LUBBOCK, Texas – The Arizona Wildcats will live to see another day.
Barely.
No. 2 seed Arizona defeated No. 4 Delaware 6-5 in 12 innings on Saturday at Rip Griffin Park in a wild, weather-delayed elimination game. Alfonso Rivas’ opposite-field home run with two outs in the 12th provided the winning margin. Juan Aguilera pitched the final two innings to earn the win.
The UA fell into the losers’ bracket after falling to No. 3 seed Sam Houston State on Friday night. Arizona will face the loser of the Sam Houston State-Texas Tech game in the early slot Sunday (noon Tucson time).
With the score tied 5-5 through 10 innings Saturday, the game was delayed because of inclement weather in the area. The delay lasted 2 hours, 18 minutes.
After play resumed, Arizona’s Cal Stevenson reached via a two-out single. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Stevenson then tried to catch the Blue Hens napping, but they threw him out at the plate.
Arizona seemed to be in great position to win and advance with relatively little stress. The Wildcats broke a 1-1 tie with a four-run seventh inning. Kyle Lewis and Stevenson had RBI doubles, and Cesar Salazar drove in two with a single.
With the score still 5-1, UA starter Cameron Ming retired the first two batters in the bottom of the eighth. He walked the third, and that’s when the trouble started.
Delaware’s Calvin Scott followed with a double to left in front of Ryan Haug, who was playing near the warning track. Ming walked Nick Patten to load the bases and gave way to reliever Michael Flynn.
Flynn surrendered a two-RBI single to Jeremy Ake. Ake tried to stretch the hit into a double, but Haug threw him out at second.
Flynn allowed a single to Doug Trimble to lead off the bottom of the ninth. After retiring the next two batters, Flynn hit Brian Mayer. Johnson lifted Flynn for Tylor Megill, who surrendered an infield single to Kevin Mohollen. Jordan Glover followed with a two-RBI single up the middle that tied the score at 5-5. Megill got the last out to send the game into extra innings.
