The Arizona Wildcats needed one more win to secure their fourth College World Series championship. They could deploy their winningest pitcher to get it done, but he’d be throwing on short rest.
It was an agonizing decision for UA coach Andy Lopez. Should he go with ace Kurt Heyer, who’d pitched just four days earlier? Or No. 3 starter James Farris, who hadn’t pitched in over three weeks?
Lopez elected to go with Farris, knowing that if Arizona lost to South Carolina in Game 2 of the 2012 CWS Finals, Heyer would be available for the deciding Game 3.
The Wildcats had defeated the two-time defending champion Gamecocks 5-1 in the opener of the championship series, and starting pitching was the key: Sophomore right-hander Konner Wade hurled his second complete game in as many CWS starts.
Farris would face South Carolina left-hander Michael Roth, one of college baseball’s top pitchers who had a sterling record in Omaha. On paper, the Gamecocks had the edge.
On the final day of our commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Arizona’s 2012 CWS title, we’ll revisit how that matchup played out. We’ll also catch up with some of the key participants in the Wildcats’ postseason run.
Arizona second baseman Trent Gilbert leaps over South Carolina’s Chase Vergason, who stole second base and went on to third on a throwing error, in the eighth inning of Game 2 of College World Series finals.
Date: June 25
Opponent: South Carolina
Final score: Arizona 4, South Carolina 1
What went down: Farris, a sophomore right-hander from Gilbert, matched Roth pitch for pitch. Each starter allowed only one run. Farris tossed 7 2/3 innings, Roth 6 2/3.
Arizona got to South Carolina’s bullpen in the ninth inning. The Wildcats scored three runs in the top half of the frame to take a 4-1 lead. Freshman reliever Mathew Troupe then closed out the Gamecocks — though not without considerable suspense — to secure the CWS championship.
The Wildcats won the national title for the fourth time in program history and the first time since 1986. It was the 18th NCAA team championship for the school.
Farris came through in a big way, allowing only two hits in his first appearance since the final game of the Tucson Regional on June 3.
Arizona’s offense sprung to life in the top of the ninth. Brandon Dixon’s double drove in Rob Refsnyder, who had led off with a single. Trent Gilbert then delivered a two-RBI single. He went 2 for 4 with three RBIs.
South Carolina wasn’t done. The Gamecocks loaded the bases with one out. Second baseman Gilbert then speared a line drive off the bat of Tanner English. Grayson Greiner’s flyout to Refsnyder in right ended it.
By the numbers: Refsnyder went 10 for 21 with two home runs, five RBIs and six runs in the CWS, earning Most Outstanding Player honors. His 16 total bases doubled the next-best Wildcat. Refsnyder finished his college career with a 39-game on-base streak.
They said it: “That was the greatest thing I’ve ever experienced. That was awesome.” – Dixon
“Our best players are our best human beings in the program, and that’s a real deadly combination when you suit up as a team.” – Lopez
Arizona pitcher James Farris works against South Carolina in the first inning of Game 2 of the College World Series finals. The Wildcats won the game, securing the fourth national championship in program history.
We wrote it: Their so-called defensive substitution delivered the biggest hit of his life. Their No. 9 hitter battled like a cleanup guy.
The College World Series’ hottest team found life when things seemed to be falling apart, and because of it, the Arizona Wildcats are national champions.
Brandon Dixon ripped a one-out RBI double to left field in the ninth inning and Trent Gilbert followed with a two-run single, giving the UA a 4-1 College World Series Finals win over South Carolina in front of 23,872 at TD Ameritrade Park.
The UA’s fourth baseball title, and first since 1986, included two unlikely heroes. But Arizona’s formula for success Monday remained the same as it was in its first four victories in Omaha: Pitch, play good defense and force the opponent to make a mistake. When South Carolina flinched, the Wildcats capped their charmed run through college baseball’s most brutal gauntlet.
Arizona went 10-0 in the postseason and played five consecutive CWS games without trailing once. The club led 1-0 Monday night until the seventh inning, when South Carolina – the two-time defending national champions with an ace, Michael Roth, on the mound – pulled even.
Just as quickly, the Wildcats (48-17) pulled away. And then they partied.
Where are they now? Troupe just completed his first season as the pitching coach/volunteer assistant at Hawaii. He spent the previous two years as the director of player development at the University of San Diego under Rich Hill, who became Hawaii’s head coach in June 2021.
Up next: Championship celebration at McKale Center.
