Arizona had won two in row entering its series with No. 8 UCLA, but it would have been a stretch to say the Wildcats were playing their best baseball. They had lost their previous five games, putting any hopes of a third straight postseason appearance in serious jeopardy.
The Bruins, meanwhile, were playing as well as any team in the country. They had won their last eight, outscoring opponents by 65 runs.
So how do you go about beating a team like that?
The day before Thursday’s series opener, UA coach Jay Johnson rattled through the list. Beyond the usual stuff – getting the leadoff guy on, executing, plating runners in scoring position, throwing strikes, eliminating free bases – the Wildcats needed two more elements: good enough health and great starting pitching.
Arizona had both going in Game 1, and it was just enough to beat UCLA.
With some key players back in the lineup, and Cody Deason dominating from the mound, the Wildcats defeated the Bruins 2-0 in front of 2,284 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
Deason posted the first shutout of his UA career. It was also the first by an Arizona pitcher since Game 1 of the 2016 College World Series finals, when JC Cloney blanked Coastal Carolina.
“That was special,” Johnson said. “It’s the only word you can put around something like that. It’s not the shutout. It’s not going nine and extending himself. It was just how focused he was throughout the whole game. I thought he got better as he went along.”
Deason was locked in since breakfast Thursday morning. That’s when one of his roommates, pitcher Randy Labaut, told him how Thursday night would go.
“You’re going to throw a CG today with 10 K’s,” Labaut told Deason.
Labaut was wrong. Deason actually struck out a career-high 11 batters.
Although he had thrown 120 pitches entering the ninth inning, Deason was determined to finish what he had started. Johnson felt Deason had earned that opportunity.
“He deserved the right to win the game on his own,” Johnson said. “My job at that point is to evaluate: Is the stuff faltering? I felt he was getting better.”
UCLA star second baseman Chase Strumpf, who entered Thursday batting .380, led off the ninth with a deep fly ball to center field. But Cal Stevenson, back in the lineup after missing seven of the previous eight games because of a hand injury, ran the ball down.
Deason then surrendered his first walk, to cleanup hitter Michael Toglia, and a bloop single to Jack Stronach, putting runners on first and second. After a visit from pitching coach Dave Lawn, Deason got ahead of Daniel Amaral 0-2. Amaral sliced a fly ball down the right-field line. Matt Fraizer made a sliding catch in foul territory for the second out.
That brought up Garrett Mitchell, who hit a bouncer to the right of second baseman Jacob Blas. Noticeably hobbling on a strained knee that forced him out of Monday’s game against Utah Valley, Blas fielded the ball and flipped it to shortstop Cameron Cannon to end the game.
“He’s doing the best he can,” Johnson said of Blas. “It’s amazing what your mind can do. Your mind can take over your body, and I think we have a lot of that going on with some guys right now.”
Deason’s outing also was a tribute to mental fortitude. He hadn’t gotten through the seventh inning in any of his previous four appearances. After the sixth Thursday, Deason took the approach that he was coming out of the bullpen to close the game, as he had in the Cape Cod League last summer.
“I just said, ‘Let’s have that closer mentality,’ ” Deason said. “The seventh, eighth and ninth innings were mine.”
With a 7-11 record in Pac-12 play entering Thursday, Arizona probably has to win two-thirds of its remaining league games to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season. Although Johnson never places more weight on any one game or series than any other, his players understand what’s at stake.
“It’s coming down to the last four weeks,” Fraizer said Wednesday. “Obviously, it’s crunch time.”
Fraizer added that it’s important to not “make it bigger than it is.” Johnson expects his team to play with a sense of urgency every day, regardless of the standings or the opponent.
“Their job, really, for four weeks, as boring as it sounds, is to stay a pitch at a time, in the moment and compete like heck,” Johnson said. “I don’t have a doubt that they’ll do that.”
Deason displayed grit from the start. Despite delivering first-pitch strikes to only half the batters he faced through five innings, Deason never let the Bruins up for air.
UCLA’s biggest threat before the ninth came in the sixth. Jeremy Ydens led off with a single. After Kevin Kendall flew out to center, Strumpf singled, putting runners on first and third.
Deason struck out Toglia on a curveball, the junior right-hander’s out pitch all night. Stronach then grounded out to third.
Arizona had a 1-0 lead at that point on Nick Quintana’s home run off the batter’s eye in center field in the bottom of the fifth. It was the sophomore third baseman’s team-leading ninth home run of the season.
The Wildcats added a run in the sixth. Alfonso Rivas III walked with one out. Cannon followed with a double to right-center, advancing Rivas to third. He scored on a wild pitch, one of the rare mistakes by UCLA starter Jake Bird, who limited Arizona to seven hits and one walk over eight innings.
Arizona improved to 26-17, 8-11 in the Pac-12. UCLA fell to 30-11, 14-5, and lost for just the fourth time since March.
“It’s a good accomplishment,” Johnson said. “Now we’ve gotta reset our course for tomorrow.”
Inside pitch
- The shutout was Arizona’s first against a conference opponent since Nathan Bannister blanked Cal on April 22, 2016.
- The Wildcats won for the first time this season when scoring three or fewer runs. They had been 0-14.
- UA junior right-hander Michael Flynn (5-3, 4.29 ERA) will face righty Zach Pettway (7-1, 2.96) in Game 2. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. Friday.
