Had he completed the catch, Donta Williams would have been a hero. He already had driven in the go-ahead runs and made a lunging grab to protect the lead.
But the ball popped out of Williams’ glove. It would have been the last out of the game. Instead, the Arizona Wildcats lost 5-4 to New Mexico on Wednesday night at Hi Corbett Field.
Williams, a talented sophomore, was reminded of how challenging a game baseball can be — rewarding one moment, cruel the next. He and his fellow Wildcats are riding that roller coaster during this early portion of the season.
“Baseball is a game of failure,” Williams said. “We talk about it all the time.
“Battling adversity will be an everyday thing. It happens.”
Williams already has faced his fair share since returning to campus last August.
After a promising freshman season in which started 24 games and posted a .395 on-base percentage, Williams did not perform well during fall practice. He entered spring training needing to prove he deserved the left-field job he was favored to win heading into the offseason.
“The fall was a down time for me,” Williams said. “Just a good period of time where I was going through a slump. Just beating myself up mentally.
“But I talked to players, talked to coaches. Just keeping the right state of mind got me back to how successful I can be as a player.”
Arizona outfielder Donta Williams hustles down the line during the second inning of the Wildcats’ game against UMass-Lowell at Hi Corbett Field, Feb. 16, 2019.
After fall practice, Williams sat down with UA coach Jay Johnson and assistant Sergio Brown. Johnson assured Williams he would get a chance this spring; he had shown enough last season to earn that opportunity.
The staff then “developed a blueprint for what he needs to do to help our team be successful,” Johnson said. Williams followed that plan, and he has started eight of nine games for the 6-3 Wildcats. Arizona opens a three-game home series against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday.
Williams continues to be a pest at the plate, getting on base at a .394 clip. His defense has been a net positive in cavernous Hi Corbett.
Williams made one of the most spectacular plays in recent memory during Arizona’s second game of the season. With one out in the third inning, UMass Lowell’s Trip McCaffrey launched a drive into the deepest recesses of left-center field — some 400 feet from the plate.
Williams sprinted toward the ball, fully extended his 5-foot-10 frame and made a diving catch on the warning track.
“Whew,” Johnson said later that night. “Did we get that to SportsCenter? That was impressive. That was like Lynn Swann’s catch in the Super Bowl 40 years ago.”
In the bottom of the sixth Wednesday, Williams ripped a single to right field to drive in a pair of runs and give Arizona a 4-2 lead. In the top of the eighth, he robbed New Mexico’s Hayden Schilling of a hit with a running, sprawling catch near the foul line.
Then came the ninth. The Lobos trimmed their deficit to 4-3 and loaded the bases via a bunt single and an off-the-end-of-the-bat dribbler up the third-base line.
Jared Mang, New Mexico’s leading hitter, lofted a fly ball toward the left-field corner. Williams tracked it into foul territory, and the left-handed thrower reached his glove over the side fence to snare the ball.
Williams initially appeared to make the catch. But as he bounced off the fence and held his glove aloft, the ball slipped out. Mang then singled to center, giving the Lobos the lead.
“He’s a great left fielder,” Johnson said of Williams. “He had to run a long way for that ball based on where he was positioned and almost made a great play. It would have been phenomenal.”
Williams felt as if he let the team down. But one of the strengths of the 2019 Wildcats, he said, is that they pick one another up.
“We have faith in each other,” Williams said. “We trust each other. We have confidence in each other.”
Johnson will be banking on that as Arizona looks to rebound from a heartbreaking loss — its third in four games after a 5-0 start. UW-Milwaukee is 5-1 and ranked 134th in RPI, per WarrenNolan.com. Arizona is currently 188th.
Ups and downs were to be expected for a UA squad that turned over more than half its roster.
“They’re inevitable,” Johnson said, “but we’re not going to expect anything less than the highest level of play. I don’t know if that relates to winning or not. The team that deserves to win wins.
“The good thing about young people is they’re pretty resilient. They get to the next thing. They’re gonna have to do that. This thing keeps moving.”
Inside pitch
- Arizona’s loss to New Mexico snapped a streak of 11 straight wins in midweek games. The Wildcats last lost a midweek game against Arkansas in San Diego on Feb. 21, 2018. Arizona is 26-8 in midweek games under Johnson.
- Two of Arizona’s three losses have come by one run. The Wildcats are 0-2 in one-run games. They were 5-13 in one-run games last season.
- Arizona ranks second in the nation with 71 walks drawn. The Wildcats have drawn nine or more walks in each of their six victories. They’ve drawn just one walk in each of their three losses.
- Arizona’s next victory will be the 200th of Johnson’s career in Division I. He will have reached that mark faster than all but one active Pac-12 coach — Oregon’s George Horton, who did it in 287 games. Johnson’s record with Arizona and Nevada is 199-112 (.640).
- Left-hander Randy Labaut (1-1, 2.92) will start for Arizona on Friday, followed by freshman righty Bryce Collins (0-0, 3.86) on Saturday. Sunday’s starter is TBA.
