The No. 9-ranked Arizona baseball team's offense came to life just in time Sunday, giving the UA the seventh Pac-12 championship in program history.Β
The Wildcats last won a conference title in 2012, when they won the College World Series.Β
On Sunday, Arizona scored five runs in the final two innings to rally past host Oregon State 6-5 on Sunday in Corvallis, and then saw No. 17 Oregon lose at home to No. 13 Stanford.Β
Even if Oregon (35-13, 18-9 Pac-12) sweeps host Cal this week, the Wildcats will get the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament thanks to beating the Ducks in 2 of 3 games in a series at Hi Corbett Field earlier this season. Oregon entered the day percentage points ahead of UA for first place, but now needs to sweep the Golden Bears just to equal Arizona's record.
UA (38-14, 21-9 Pac-12) scored four times in the eighth to tie the score, then got a Nik McClaughry RBI single in the ninth to take the lead.
McClaughry also had an RBI single in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-2, then later scored on a wild pitch to bring UA within 5-4. Donta' Williams scored on an RBI single from Kobe Kato to tie the game.
Williams, who had an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3, was 4 for 5 in the win while McClaughry, Ryan Holgate and Tyler Casagrande all had two hits.
Vince Vannelle (4-2) earned the win by shutting down the Beavers in the final two innings. He allowed two hits and struck out four, and whiffed the final two batters in the ninth with the tying run on second base.
Oregon State (33-20, 15-12) jumped to a 5-1 lead after four innings, but was held scoreless the rest of the way.
UA closes out the regular season with a three-game nonconference set against Dixie State starting 6 p.m. Thursday at Hi Corbett Field.
