The Arizona Wildcats left a positive impression at the Frisco College Baseball Classic in a variety of ways.
The Cats swept the four games to win the tournament over the weekend in Frisco, Texas. They scored 55 runs โ almost 14 per game. They committed only two errors. They placed five players on the all-tournament team.
But the aspect that impressed UA coach Jay Johnson the most couldnโt be quantified โ Arizonaโs mental fortitude.
Although the final scores โ 20-13, 12-1, 15-8 and 8-4 โ suggest otherwise, the Wildcats didnโt roll through the Frisco Classic with ease.
In Game 1, with No. 1 starter Chase Silseth on the mound, the UA fell behind Oklahoma 9-3 through three innings. By the middle of the fifth, the Cats had reclaimed the lead.
After the Sooners tied it in the bottom half of the frame, the Wildcats scored the next nine runs to take control.
Two days later against Dallas Baptist โ a matchup between the only two teams that hadnโt lost in the tournament โ a 5-1 Arizona lead through two innings turned into a 7-5 deficit midway through the sixth. The Wildcats promptly responded with a seven-run explosion.
โI think itโs just tough-mindedness,โ said Johnson, whose team returns to action Thursday vs. Wichita State at Hi Corbett Field. โReally, all mental toughness is is staying focused on the task at hand, regardless of the circumstances.
โWe have some players that have enough experience now to know that the most important thing is to just get to the next pitch. A baseball game is going to be decided on six or seven pitches.
โYou donโt always know when theyโre coming. So if youโre just focused on the one thatโs in front of you, it gives you a chance to be at your best when those pitches come along.
โI thought we did that. It wasnโt like a โno panicโ or any of that โ no drama. We just played, regardless (of) if we were up, we were tied, we were down.โ
Arizonaโs pitch-to-pitch focus wasnโt only evident in specific game situations. Johnson said the performance he was โmost proud ofโ was Sundayโs against Missouri. The Tigers hadnโt won a game in the tournament, and that was the point โ it would have been easy for the Wildcats to overlook them. They also had clinched the tournament title by that point.
Instead, Arizona again played error-free baseball and pulled away in the seventh inning, scoring four runs to extend its lead from 4-3 to 8-3.
โEverythingโs a game at a time,โ Johnson said. โWe talked about kind of keeping a shell around ourselves mentally, not being distracted by the day we won the tournament or any of those external things that donโt really matter.
โAll the good play the last three days had nothing to do with the play (Sunday).
โ(It was) the fourth game in four days. Weโve had some really long games out here (of) our own doing, putting up a lot of runs and sending a lot of guys to the plate. But the mental conditioning of the players is the thing that Iโm probably most pleased with, because I know they have ability and they have talent. When theyโre in the right headspace, they can do some really good things and beat anybody in the country.โ
Offensive onslaught
Arizonaโs offense was relentless in Frisco.
The Wildcats scored in 18 of 34 innings and scored two or more runs in an inning 13 times.
โI canโt tell you how many guys we saw that were over 93 miles an hour,โ Johnson said. โWe were literally unfazed. It was almost surprising when we didnโt score, to be honest with you, with how locked in these guys were.โ
Arizona, which has won nine straight games, leads the nation in runs (116), hits (143) and walks (91). The Wildcats rank sixth in on-base percentage (.464) and 11th in batting average (.336). All five teams ahead of them in OBP have played three or fewer games.
Arizona has scored seven or more runs in 32 of its past 42 games, dating to the 2019 season. The Wildcats have cracked double figures 23 times during that span.
Inside pitch
โข Five Wildcats were named to the Frisco Classic all-tournament team: infielders Branden Boissiere, Jacob Blas and Jacob Berry; outfielder Blake Paugh; and designated hitter Ryan Holgate. Boissiere was named the tournament MVP after going 9 for 17 with a home run, eight runs and five RBIs. The first baseman leads the Pac-12 with a .500 batting average.
โข Senior reliever Vince Vannelle had to leave Saturdayโs game against Dallas Baptist because of an apparent injury. Johnson termed the move to lift Vannelle as โprecautionaryโ and said his last pitch registered at 91 mph on the Dr. Pepper Stadium scoreboard. Vannelle is 2-0 with two saves and 2.08 ERA.
โข Senior reliever Preston Price didnโt earn all-tournament recognition, but he pitched Arizona out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second Oklahoma contest and closed the Missouri game. Price has a 1.08 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings.
• Arizona (10-2) rose from 24th to 16th in Baseball America’s Top 25. The Wildcats re-entered D1Baseball.com’s rankings, landing at No. 24. The NCAA has yet to release official RPI rankings, but the UA soared to No. 3 in WarrenNolan.com’s unofficial version. Ball State, which split the opening four-game series against Arizona, is No. 1.