It wasn’t where it expected to finish at the beginning of the season, but the Arizona baseball team is still more than capable of doing some damage this postseason.
By taking two of three at home against USC in the final series of the regular season, the Wildcats (30-23) earned the No. 8 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. They’ll head to Scottsdale with momentum this week, having won four of their last five.
UA is in Pool B with No. 2 seed Oregon State (39-16) and No. 5-seeded ASU (31-22). The Wildcats play the Sun Devils on Tuesday and the Beavers on Wednesday at Scottsdale Stadium. ASU will play No. 17-ranked Oregon State on Thursday.
The confidence remains sky-high for Arizona players and coaches. After starting just 3-10 in Pac-12 play — including a 10-game conference losing streak — UA is 9-8 in the Pac-12.
“We’re rolling late and I think we’re a scary team,” outfielder Mac Bingham said, who was one of eight players to participate in senior festivities prior to Saturday’s game. “I think a lot of guys are confident. Our record might not say so, but I think we have a lot of confident guys on this team who feel good going into the tournament.”
The Pac-12 Tournament expanded from eight teams to nine teams this year and now consists of three pools. The winner of the three pools, plus a wildcard team, advances to the semifinals Friday. The championship game is Saturday night.
This season, UA got swept on the road by both ASU and OSU. The Wildcats suffered two walk-off losses against Oregon State but did defeat ASU 20-0 in a mid-week non-conference game at Hi Corbett Field in April.
Arizona's Kiko Romero gets a high-five rounding third on his two-run homer against USC on Friday. Romero has a Pac-12-best 80 RBIs this year in just 53 games.
“We’re excited to play anybody,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “We’re swinging the bats well. If we have the right guys on the mound, we’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing… We just have to play good baseball.”
It will be right-hander Aiden May (4-2) on the mound on Tuesday. The sophomore posted some strong outings for the Wildcats this season but struggled in his lone start against the Sun Devils this year, where he allowed six runs across four innings.
“If we pitch well, we’re going to beat anybody in this conference,” Hale said.
Both pool games will be the opening contest each day and will start at 10 a.m.
“We’re fine playing any time,” Hale said. “We won’t do a whole lot pregame. At this point of the season, we’re not going to go out and take a full infield and run around. We’re going to conserve our energy and be ready to play.”
With the tiebreakers out of pool play favoring the higher seeds, the Wildcats will most likely have to defeat both ASU and OSU to advance to the semifinals.
A loss at any time this week could mean no NCAA Tournament for the Wildcats. UA enters the Pac-12 Tournament at No. 55 in the RPI rankings and went 12-18 in conference play, with just two road wins. Their best chance this week may be to go 4-0 and win the title to earn the automatic berth.
Inside pitch
RHP Chris Barraza, OF Mac Bingham, 3B Tony Bullard, OF Tyler Casagrande, RHP Derek Drees, SS Nik McClaughry, RHP Dawson Netz and C/OF Colton Moore were all honored for senior festivities prior to Saturday’s game. Bingham and Netz have one more year of eligibility left if they choose to return. “It has been huge,” Hale said of the senior class. “When I came here last year, they took to me and the staff really well. It’s not easy when coaches change. They never stopped playing hard, even when we struggled. We had the losing streaks, and I felt like they always hustled and did their best and led the way seniors are supposed to lead.”
Chase Davis finished the 2023 season as the Pac-12 home run champion with 19, and Kiko Romero led the conference with 80 RBIs.
Davis hit his 37th career home run at Arizona on Saturday night. He is alone in third place all time, behind only Shelley Duncan (55) and Brad Glenn (43).
As a team, UA finished the 2023 regular season leading the Pac-12 in runs (449), hits (618), doubles (138), triples (27) and batting average (.317).
UA lost 14-6 to USC in the regular-season finale Saturday. The Wildcats swept the Trojans in Friday’s doubleheader, winning 13-4 and 6-3.
Arizona coach Chip Hale on the Wildcats' recent road trip and dealing with pressure down the stretch, starting with Thursday's game against USC at Hi Corbett Field (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)
