One of Arizona coach Jay Johnson’s core philosophies is that the next pitch – or the next game – is the most important one.
After the Wildcats won their Pac-12 series at Arizona State last weekend, Johnson was already – to paraphrase Bill Belichick – on to Tuesday.
No. 16 Arizona won that midweek game handily, and the UA made it two in a row with a 5-1 series-opening triumph over Cal on Friday night.
Starter Chase Silseth took that next-game mentality out to the mound. The right-hander had a rare off night in the series opener at ASU last Thursday, yielding five runs in a season-low four innings.
Silseth was sharp throughout against the Golden Bears, hurling 6 1/3 scoreless frames to improve to 5-0 in his first (and likely only) season as a Wildcat.
“I think it's just the competitive mindset that I have,” Silseth said. “This game, you're always learning new things and learning how to be better. That’s what I love about the game; you never have the game figured out. And once you have it figured it out, it humbles you a little bit.”
Silseth surrendered five hits and one walk. He struck out six batters. He relied on his changeup more than usual against a Cal lineup whose first seven batters hit left-handed.
“Chase Silseth was spectacular,” Johnson said. “He really threw whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted – really had great command of everything, including the tempo of the game.”
As has become customary on Friday nights, reliever Preston Price served as Silseth’s tag-team partner. Price entered in the top of the seventh with one out and runners on first and third. He retired the next two batters on a strikeout and a fielder’s choice, upping his season strand rate to 86.4%.
Just like the last Friday-night home game against Oregon, Vince Vannelle was needed to get the final three outs. Vannelle entered with two runners on in the ninth. He surrendered a run (charged to Price) on a sacrifice fly and walked two batters, putting the tying run at the plate with two outs. Vannelle then struck out Nathan Manning to end the game.
“They got some momentum there late, but we didn't have very many stressful innings until the ninth,” Johnson said. “That's always a good thing.”
Since losing two of three at UCLA to open Pac-12 play, Arizona (20-8, 6-4) has won seven of its past nine games. Cal (16-12, 4-3) has dropped two in a row and four of its past six.
For the UA offense, at least early on, it was a story of what might have been.
Arizona had runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the second. Johnson called for a squeeze bunt. Mac Bingham got the bunt down, but Cal starter Grant Holman threw out Ryan Holgate at the plate.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on Branden Boissiere’s RBI single to left. But for the second straight inning, Arizona had a runner thrown out at the plate – this time Jacob Berry, who tried to score on a would-be 4-6-3 double play that Holgate beat out at first.
Arizona did escalate Holman’s pitch count, however, and he was lifted after four innings and 83 pitches. The Wildcats blistered reliever Sam Stoutenborough in the fifth, stringing together four consecutive one-out hits, including a two-RBI double by Holgate. By the time the inning ended, Arizona had a 5-0 advantage.
“Coming into the game, we knew that he was on a pitch count,” Boissiere said of Holman, who missed the start of the season because of injury. “So we knew that working long at-bats and really seeing pitches off him was going to be good for us.”
Boissiere had a team-high three hits and recorded his 13th multihit game of the season.
Inside pitch
- When he struck out on a Silseth breaking ball in the fourth inning, Cal’s Nathan Martorella lost the grip on his bat, which flew into the UA dugout. “Everyone was OK,” Johnson said. “A little scary, though.”
- All five of Silseth’s wins have come at home, where he has a 1.67 ERA. Opponents are hitting .183 against him at Hi Corbett Field.
- Berry, Daniel Susac and Kobe Kato each had two hits for Arizona. Berry, a freshman, extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
- The announced attendance was 1,273. It was the first time this season that figure hasn’t risen from the previous game.
- Right-hander Sean Sullivan (2-1, 3.82) is scheduled to start for Cal in Game 2 Saturday. He will face UA lefty Garrett Irvin (1-1 3.14).
