It was something of a bittersweet night at Hi Corbett Field.
No. 8 Arizona clinched the outright Pac-12 championship. But the Wildcats didn’t feel much like celebrating.
Arizona lost to Dixie State 11-9 Friday, ending the Wildcats’ 13-game home winning streak and damaging their RPI. They entered Friday at No. 5. After the loss, they unofficially dropped to eighth.
Both Baseball America and D1Baseball.com had the UA (39-15) as the No. 4 overall seed in their latest projections for the NCAA Tournament field. The feeling is that the Pac-12 champion will earn a top-eight slot. But Friday’s defeat casts a bit of doubt on that assumption. Saturday’s series and regular-season finale now might be a must-win to ensure a spot in the top eight.
“We're disappointed in the overall play,” UA coach Jay Johnson said. “Tonight was one of the first times in a long time ... we haven't had that complementary baseball piece going the way that we've had, that synergy where everybody's picking each other up, or one side of the ball is picking the other side up. That's disappointing.
“But you're also talking about something that hasn’t been done here in about 30 years. There's a lot of major-league players that are on the walls of these offices over that time period that didn't do that. So I'm not gonna take that away from our players.
“We'll have the banner out here tomorrow night and the shirts and hats ... and the trophy and celebrate that, because that's a good accomplishment regardless of what happens.”
While Arizona was battling Dixie State, Cal was helping the UA clinch the Pac-12. Cal defeated Oregon 10-3 in Berkeley, giving the Wildcats sole possession of the crown. It’s Arizona’s first outright title since the league dropped division play in 1999. The Wildcats last finished with the conference’s best record in 1989.
The UA had secured a share of the league title, plus the conference’s automatic postseason berth, via last Sunday’s comeback win at Oregon State. Nothing the Wildcats did this weekend could have affected that. While not happy about losing Friday, Johnson kept Arizona’s larger mission in mind.
“We’ve won so many home games in a row, it's kind of weird walking out of here not winning,” he said. “The process of what we do won't change. We're going to adjust some things to simulate a little bit about next week and what that's going to look like. Because I think that's what our team needs to do.
“We've got our best pitcher going (Garrett Irvin). Got four or five of our key guys out of the pen ready to roll. So there's a loaded deck. Then we have Sunday off. Monday we'll celebrate the accomplishment of being in the NCAA Tournament. It's not a given, it was earned. And start really preparing for next weekend.”
Friday’s loss evolved into the opposite of Thursday’s win. Arizona’s bats came to life – especially that of third baseman Tony Bullard, who had his first career two-homer game, including his first career grand slam. But as solid as Arizona’s pitchers were in the series opener, they were just as uneven in Game 2.
Chase Silseth – who almost certainly will start Arizona’s NCAA regional opener next Friday – allowed six runs, four of which were earned, in 3 2/3 innings. Silseth struck out seven batters but walked three, tying his season high. He failed to pitch five innings for the second straight time at home after logging at least 5 2/3 in each of his first seven starts at Hi Corbett.
“He just wasn't really sharp,” Johnson said. “But the good thing about Chase ... let's say he's had two or three subpar outings. The next outing has been electric, and that's what I expect to see next week.”
Reliever Quinn Flanagan, who entered Friday with a 3.41 ERA, failed to retire any of the three batters he faced in the sixth inning. One of them, Ironwood Ridge High School product Jake Engel, roped a two-RBI double into the left-field corner to tie the score at 8-8. After an infield single, Flanagan threw a wild pitch to score Engel with the go-ahead run.
The most encouraging development was the return of reliever Preston Price. The senior right-hander hadn’t pitched since April 9 because of an arm injury.
Price threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Price didn’t register any strikeouts, but only one batter made hard contact.
Price arguably was Arizona’s MVP before getting hurt. His return bodes well for the postseason.
“Really good lift for our team, especially considering how the game unfolded,” Johnson said. “We need him back to be the best team we possibly can.”
Arizona won’t have the services of left fielder Mac Bingham for at least a little while. Bingham broke the hamate bone in his left hand. The injury was suffered last Saturday at Oregon State. Bingham is hitting .305 with a .417 on-base percentage and recently had been batting second or third in the lineup.
Bingham had the bone removed, and Johnson is hopeful the former high school running back can return sooner than later.
Johnson has several players he can turn to as long as Bingham is out. Freshman Chase Davis got his first career start Friday. Tyler Casagrande started the previous two games in left. Against a left-handed pitcher, Johnson can go to Tanner O’Tremba or Blake Paugh. Both have started this season and made significant contributions.
“Would I like to have him in there? For sure,” Johnson said, referring to Bingham. “Do I think we can accomplish what we want to accomplish with him not being there for a while? I definitely do.”
Inside pitch
- Bullard’s grand slam in the third inning was Arizona’s first since Justin Wylie hit one on May 17, 2019, at Penn State.
- Branden Boissiere went 4 for 4 with a walk, giving him six hits in the series.
- Freshman Jacob Berry hit his team-leading 15th home run, a solo blast in the ninth inning.
- Gil Luna was charged with one earned run after surrendering a two-RBI triple to Cade Spurlin in the eighth inning. That snapped a streak of 10 straight appearances in which Luna did not allow an earned run.
- The announced attendance of 2,118 was the UA’s largest of the season.
