Arizona’s 7-3 loss to Texas State on Sunday ended a streak that lasted nearly three years.
The Wildcats had won or tied 17 consecutive series (including the postseason) at Hi Corbett Field since dropping two of three against Cal from April 12-14, 2019.
No one in the UA dugout was happy about Sunday’s result. As the Bobcats (10-2) celebrated on the infield, the 13th-ranked Wildcats (9-3) dutifully shuffled into shallow right for the postmortem from Chip Hale.
“You hate to not defend your home turf,” the first-year coach told the media a few minutes later. “This is Arizona. We’re very proud of our home field. They just came in the last two days and took it to us — pretty much outpitched us, outdefended us, outhit us and outcoached us. That’s the most disappointing thing for me: We just didn’t prepare the guys well enough.”
As disappointed as they were, the Wildcats weren’t freaked out about it. They know the baseball season is long and will feature many twists and turns. The 2021 team that advanced to the College World Series suffered non-conference home losses to Ball State, Wichita State and Air Force.
Before this weekend, Arizona had won six games in a row.
“Baseball is a game where you can win a lot of games and then all of a sudden you just lose a couple,” veteran outfielder Tanner O’Tremba said. “Respect to that team. They played better than us this weekend. We won the first one, and they outplayed us. That’s going to happen. There’s no panic there. Get ready for New Mexico on Tuesday and then start conference on Friday.”
Arizona has one more tune-up, against the Lobos, before beginning Pac-12 play Friday against Cal in Berkeley. Hale knows what’s coming, and his message to the team was simple: Move on.
“You only have three weeks to get ready,” he said, “and we’re there.”
The pre-conference portion of the schedule is one week shorter than in years past because of the advent of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Wildcats appeared to be navigating it well before running into a hungry Texas State squad.
After Arizona won Friday’s series opener 7-2, the Bobcats outscored the Wildcats 13-5. Arizona scored three or fewer runs in three of four games over the course of the week after notching eight or more in seven of its first eight contests.
The Wildcats struggled to come through in potential RBI situations over the weekend. Arizona batted .122 (5 of 41) with runners on base and .083 (2 of 24) with runners in scoring position.
“Our team’s a great hitting team, and good hitters have times where they struggle,” O’Tremba said. “I would say we just go back to our plan, to our blueprint and stick with it.
“Any given day could be different than the one before. We’re gonna take good at-bats and continue to see pitches just like we’ve done.”
O’Tremba has been Arizona’s best and most consistent batter. He went 1 for 4 with a double, a walk and two RBIs on Sunday. He leads the team in batting average (.458) and RBIs (18) and is tied for second in walks drawn (seven).
O’Tremba and catcher Daniel Susac delivered RBI groundouts with 1-2 counts in back-to-back at-bats to give Arizona a 2-1 lead in the third inning. Freshman Tommy Splaine followed with an RBI double to make it 3-1.
After a difficult first inning in which he allowed a run and had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam, UA starter Dawson Netz cruised through the second, third and fourth. He ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing a leadoff single to Daylan Pena and a tying two-run homer to John Wuthrich.
Hale turned to Quinn Flanagan, who had thrown five scoreless innings in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Dixie State. Flanagan retired the first batter he faced on a grounder to short. Dalton Shuffield then reached on an error by first baseman Noah Turley, his fifth of the season.
A bloop single, a walk and two more singles produced three more runs. The Bobcats scored five in the inning to take a 6-3 lead. Arizona never so much as put the tying run at the plate from that point forward.
“I thought the at-bats were good,” said Hale, whose team struck out only eight times — half as much as Saturday — but didn’t make a ton of hard contact.
“I thought the effort was there. As a head coach or manager of a big-league team, that’s all you ever care about is the effort they give you. ... This is a tough game.”
Hale repeatedly praised Texas State, saying the weekend results were more about the Bobcats playing well than the Wildcats playing poorly. Although the Texas State dugout was noticeably louder, Hale was satisfied with Arizona’s energy level. He thought his team tried too hard at times.
“The thing about their team,” O’Tremba said, “they played with a lot of energy, and they fed off that. Not to say that we didn’t have energy. But they just played extremely good baseball this weekend, and they capitalize on it with two wins.”
Inside pitch
Flanagan took the loss, his first of the season. None of the three runs he allowed in 2 1/3 innings was earned.
Splaine started at DH and went 2 for 3. He has four hits in seven at-bats, including a home run, and could push for additional playing time, possibly at first base.
Jack Grant started at third base, one day after suffering a broken nose during pregame warmups. Grant drew a walk and scored a run in three plate appearances.
Tony Bullard got the day off after returning Saturday from a shoulder injury that had kept him out for the first 10 games. Bullard could serve as the DH against New Mexico, Hale said.
Outfielder/DH Blake Paugh has missed the past five games because of an oblique injury. He could be out all of this coming week as well, Hale said.
Freshman right-hander Anthony Susac (1-0, 8.59 ERA) will start Tuesday against the Lobos.
