The Arizona Wildcats’ offense is on fire, and no one is hotter than third baseman Tony Bullard.
The notoriously streaky Bullard hit his fifth home run in the past four games, a third-inning grand slam that propelled Arizona to a 19-2 drubbing of Utah on Saturday night at Hi Corbett Field.
Freshman Mason White hit a grand slam in the following inning, marking the first time Arizona has had two slams in the same game since 1998.
White’s homer, his third of the season, gave the Wildcats (21-15, 8-12 Pac-12) a 19-0 lead. They would cruise from there for their fourth straight win and seventh in their past nine games.
Saturday also marked the fourth consecutive game in which Arizona has scored 14-plus runs. The UA defeated rival Arizona State 20-0 in a non-conference game Wednesday.
Bullard led the way Saturday, going 3 for 5 with three runs scored and six RBIs. Shortstop Nik McClaughry went 2 for 5, including a home run, with three runs and a career-high five RBIs. Chase Davis went 3 for 4 with a triple and made a diving catch in left field.
Starter Bradon Zastrow (4-2) had a career-best outing, throwing six scoreless innings. The left-hander walked three batters and struck out only one, but he limited Utah (14-23-1, 4-15-1) to two hits.
Arizona is batting .323 as a team and is averaging 8.7 runs per game. Nine Wildcats have batting averages over .300. Bullard isn’t one of them, but he has raised his average from .203 to .281 since returning from a concussion on April 6.
Arizona will go for the series sweep in Game 3 Sunday. First pitch is slated for noon at Hi Corbett.
Baseball was once America’s favorite sport and while it’s fallen in popularity in recent years a global crisis might actually make it more exciting moving forward. According to researchers from Dartmouth College, rising global temperatures might just be leading to more epic home runs.
