Error-prone Arizona Wildcats fall to Wichita State, snapping win streak at 10 games

The Arizona Wildcats’ 10-game winning streak ended amid a torrent of errors.

The UA committed a season-high five miscues against Wichita State on Friday night, falling to the Shockers 10-9 in front of an announced crowd of 683 at Hi Corbett Field.

Arizona (11-3) suffered its first defeat since the third game of the season on Feb. 21 against Ball State. Only four of Wichita State’s 10 runs were earned.

“We just didn’t play good catch,” UA coach Jay Johnson said. “We certainly can play better, we have played better and we will play better tomorrow.”

Recent results suggested Arizona had turned a corner defensively. The Wildcats had only three errors in their previous six games after committing seven in the two before that.

“It's a day-to-day game,” Johnson said. “I don't have any less confidence or faith in our defense as a whole or those particular players because they made some mistakes tonight.

“Baseball will reward the team that plays the best, and that was Wichita State. They handled the ball a little bit better. A lot better.”

The biggest meltdown occurred in the fourth inning, when the Wildcats committed three errors in a span of four batters.

The inning began with second baseman Kobe Kato bobbling a slowly hit groundball. After a walk, Arizona failed to get an out on a sacrifice-bunt attempt for the second time in the game. (The first happened in the second inning, when the Shockers scored five runs.)

Starting pitcher Chandler Murphy fielded Andrew Stewart’s bunt near the third-base line. Chandler threw to first, where Kato was covering. The throw took Kato into the path of Stewart, who knocked the ball out of his glove. Kato was charged with his second error of the inning. He had only one entering Friday.

With a run in and Shockers on second and third, Jack Sigrist hit a fly ball to shallow right field. Ryan Holgate dropped it for error No. 3, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

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Wichita State (7-4) had issues of its own in the field. A lost fly ball in left field jumpstarted Arizona’s four-run second inning. In the bottom of the fourth, with the Shockers up 8-7, Daniel Susac hit what appeared to be an inning-ending fly ball to shallow right. But Cooper Elliot couldn’t handle it. The two-base error plated two runs and put Arizona ahead 9-8.

The Wildcats’ defense let them down again in the seventh. With a runner on third and two outs, David VanVooren hit a grounder to shortstop. Jacob Blas threw low to first baseman Branden Boissiere, who couldn’t make the scoop. Blas’ error scored the tying run.

“I feel like it wasn't on him, it was on me,” Boissiere said. “I’m really good at picking balls, and I felt like I should have had that one.”

The next batter, Ross Cadena, doubled to left on an 0-2 pitch from reliever Vince Vannelle to drive in what turned out to be the winning run.

The Wildcats still had nine more outs, but they couldn’t score against a trio of Wichita State relievers. Aaron Haase threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his third save. Arizona left 11 runners on base in the first eight frames.

“It felt like about six times we had a chance to either extend the lead or continue to move the offense for another big inning, and in several three-ball counts they found a way to get us out,” Johnson said. “So tip your hat to their bullpen.”

Boissiere, who went 3 for 4 with a walk, thought the offense “got out of our approach” at times against the Shockers. The Wildcats walked eight times, including four by Kato, but struck out nine times.

Now they’ll try to rebound from a loss for only the third time this season.

“College baseball, it’s really hard to win,” Boissiere said. “There’s gonna be a lot of adversity. It’s just how you overcome it and bounce back. I think our team does a really good job with that.”

Inside pitch

• Wichita State coach Eric Wedge was ejected in the bottom of the fourth inning. Wedge argued that Kato swung at a pitch that him in the foot. Wedge pleaded his case to plate umpire Matt McMahon, who promptly tossed him.
• Arizona’s pitching staff had a season-low three strikeouts. The previous low was six against Oklahoma last Thursday.
• The bottom five hitters in the lineup – Boissiere, Mac Bingham, Kato, Susac and Tony Bullard – accounted for eight hits, seven runs and six RBIs.
• Right-hander Josh Hansell (1-0, 0.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for Wichita State in the third and final game of the series Saturday night. He will face lefty Garrett Irvin (0-0, 2.35). The Shockers are scheduled to face Air Force at noon before playing the Wildcats at 6 p.m.