lock up his second win of the year. Smith was on the mound for 3 2/3 innings, and he finished with seven strikeouts in the game. The Texas native allowed four hits and two runs during his time on the mound.
Smith exited the game after 65 pitches in his third start of the year.
"I'm just doing what my coaches have me do each day," Smith said after his performance Sunday. "I come out to the field and talk to coach (Nate) Yeskie, and we develop a plan for each day. I just kind of do what I'm told, but it was a great start and hopefully I keep going in the right direction with that."
It was a solid weekend all around for the UA pitching staff giving Johnson confidence about his group heading into an important stretch for the Wildcats that includes a key road series against Stanford.
"I think these guys are showing the fortitude, the consistency in approach and play," Johnson said when asked whether or not his team is of the caliber to make it to the College World Series this season. "... We gotta stay on course. We gotta handle adversity well, we'll have some. We gotta handle success well. But, I think the players are good enough, and I think they know they're good enough.
"They're playing with that type of confidence. You can't come back and win last night's game if you don't really believe in yourself."
Arizona's Sunday win over the Utes (10-26, 5-16) marked the 30th win of the year for the Wildcats in just 41 games. That is the fastest UA has reached the 30-win since 2007 and is the fifth time the team has reached that point under Johnson's watch.
The Wildcats will face GCU on Tuesday night before making the trek to Palo Alto to face the Cardinal followed by a game against Santa Clara before returning home from the Bay Area.
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