All Jay Johnson wanted to do was watch them celebrate.
His Arizona Wildcats had just survived an epic, 4-hour, 17-minute duel with rival Arizona State. The game went so long that senior day became senior night.
Arizona fell behind and battled back, fell behind and battled back. Finally, in the 11th inning, the Wildcats won. Donta Williamsโ single and an ASU error gave Arizona a 10-9, series-clinching victory Saturday night in front of 6,165 mostly giddy fans at Hi Corbett Field.
As he entered the UA baseball office to speak with reporters, Johnson beamed with pride.
โIn terms of real-life value and seeing the best in young people, itโs at the top,โ Johnson said. โThings were not going good. Weโve seen a lot of adversity. Just how they held the competitive bar and exposed to everybody how much they care, how mentally tough they are. โฆ That was pretty special.โ
Johnson has been on the right side of many dramatic moments in his two-plus seasons at the UA. The Wildcats won on a walk-off to advance to the College World Series in 2016. They came within a hit of winning it.
Itโs impossible to rank them, Johnson said, especially in the immediate emotional aftermath. So Johnson simply concluded with this: โThatโs one of the highlights of my coaching career."
Jay Johnson on tonightโs win over ASU: โThatโs one of the highlights of my coaching career.โ pic.twitter.com/rI2nYSsaBD
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) May 20, 2018
The stakes were massive. After losing to ASU on Friday night, Arizona put itself in the unenviable position of possibly having to win out to make the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats were down 7-2 through 3ฦ innings and 9-7 through 6ฦ.
They kept on fighting, and now they have a chance to reach the postseason for a third straight year. Arizona (32-21, 12-15 Pac-12) concludes the regular season with a three-game series at Oregon starting Thursday.
โIt keeps us alive for the postseason,โ said third baseman Nick Quintana, who went 4 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs and scored the winning run. โWeโve gotta go out there and play like we did tonight."
Nick Quintana says tonight was his best performance at UA, but is focused on next weekโs road trip against Oregon. โEvery game is a postseason game. Every game is the Super Bowl.โ pic.twitter.com/48AKQVPmwR
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) May 20, 2018
It wasnโt always pretty, especially from the mound, but the Wildcats played with the determination needed to pull it off.
The winning inning began with ASU pitching around Quintana, a smart strategy given what the sophomore had done earlier in the game and series. In the final two games, Quintana went 7 for 9.
Cesar Salazarโs attempted sacrifice bunt landed in the mitt of first baseman Spencer Torkelson, but Jacob Blas got hit by a pitch, pushing Quintana to second base.
Freshman Donta Williams then hit a bounding single to right. Right fielder Trevor Hauver was playing shallow, so Johnson, who coaches third base, held Quintana. But the ball caromed off Hauverโs glove. Quintana, after stopping and briefly retreating, jogged home with the winning run.
This is how Quintana remembered it:
โI get to second. I just picture it in my head: โHeโs gonna get a hit. I gotta get home. I gotta score.โ
โRounding third, Jay holds me up. Next thing I hear is, โGo, go, go, go, go.โ I look up, the ballโs on the ground and no oneโs moving.
โHalf the team was on the field before I even touched home plate.โ
Johnson said Quintana would have been out โby a mileโ if he had gone and Hauver had fielded the ball cleanly.
โLuckily,โ Johnson said, โafter he missed the ball, he didnโt go after it.โ
The Wildcats poured out of the dugout to dogpile Williams. They lingered on the field long after the game ended, watching the fireworks show and enjoying the moment with family members and friends.
โIt was such a special night,โ Quintana said, standing amid the throng along the first-base line. โA lot of emotions. Senior night. A lot of crazy stuff always happens on senior night.
โIt was so fun. Iโm glad I played the way I did for the seniors. Iโm just really happy right now.โ
No senior played a bigger role in the victory than reliver Zach Stone. The graduate transfer from UC Davis pitched the final 4ยช innings, allowing just one hit and zero runs.
Stone pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 11th, striking out Alika Williams to end the threat. Stone screamed and pumped his fist as he walked off the mound and greeted his teammates. Johnson made the case that Stone should be Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week.
โTwo wins and a save, right? In high-consequence games,โ Johnson said. โElite makeup, you name it, heโs got it."
Jay Johnson on Nick Quintanaโs performance, and Zach Stoneโs pitching: pic.twitter.com/IMZXhdc0T4
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) May 20, 2018
If it felt as if the Wildcats were trying to swim upstream all weekend, well, they were.
They fell behind 2-0 in Game 1 Thursday and trailed 4-3 before rallying to win. They were down 1-0 and 5-1 in Game 2 before rallying to tie. The Sun Devils won Fridayโs game 10-5.
So it went Saturday. ASU (22-30, 12-15) scored two in the top of the first; Arizona answered with two in the bottom half. ASU took a 7-2 lead, scoring four runs in the top of the fourth; Arizona responded with four in the bottom half and tied the score at 7-7 with another in the sixth. Each team scored twice in the seventh.
It was an ultra-intense, nonstop battle befitting the Territorial Cup rivalry.
โFrom the second inning, Coach (Sergio) Brown said, โItโs gonna be a dogfight,โ โ Quintana said. โEvery inning was back and forth, it seemed. Stone came in and did an amazing job. It was awesome.โ
Arizona had been 0-3 in extra-inning games before Saturday. The end of the game was the only time the Wildcats held the lead.
Inside pitch
- Torkelson hit his 25th home run and his third in as many games. He is one shy of the NCAA freshman record set by Todd Greene of Georgia Southern in 1990.
- Blas, Cameron Cannon, Seve Romo and Ryan Haug each had two hits for Arizona. Haug drove in three runs with a bases-clearing double in the Wildcatsโ four-run fourth.
- The victory not only gave Arizona a series win but gave the UA the edge in the season-long race for the Territorial Cup across all sports.
- The Wildcats finished 23-6 at home and are 70-20 at Hi Corbett under Johnson.
- The attendance for the three-game series was 16,384.
