JC Cloney might have made his final career start at Hi Corbett Field on Friday night.
The 16th-ranked Arizona Wildcats will learn Sunday evening whether they will host an NCAA Tournament regional next weekend or head out on the road. If it’s the latter, Cloney’s appearance vs. Cal was likely his Tucson finale.
The senior left-hander departed without having a chance to record a victory – but kept Arizona within striking distance. The UA wasn’t about to send Cloney out with a loss and rallied for a 10-3 triumph in front of an announced crowd of 4,655 at Hi Corbett Field.
Arizona (37-17, 16-12 Pac-12) won its sixth game in a row. The Wildcats also have won seven straight conference games for the first time since 2007.
“I feel like we’re playing great,” Cloney said. “I feel like everybody’s relaxed. We all know that next weekend we’re probably going to be playing again. It’s just a matter of where. There’s no real pressure for us right now. It’s just going out and playing baseball.”
A defeat would have been a rarity for Cloney at Hi Corbett. He had made 12 home starts entering Friday and lost only one of them. His record in those appearances: 9-1.
UA coach Jay Johnson got the sense that his players really wanted to win this game for Cloney.
“These guys are very consistent in their approach,” Johnson said. “But I know they think a lot of him. We wanted to win the game because of that.”
Regardless of Friday’s result and whatever lies ahead in the postseason, Cloney has left an indelible imprint on the program. It goes beyond his 15-5 overall record entering the Cal series and his 16 scoreless innings in two starts in last year’s College World Series.
“As valuable a player to our team for two years as there could be,” said Johnson, who made adding Cloney to the roster one of his first acts as UA coach. “The production speaks for itself. He has that ‘it’ quality – that combination of ability with character and toughness, which has allowed him to be consistent.
“I hope a lot of our young players and pitchers have been watching and taking note every time he takes the mound from a concentration/focus/competitiveness-type deal. He’s the gold standard for all of that.”
Cloney needed all of the above to get through 5 2/3 innings with relatively minimal damage on a night when he wasn’t his sharpest and fell victim to some bad luck. Cloney surrendered at least one hit in every inning in which he pitched and 10 in all. He struck out five and didn’t allow a walk.
Cloney exited in the top of the sixth after giving up an RBI single to Matt Ruff, whose grounder barely eluded diving shortstop Louis Boyd. That gave Cal a 3-2 lead. Reliever Michael Flynn got the final out of the inning, and Arizona took its first lead in the bottom half.
Arizona scored three runs despite only two balls leaving the infield – including JJ Matijevic’s inning-ending flyout to center. The inning featured an error, three infield singles, a wild pitch and a passed ball.
The passed ball allowed Kyle Lewis to score the go-ahead run. Arizona added another on Alfonso Rivas’ hard grounder to the right of shortstop Cameron Eden, who couldn’t handle it. Rivas reached base for the third time, and Boyd scored the Wildcats’ fifth run.
Arizona scored five more runs in the seventh to blow the game open. Flynn pitched the final 3 1/3 innings to earn the win and improve to 5-0. He allowed just one hit and struck out five.
The Golden Bears led 2-0 entering the bottom of the third, and starter Jared Horn quickly got the first two outs. Cal Stevenson followed with a single, and Rivas with a walk, bringing Matijevic to the plate. On an 0-2 pitch – with first base open – Arizona’s most productive hitter laced a double over left fielder Jonah Davis’ head. Stevenson and Rivas scored to tie the game at 2-2.
Inside pitch
Matijevic’s double was his 28th of 2017, the second most by a Wildcat in a season. Matijevic is two shy of Dave Stegman, who had 30 doubles in 1976.
Friday marked the 14th time Matijevic has driven in two or more runs this season.
Jared Oliva’s double in the seventh was his 25th, tying him with Trevor Crowe for sixth most in a season at Arizona.
Stevenson’s single extended his on-base streak to 12 games. The junior outfielder entered Friday batting .395 in May.
Boyd has two multihit performances in his past three games. He had none in the previous 20.
Arizona scored in double figures for the 17th time this season. The Wildcats are 16-1 in those games.
UA junior left-hander Cameron Ming (7-1, 2.09) is scheduled to start Game 2 against lefty Matt Ladrech (2-2, 4.01). First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
