LAFAYETTE, La. β After playing four games in about 32 hours Sunday and Monday, Arizona was hoping to have an extra day off before beginning Super Regional play.
The NCAA did not accommodate the UA, which will face Mississippi State on Friday in the first game of a best-of-three series.
No worries, say the Wildcats, who view their relatively short break as just another obstacle to overcome.
βThatβs not going to bother our team at all,β junior shortstop Louis Boyd said Tuesday. βWeβve had a lot of things weβve had to deal with this year. Weather, doubleheaders. Thatβs something this team is great at. Weβre great at taking adversity, recognizing it, getting past it and putting our best effort forth.β
After losing its first game Sunday, Arizona had to win three consecutive elimination games β including two Monday against host and top seed Louisiana-Lafayette β to advance. The Wildcatsβ reward is a matchup with the Bulldogs, the NCAA Tournamentβs No. 6 seed. MSU won the SEC regular-season title and swept through its regional, winning by a cumulative score of 17-6.
As he did with Saturdayβs rainout, which compacted the Lafayette Regional schedule, UA coach Jay Johnson is accentuating the positives of his teamβs latest predicament. Starting Friday means one fewer day of inactivity on the road. The Wildcats left for Starkville from Lafayette on Tuesday. Physically and symbolically, they have moved on.
βWe have done a good job of taking whateverβs given to us,β Johnson said. βWeβre excited.β
Even if the Super Regional opener had been Saturday, Arizona would not have returned to Tucson. The UA has been on the road the past three weekends and all over the map β at Oregon, Hawaii and Louisiana-Lafayette.
βWe donβt care where we are or who we play,β Boyd said. βAll we know is, this group of guys, weβre going to be together for a couple more weeks. Weβre excited to get (to) Mississippi State, and hopefully Omaha after that.β
ESPNβs Law takes a swipe
ESPN baseball analyst Keith Law criticized how Johnson used his pitching staff Monday. Johnson started Nathan Bannister on two daysβ rest in the first game. Kevin Ginkel, who closed that game, started the second.
βU of Arizona baseball having a field day of pitcher misuse,β Law said via Twitter. βKevin Ginkel faces 4 batters to close game one, comes back to start game two. β¦ Ginkel also faced 7 batters Sunday (24 pitches). Wring βem out coach!β
Johnson said he was unaware of Lawβs comments, or who Law is. Johnson also said he never would put one of his players in harmβs way.
βThe people Iβm accountable to are the 27 players on that bench,β Johnson said. βI can look them in the eye, and they know it, with their best interests at heart all the time. If somebody is not able to play in any capacity, they will not play.
βWe take care of those guys. The trust, the communication between our players and our coaching staff, is as good as anybody in the country.β
Inside pitch
- The UA did not practice Tuesday. The Wildcats will work out in Starkville on Wednesday and Thursday. Itβs about a 5
- Β½
- -hour drive from Lafayette to Starkville.
- Arizona played in a tournament at MSUβs Dudy Noble Field last year. Senior right fielder
- Zach Gibbons
- hit the only home run of his career there, a solo shot against Samford on March 1. Gibbons has 273 other hits in his UA career and ranks fifth on the schoolβs all-time list.