Whether it was a hangover from Saturday's one-run loss to Vanderbilt or the talent on Stanford's side, Arizona wasn't at its best Monday in a College World Series elimination game against the Cardinal. The Wildcats went down 10-0 by the fourth inning, and that hole proved to be too big to climb out of ending the season after just two games in Omaha.
UA's 14-5 loss to Stanford will send the Wildcats back home to Tucson as the first team eliminated from this year's event. Arizona will finish the year 45-18 after a season filled with a number of accomplishments, including some that have not been achieved in decades.
That is what head coach Jay Johnson wanted to focus on as his team prepares to depart the CWS.
"Tip your hat to Stanford," Johnson said. "They were ready to play. They hit everything. And you know 24 hours or 36 hours of disappointment here is not going to change the accomplishments of our team. I'm very proud of them. First outright conference championship team at the University of Arizona in 29 years, 45 wins, national seed. Hosted Regional, Super Regional, be champions at both of those.
"And lost to two really good opponents here in terms of Vanderbilt and a really tough game the other night. I was proud of the way we competed in that.Today, they were just better. Like I said, we left a lot of pitches up and over the plate and they hit everything."
The problems began early for the Wildcats as starting pitcher Garrett Irvin had his second consecutive subpar outing. Stanford eventually forced him out of the game after stringing together five straight hits, including two doubles, to score four runs and break the scoreless tie.
Irvin ultimately was on the mound for just 2 1/3 innings after giving up five runs on seven hits to go with two strikeouts and a walk. His replacement, Chandler Murphy, didn't fare much better as he gave up five runs on five hits in just an inning of work.
As a staff the Wildcats surrendered 20 hits to the Cardinal in Monday's loss.
"I just think we missed over the plate too much," Johnson said of Murphy and Irvin, who combined to give up 12 of the 20 hits. "I'd have to go back and watch it to say, but it was a lot of the same with Garrett. Those guys are quality pitchers and have been good for us. They're two of the biggest reasons we're in Omaha right now. But they made mistakes and Stanford was on it today."
After going down 10-0 the Wildcats responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning before gaining some momentum in the sixth to close the gap to just five runs. Stanford responded with four runs in the seventh inning ending the threat, but Arizona's response to its early deficit gave the Wildcats something to be happy about on an otherwise difficult day at the plate.
"You could never count our offense out," center fielder Donta' Williams said. "We've been there plenty of times in the season. So I mean just get it to the next guy. Just go up there and have a competitive AB. And, you know, we trust one another.
"So that's what we did. We continued to do it throughout the game."
Stanford will now move on to play the loser of a matchup between Vanderbilt and NC State in another elimination game Wednesday.
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