Arizona baseball’s rally falls just short vs. No. 12 OSU; youthful Wildcats are 0-2

SURPRISE — If Chip Hale wanted to throw his mostly new and young players into the deep end, this was it.

Surprise Stadium was packed with Oregon State fans Saturday afternoon. Corvallis is much farther from Surprise than Tucson, but make no mistake: This was an Arizona road game in every shape and form.

The 24th-ranked Wildcats battled the 12th-ranked Beavers for nine intense innings before falling 7-6. Arizona had the tying run on second base in the ninth but couldn’t complete the comeback.

The Wildcats fell to 0-2 heading into the final day of the College Baseball Series on Sunday. They will face Michigan, which upset Oregon State in the tournament opener before squaring off with Stanford later Saturday.

Two themes emerged from the first two games: Arizona’s batters struck out too much, and its bullpen is a work in progress.

The Wildcats struck out 18 times Saturday after fanning 15 times Friday. UA batters went down swinging on 15 of the 18 punchouts vs. OSU.

“There's positives, but way too many strikeouts,” Hale said. “When Smith (Bailey) gives you a game like that, you gotta win it.”

Bailey, Arizona’s gifted sophomore, gave his team six innings of two-run ball. The Wildcats rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh. That’s when the bullpen let it slip away.

Transfer Corey Kling allowed three consecutive hits, including two doubles, while retiring only one batter. Arizona then turned to freshman Benton Hickman, who had a promising offseason.

Hickman hit the first two batters he faced to load the bases. He struck out the next batter, AJ Singer. But during the at-bat, catcher Roman Meyers got hit in the head by a foul tip. Joe Forbes replaced him, giving Arizona an all-freshman battery playing college baseball for the first time.

OSU senior outfielder Easton Talt was up next, and he lined a single to right, scoring two and giving the Beavers a 6-5 lead. Veteran left-hander Luc Fladda, another transfer pickup, allowed one more run to score (charged to Hickman) on a swinging-bunt single up the third-base line. That proved to be the difference.

Hale said he has “all the confidence in the world” in his young players, a group that also includes redshirt freshmen Tony Lira and designated hitter Nate Novitske. But Hale also understands that growing pains are inevitable.

“We put some young guys in, some new guys, and they're going to be right back in there next time,” Hale said.

“Joe's a really talented catcher He's going to be good. But this was not the time that we were expecting to give him his soft landing.

“And Hickman, same way. We have a lot of trust in Hickman’s stuff. You gotta throw it over the plate.”

No matter who was on the mound or behind the plate, the Wildcats continued to have trouble preventing stolen bases. It cost them in the early innings.

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Talt drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the first inning and stole second easily. He advanced to third on a flyout and scored on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the third, Tyler Inge doubled to left-center with one out. He advanced to third on Singer’s single to left.

Singer then stole second. Meyers’ throw short-hopped shortstop Mathis Meurant, enabling Inge to steal home — the ninth consecutive successful stolen base against Arizona to open the season. OSU added one more, making UA opponents 10 for 10.

Both OSU runs scored in ways other than a hit — and they were the only two runs Bailey would allow in six solid innings.

Bailey authored his fourth consecutive quality start (six-plus innings, three or fewer earned runs) dating to last season. It was his fifth in his past six outings.

All but one of those games last season ended in a UA victory, and it appeared this one would too when the Wildcats scored four runs in the top of the sixth to go up 5-2.

It was the type of small-ball offense Hale had promoted during the offseason. The rally featured five singles, including a pair of RBI knocks on 0-2 pitches by Andrew Cain and Meurant.

The Wildcats had one more rally in them in the ninth. Maddox Mihalakis and Caleb Danzeisen drew back-to-back walks with one out — Danzeisen’s coming in his first career at-bat after he fell behind 0-2. Lira then drove in Mihalakis, registering his third single of the day after going 0 for 5 in his UA debut Friday.

But Cain and Novitske struck out swinging to end the game. The final strike landed with the entire orange-clad crowd standing and cheering in unison.

“We're gonna come out and compete tomorrow,” Lira said. “Collin McKinney’s on the mound. So we're gonna play some good defense for him. Gotta battle at the plate. Gotta be more aggressive. Swing at good pitches. And just put barrel to ball. Put more balls in plays. Play smart. Hustle. And keep the attitudes right.

“Two great games, obviously fell short a little bit, but it's something to learn from. We're gonna bounce back tomorrow and hopefully get a W.”

Inside pitch

– About 30 MLB scouts watched the battle between Bailey and OSU left-hander Ethan Kleinschmit, who allowed one run on three hits and struck out nine batters in five innings.

– UA director of baseball operations Ella Wolters posed for a picture after the game with her brother, Blake Wolters, who’s a pitcher in the Kansas City Royals organization. Blake was committed to Arizona but signed with the Royals after they drafted him in the second round in 2023. Kansas City shares the Surprise complex with the Texas Rangers.

– Lira on the environment Saturday: “I love the energy that they brought. I hope that when we get back in Tucson, everybody brings it there because ... we all feed off of it. You just want to do it for every single one of the fans. I appreciate all the fans that came out to watch us today and support us.”