His team having barely missed the NCAA Tournament the past two times it was contested, Jay Johnson knows how minute the margin can be between success and failure.
He received another painful reminder Saturday night.
No. 15 Arizona squandered a four-run lead and lost 8-7 to Ball State in 11 innings at Hi Corbett Field. The teams have split the first two games of a four-game series. Game 3 is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Plays they failed to make, particularly in the field, doomed the Wildcats on a night when they appeared to be in control through seven innings.
“The margin between winning and losing is really small,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to hand it to their team. They're highly competitive. They've got a bunch of old players. They strung some at-bats together.
“I felt like the ball bounced their way a couple times with some of those infield hits. And then they put themselves in position to win by getting the best pitcher in the history of their school on the mound to close it out.”
Ball State coach Rich Maloney brought in scheduled Sunday starter John Baker after the Cardinals rallied to tied the game at 7-7 in the top of the eighth. Baker, who ranks second in school history in strikeouts, punched out the first five batters he faced.
But with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Baker walked three straight batters. Ryan Holgate – who had two hits in his first five at-bats, including a three-run home run – stepped to the plate.
With the count 0-1, Jacob Blas, who was on third base, broke for home. The gamble – called by Johnson – did not pay off. Holgate, a left-handed batter, swung and missed. Catcher Chase Sebby tagged out Blas, sending the game to extra innings.
Johnson explained the thought process behind a maneuver that’s rarely used in modern baseball.
“It was an 0-1 count,” he said. “They’re obviously going to be careful with Ryan. And if that ball goes downward and the catcher gets distracted by him taking off, he's safe and we win the game.
“The other factor that played into it, (Baker) switched from the stretch to the windup. He was pretty dominating in the windup. We didn't get him into any problems till we got him in the stretch.
“We waited for the second pitch. If (the first pitch) was a ball, obviously we wouldn't have done that. But being that it was a strike and Ryan up there, I felt like they would try to expand (the strike zone). He almost made it as it was.”
Ball State hit the ball out of the infield only once in scoring the winning run, but that proved to be enough.
Ryan Peltier led off the 11th inning with a bloop single to left-center. After a failed sacrifice bunt, Peltier advanced to second on a passed ball. A walk and an infield single loaded the bases.
After striking out Trenton Quartermaine, Ian Churchill got ahead of Ross Messina 0-2. But Churchill couldn’t put him away. Messina worked a walk, plating Peltier.
Arizona put runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the 11th, but Kobe Kato flew out to center to end the game.
Asked if he expected some bumps along the way with a new team that hadn’t played competitively in a long time, Johnson said: “You can understand it, but we don't want to accept them. There's no better teacher in baseball than the game and playing time, and there's going to be some of that.”
Chandler Murphy, who started for Arizona, is listed as a freshman. But that’s just a technicality.
Last season didn’t count for eligibility purposes because of the coronavirus pandemic. So even though Murphy started four games and pitched 16-plus innings in 2020, it was as if he were starting over when he took the mound for the Wildcats on Saturday.
Murphy looked the part of a freshman at the outset. His first pitched bounded to the backstop. He allowed three hits and a run in the first inning. He hit a batter to start the second.
From that point forward, Murphy looked like a tested veteran. He retired nine consecutive batters. He peppered the strike zone. Even when the Cardinals scored two runs in the fifth, only one batted ball left the infield.
“He wasn’t settled in in the first inning,” Johnson said. “I thought he responded to that really well. We would have liked him to be a little bit more aggressive coming out of the gate, but that's something I think he’ll learn from and be better for when we put them out there next weekend.”
Murphy allowed six hits and two earned runs in six innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter. He threw 60 of 82 pitches for strikes.
Trailing 2-1, Ball State reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth thanks mainly to good fortune. An error by freshman third baseman Jacob Berry, a bunt single that settled between Berry and Murphy and a groundout produced the tying run. An infield single and a sacrifice fly produced the go-ahead score.
Arizona tied it in the bottom half of the frame on Mac Bingham’s sacrifice fly, which scored Holgate. Holgate had led off the inning with a single. But the Wildcats stranded two runners, continuing a pattern from opening night, when they went 3 for 16 with runners on base.
They were 3 for 15 when Holgate stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the sixth. On a 1-0 pitch from left-hander Tyler Schweitzer, Holgate smashed a three-run home run to right field. The ball cut through a cross wind that gusted in excess of 15 mph for much of the game.
The wind sparked Ball State’s rally in the eighth. With Arizona leading 7-3 and Dawson Netz on the mound, Quartermaine led off by hitting a soaring infield popup. Third baseman Nik McClaughry, who had entered as a defensive replacement for Berry, let the ball drop for a two-base error.
“That was the key play,” Johnson said.
A single, a hit batter, two walks charged to reliever Randy Abshier and a single off Vince Vannelle plated four runs and knotted the score at 7-7.
Inside pitch
- Freshman catcher Daniel Susac notched his first career hit, a line single to left in the second inning.
- Bingham matched Holgate with a career-high three RBIs.
- Arizona drew 11 walks, giving them 20 bases on balls through two games. Kato had a team- and career-high four walks.
- With Baker having thrown 63 pitches, left-hander Lukas Jaksich (0-1, 1.80 ERA in 2020) is expected to start Sunday for Ball State. He will face lefty Garrett Irvin (4-0, 3.18).
- UA athletic director Dave Heeke arrived at Hi Corbett in the fourth inning. He had attended softball, soccer and gymnastics events earlier in the day.
