The Arizona Wildcats have some of the best, most talented freshmen in the nation.
But as Jay Johnson often says, the biggest leap any baseball player ever will make is from high school to Division I.
Some players, such as 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Austin Wells and current leading contender Jacob Berry, make it look easy. Itโs not. Most freshmen struggle with the transition.
No. 21 Arizona endured both sides of the freshman experience in an 18-13 loss to No. 13 Oregon on Sunday afternoon at Hi Corbett Field. Some first-year Wildcats continued to thrive, while others faltered in a setback that snapped the UAโs three-game winning streak. Arizona secured the series victory Saturday.
โThe guys that we play and play right away are in those positions because we believe they can help us win,โ Johnson said. โIt doesnโt change the fact that the games is hard. Theyโll learn and be better for it moving forward.โ
Freshmen Daniel Susac and Berry helped Arizona build a 3-0 lead through two innings. Susac socked a 434-foot solo home run to left field in the second, part of a 4-for-5 afternoon in which he notched two homers and two doubles. Berry stroked a two-RBI single to left-center. He went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two walks and paces Arizona in multiple offensive categories, including home runs, RBIs and batting average.
Susac helped preserve the lead by picking off a runner at first to end a Ducks threat in the third. The game swung in the fourth with a pair of UA freshmen on the mound.
Oregonโs best hitter, Aaron Zavala, tagged TJ Nichols for a two-run homer to make it 3-2. After a walk and a double play, Nichols โ whom Johnson has called the best pitching prospect he has brought to the UA campus โ loaded the bases via a hit-by-pitch, an infield single and a walk. With a 1-0 count on Tanner Smith, Arizona went to the bullpen.
โI should have left him in the game based on how the rest of the game played out. So Iโll take responsibility for that,โ Johnson said. โHeโs a great competitor. Sometimes heโll try to maybe try harder when he gets some adversity ... as opposed to just staying with the plan.
โWeโll work on that and talk about that. Heโs a 4.0 student, incredibly intelligent. So I know he understands that concept, and I think heโll apply that better moving forward.โ
The Wildcats brought in another freshman, Riley Cooper, to exploit the left-on-left matchup with Smith. Cooper entered Sunday with a 2.84 ERA in eight appearances.
Cooperโs first two pitches landed in the dirt. He walked Smith to plate the tying run. Cooper then surrendered a three-run double to Anthony Hall to give the Ducks a 6-3 lead.
Oregon (12-6, 3-3 Pac-12) scored five more runs in the fifth to build an advantage Arizona couldnโt overcome. Four were charged against Chandler Murphy, whoโs in his second season but is classified as a freshman. Murphy made four appearances during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Five of the seven pitchers the UA used Sunday are considered freshmen from an eligibility standpoint.
For the second weekend in a row, Arizonaโs pitching performance deteriorated over the final innings of a series. Against UCLA, the UA allowed six runs in the first 19 innings and 11 in the last seven. Against the Ducks, the Wildcats yielded six runs through the first 21 innings, 18 in the last six.
โThe guys that pitched the back end of both Sunday games, theyโre plenty capable,โ Johnson said. โThereโs plenty of velocity, thereโs plenty of breaking ball and thereโs plenty of strikes, so we need to get them back in tune with being the best version of themselves.โ
Despite Sundayโs loss, Arizona (16-7, 3-3) had a successful weekend. Oregon came to Tucson ranked ninth in RPI.
The Wildcats pitched well Friday and Saturday and defended solidly all three games. All 18 runs Sunday were earned.
โIt definitely stings being the last game, especially knowing we could have maybe swept,โ Susac said. โBut weโve just got to focus on the next thing, focus on next week and just get past it.โ
The next thing is a three-game series against Arizona State that begins Thursday in Phoenix. The Sun Devils swept Washington State over the weekend to improve to 15-5. The Wildcats have lost four in a row against their top rivals.
โItโs a big series,โ Susac said. โI havenโt really been introduced to the rivalry, but Iโve heard a lot about it and excited to go up there.โ
Inside pitch
- Oregonโs 18 runs were a season high by a UA opponent and the most Arizona has allowed since a 21-10 loss to Utah on March 15, 2019. The Ducks scored in every inning from the fourth frame on. Every UA pitcher allowed at least one run.
- UA right fielder Ryan Holgate went 3 for 5 with two RBIs and hit his third home run of the season.
- First baseman Branden Boissiere was shaken up in the fifth inning after a one-hop line drive struck him in the side of the face. After being attended to by a trainer, Boissiere remained in the game.
- Third baseman Tony Bullard was unavailable for the Oregon series because of a sore back, Johnson said.
- The announced attendance was a season-high 1,225. Arizonaโs next home contest is a non-conference game against ASU on April 6.
