Tanner O’Tremba has been there and done that. He’s been a member of two teams that made it to Omaha, where Arizona will play a pair of games next week in the same stadium that hosts the College World Series.
O’Tremba, the Wildcats’ veteran outfielder, has experienced the highest of highs in college baseball. He also has endured slumps and losing streaks.
One of Arizona’s sharpest, most thoughtful players, O’Tremba is uniquely positioned to help steer the Wildcats through the ups and downs that lie ahead. No. 16 Arizona opens the second half of Pac-12 play with a three-game series at Utah starting Thursday before facing Creighton at Charles Schwab Field Omaha (formerly TD Ameritrade Park) on Monday and Tuesday.
“He’s a 4.0 student. In everything he does, he’s a leader,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “People just follow him. He plays the game extremely hard. And he’s not afraid to pull a guy aside and talk to him if he needs to. He’s a great person for a head coach to have to lean on.”
O’Tremba can play too. Arizona’s starting right fielder leads all regulars with a .462 on-base percentage. He ranks second on the team in batting average (.362) and doubles (11) and third in RBIs (29).
O’Tremba understands that every college baseball season has ebbs and flows. He experienced them first-hand with the 2021 Wildcats. That team lost three games in a row in April, just as this one did last week. The ’21 squad then went on a tear and advanced to Omaha. This year’s team is striving to do the same and takes a two-game winning streak into Thursday.
O’Tremba explained his approach as a team leader.
“The biggest thing is just putting your arm around them and letting them know that even on the worst day, it’s baseball,” he said after Arizona’s 4-2 win over New Mexico State on Tuesday night. “You’re gonna come back, and you’re going to have another game to play. If you’re getting down about too many games, then it starts to snowball on you.
“It’s a long season, and anything can happen. There’s a reason why we were hot at the beginning. There’s a reason why you struggle a little bit in the middle and then you get hot at the end. You can’t be hot the whole year. Everyone goes through it. Just being there for guys to talk to or listen to (them) about certain things is huge.”
The Wildcats aren’t shying away from discussing their midseason trip to the mecca of college baseball. For some, it will be their first visit to Omaha. They hope it isn’t their last.
“This is the goal,” O’Tremba said. “This is where we want to be. It doesn’t change a whole lot, but it’s definitely cool to see where we want to be at the end of the year. We want to be the last team playing there.”
Reliever report
Where would the Wildcats (23-10, 10-5 Pac-12) be without reliever Trevor Long?
“Not in very good shape,” Hale said.
The second-year right-hander has a 0.93 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP, two wins and two saves in a team-high 15 appearances. He pulled off his greatest Houdini act yet vs. New Mexico State.
Long entered in the top of the eighth inning with the score tied, a runner on third and nobody out. After a strikeout and an intentional walk, Long hit the next batter to load the bases. He struck out the next two Aggies to end the inning.
Arizona retook the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Long then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game.
Long had said after closing the previous game vs. Washington State that he’s “not worried about striking people out this season.” He had little choice in the situation he entered Tuesday and used his slider to generate multiple swings and misses. Four of the six outs Long recorded were strikeouts.
“Once you get some swings on the slider in the dirt, you just keep going to it,” Hale said. “The pitcher is the one who is supposed to be under the pressure there. But a lot of times as hitters – I did it – you just get so anxious and amped up to do something good that you forget your strike zone. He read that.”
Hale remains hopeful that he can turn to any of three pitchers to close a game – Long, left-hander Holden Christian or right-hander Chris Barraza.
But Christian, who has a team-leading five saves, has slumped of late, allowing two hits and at least one earned run in each of his past three outings. He surrendered the lead vs. New Mexico State and has seen his ERA climb from 2.57 to 4.41.
Barraza — who, like Christian, transferred to Arizona last offseason — has a 4.22 ERA.
The most effective relievers besides Long have been veteran right-hander Quinn Flanagan and freshman lefty Eric Orloff. The two combined for five scoreless innings vs. the Aggies. They allowed only two hits and struck out six batters.
Flanagan has a 1.69 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. Orloff’s numbers are 2.89 and 1.18, respectively.
Orloff’s most effective pitch is a changeup that he rarely used as a prep pitcher in Northbrook, Illinois. He said he threw 107 pitches in his last high school game. Only eight were breaking balls.
“That’s been the biggest part of my game that has developed since I came here,” Orloff said. “At this level, you need to have two to three pitches at all times. Hitters are too good.”
Although he’s been valuable out of the bullpen, Orloff could be used a spot starter as well, Hale said — especially with Arizona playing five games in six days on this road trip.
Right-hander Dawson Netz was able to return to the rotation Tuesday after missing a turn because of an arm issue, but his velocity was down and he threw only 33 pitches. Hale is hopeful Netz will be able to start one of the two games at Creighton.
“We’ll just see how it goes,” Hale said Tuesday. “We used a lot of guys tonight. We’re gonna have to use everybody over in Utah.”
Inside pitch
Utah (18-13-1, 5-7) will be without its head coach, Gary Henderson, who was suspended for two weeks without pay for what the university called “a personnel matter.” Assistant coach Todd Guilliams will take over Henderson’s duties.
The three games in Salt Lake City are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. local time (10 a.m. in Tucson). The Utes share Smith’s Ballpark with the triple-A Salt Lake City Bees, who are scheduled to face the Las Vegas Aviators at 6:35 p.m. local time Thursday-Saturday.
The Utes have lost four of their past five games, including dropping two of three at home vs. UCLA. They’re 7-6 at home. The Wildcats are 10-3 in road/neutral-site games.
Arizona’s Daniel Susac leads the Pac-12 in batting average (.395), hits (58) and total bases (96). Utah’s TJ Clarkson leads the league in slugging percentage (.716) and ranks second in home runs (10).
Arizona is expected to use the same rotation as last weekend: right-hander TJ Nichols (4-2, 3.57 ERA) followed by lefty Garrett Irvin (3-1, 2.47) and righty Chandler Murphy (1-0, 5.11).
The games at Creighton will be televised. Monday’s game will air on Fox Sports 1, Tuesday’s on CBS Sports Network.
