A season chock-full of win streaks, walk-offs and one of the nation’s most explosive offenses has led the Arizona Wildcats to their second College World Series appearance in the last five seasons.
The Wildcats’ journey to Omaha started with games in empty stadiums.
Along the way, Arizona won its conference, dominated its rival and had two historic winning streaks.
We look at the moments and games that defined Arizona’s season as it prepares to play Vanderbilt in Saturday’s CWS opener:
Feb 19: Cats win opener
Arizona begins its season in front of an empty stadium at Hi Corbett due to the coronavirus pandemic. UA earns a 3-0 shutout over Ball State behind seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings from right-hander Chase Silseth.
Feb. 22-March 11: The first winning streak
The Wildcats win 10 games in a row, including a 4-0 stretch at the Frisco Baseball Classic that included victories over Oklahoma (twice), Missouri and Dallas Baptist.
Arizona’s offense sets the theme for the season, posting 55 runs across the four games.
March 11: Welcome back, fans
Mark Davis has a seat high and away from where he usually sits for a game. Davis and select under fans attended Thursday’s game at a below-capacity Hi Corbett Field.
The Wildcats play in front of fans for the fist time since March 2020. The UA beats Wichita State 8-5 in front of 583 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
April 1-6: Bullpen stymies Sun Devils
Arizona’s bullpen slams the door on its rival during a four-game series, allowing just one run over 19 innings as the Cats take three of four from ASU.
The Wildcats put an exclamation mark in the finale, exploding for 14 runs in Tucson — UA’s only home game of the series. UA outscores ASU 33-16 in the two teams’ lone series of the season.
Arizona reliever Vince Vannelle is part of what is becoming a deep bullpen for the Wildcats.
April 16: Pummeled in Pullman
The Wildcats lose 21-2 at Washington State, their third straight defeat. The Cougars score 15 runs in the first three innings.
April 17-May 7: Gimme 10. Again.
Arizona shakes off the blowout loss to WSU and responds with its second 10-game winning streak of the season, becoming first UA team to have multiple double-digit streaks in the same season since 1976. Arizona’s run differential is plus-63 (107-44) during the streak.
On May 1, the Cats beat Utah 4-3 to move into first place in the Pac-12 to clinch their ninth consecutive victory and sixth straight conference series wins.
A day later, Daniel Susac hits his 10th home run of the season, joining freshman Jacob Berry on the double-digit HR list. They become the school’s first freshman duo with 10 or more homers in the same season.
May 14: McClaughry, Wildcats walk it off
Arizona beats Washington 17-16 in extra innings in one of the wildest finishes of the season.
The Huskies and Wildcats trade punches all night in a game that features six lead changes and two ties.
The Cats trail 12-10 entering the eighth and score three times, taking the lead on a two-run single from Mac Bingham. Arizona then allows the tying run to score in the ninth and Washington takes a 16-13 lead in the top of the 10th.
A leadoff walk by Donta’ Williams starts the extra-inning rally as the Wildcats score four runs in the 10th, capped off by Daniel Susac’s game-tying double and Nik McClaughry’s single up the middle to end it.
May 26: Full house
Arizona announces that it is increasing capacity at Hi Corbett to 100% for the final home series of the year against Dixie State — and for the postseason.
Jay Johnson made two College World Series appearances as the Arizona Wildcats' head coach.
May 28: Party like it’s 1992
The Wildcats secure their first outright Pac-12 championship since 1992 after Cal beats Oregon.
Arizona wins 8 of 10 conference series in the regular season en route to the Pac-12 title, highlighted by series victories over Oregon, Oregon State and ASU, and a home sweep over USC.
However, UA falls to Dixie State at home on the day it clinches the conference crown and waits until the following night to celebrate the accomplishment with a 5-4 walk-off win in the regular season finale.
May 31: Home again
Arizona earns the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament and is given home-field advantage for both the NCAA Regoinals and Super Regionals.
June 5-6: Near-perfect pitching puts Arizona in the Supers
Garrett Irvin shuts down UC Santa Barbara’s bats in a complete-game shutout to put Arizona in the Tucson Regional final. Chandler Murphy follows it up with five innings of one-run pitching in a rematch against UCSB.
The Cats’ bullpen closes out the Gauchos as four relievers combined to toss six strikeouts and surrender just three hits to punch their ticket to the Super Regionals.
Arizona pitcher Quinn Flanagan celebrates with his teammates in Arizona’s 16-3 win over Ole Miss in Sunday’s NCAA Super Regional clincher.
June 12-14: Next stop, Omaha
Arizona clinches a spot in the College World Series by taking two of three games from Ole Miss in the Super Regionals.
In Game 1, the Wildcats rally from down 3-0 and score nine consecutive runs against Ole Miss. Postseason breakout star Tony Bullard hits two home runs in UA’s 9-3 victory.
The Cats can’t crack Rebels left-hander Doug Nikhazy in Game 2 and fall 12-3 to force a decisive Game 3. However, the Wildcats set a postseason attendance record of 7,450 fans at Hi-C.
Arizona’s offense comes out in full force for the winner-take-all matchup as it scores 10 runs in the first four innings of a 16-3 victory. Jacob Berry and Ryan Holgate smash two-run HR’s in the seven-run fourth inning.
The Cats advance to the CWS in Omaha for the 18th time in school history after a 16-3 win over the Rebels.
