Arizona ace Chase Silseth pitched into the ninth inning Friday night as the Wildcats opened up a three-game series against USC with an 8-5 win at Hi Corbett Field. It was the longest outing of the season for the UA newcomer as he controlled the game for most of the night.
Silseth ultimately exited the game in the ninth after throwing 115 pitches and giving up five runs on eight hits.
It was a bounce-back performance in a big way for the sophomore from New Mexico after he surrendered 12 runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work in his last start on the road against Washington State.
Silseth (6-1) responded with the longest outing of his career.
"I'm just a very competitive man," Silseth said about his ability to bounce back from his previous start. "I get told that all the time when I'm too competitive sometimes when we're kidding around over here. ... Pitching with an edge and my competitiveness when it comes out I just get mad, a good mad. Using the adrenaline for me instead of getting out of it and just throwing it wherever.
"You use the adrenaline for you instead of against you where you actually push the ball down in better locations, taking deep breaths. I love my competitiveness. We score seven runs in that one inning and it kinda got away in the beginning, and I'm just happy I can come right back in a moment of need. That's what helped me tonight."
Most of the scoring Friday night came in the middle innings as the Wildcats answered a solo home run from USC designated hitter Clay Owens in the top of the fourth with seven runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Freshman catcher Daniel Susac hit a two-run home run off the scoreboard in left field to put the Wildcats on top before the rest of the lineup accounted for five more hits in the inning highlighted by a two-run triple from outfielder Mac Bingham down the line in left.
The big inning gave Arizona (25-11, 10-6 Pac-12) a cushion as Silseth surrendered three runs in the top of the fifth ahead of retiring 12 consecutive batters. Another home run from Owens to open the ninth helped USC close the gap a bit, but reliever Quinn Flanagan came in to close out the game out of the bullpen.
"I think you gotta tip your hat to (Isaac) Esqueda, he has the best number of any starting pitcher in the Pac-12 right now for a reason," head coach Jay Johnson said of the offensive performance Friday night. "I thought we were taking good at-bats in the first three innings, it's just we were one at-bat away and he induced some weak contact. ... I thought we just stayed with it.
"A key at-bat in the game was Ryan (Holgate) going 2-2 to walking right there to start that inning instead of chasing out of the zone. That set the whole thing up, then Daniel comes up and hits the home run and we get going pretty good."
Center fielder Donta' Williams was one of the standout players of the evening as he opened the game with a big catch on defense that sent him crashing into the wall in center. At the plate he finished the night by going 4 for 5 with two RBIs and a run scored.
He also had a bit of a scary moment when he hit stepped on first base awkwardly tweaking his knee as he rounded the bag. Williams remained in the game and joked in the post-game press conference that he has to "figure out how to run again" after he had another slip around first base later in the night.
Outside of those mishaps it would have been difficult for the UA veteran center fielder to ask for a better performance to open the weekend.
"I just started getting into my legs a little bit more getting me to see the ball better, staying balanced and that's pretty much it," Williams said of his recent turnaround at the plate. " ... Just staying in my legs, getting my swing off, staying balanced and seeing the ball through the middle of the field. That's it."
The Wildcats will look for their fifth consecutive series win Saturday night as they face the Trojans (18-14, 6-7) once again at 6 p.m. MST at Hi Corbett Field.
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