Wildcats dominate in series opener against Wazzu
The Arizona Wildcats (30-24, 13-14) steamrolled their way to their eighth straight win by beating the Washington State Cougars (11-40-1, 3-24-1) on a final score of 21-4 on Thursday night at Bailey-Brayton Field.
With the decisive victory, Wildcats head coach Jay Johnson has now led his teams to at least 30 wins in all four seasons with Arizona and in all six of his seasons as a Division I head coach. Since Johnson was hired by Arizona in 2016, only two other Pac-12 programs have logged 30+ wins every season: Oregon State and Stanford. He is one of only two active Pac-12 head coaches to have logged 30+ wins in each of his first six seasons as a DI head coach.
Every member of the Wildcats starting lineup notched at least one base hit, while eight-of-nine collected at least one RBI. Shortstop Cameron Cannon, catcher Austin Wells, and third baseman Nick Quintana – the top three batters in the Cats order – combined to go 7-for-16 with seven runs scored, two triples, one home run, and 11 RBI.
Quintana swatted his team-leading 15th home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning, marking a new single-season career-high for the Cats prolific slugger.
Center fielder Donta Williams paced the club with four hits, going a perfect 4-for-4 with four runs scored, two triples, three RBI, and one walk. Also collecting multiple hits was second baseman Justin Wylie (3x5, R, 2B, RBI, BB), left fielder Branden Boissiere (3x6, R, RBI), right fielder Blake Paugh (2x4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI), and first baseman Tony Bullard (2x3, 4 R, 2 2B).
Wildcats starting pitcher Randy Labaut cruised through seven innings and has now logged a quality start in five of his last six outings. The southpaw allowed just two runs on nine hits while striking out seven on a season-high 118 pitches to earn his team-leading eighth win.
Senior right-hander Cameron Haskell tossed the final 2.0 frames for the Cats and allowed just one run on no hits while striking out three.
Arizona and Washington State continue their series on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. MST. The game will again be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
