SCOTTSDALE — As Arizona’s season hung in the balance, Chip Hale kept flicking the light purple band on his right wrist.
He calls it the “Dawn Paugh.” The band commemorates the mother of former UA outfielder Blake Paugh, who played for Hale last season. She was killed in a car accident in January.
“I just kept hitting it, and she was slapping me like this,” Hale said. “ ‘Stay positive, stay positive.’ ”
Hale and the Wildcats needed the power of positivity, dogged determination, clutch performances and the luck of the draw to advance in the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday at Scottsdale Stadium. They survived a 13-12 shootout with No. 2 seed Oregon State that, frankly, was typical of so many of their games this season.
Arizona overcame a four-run deficit. It then blew a four-run lead. Finally, Kiko Romero walked off the Beavers, slapping a single to center field to score Nik McClaughry in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The first base dugout emptied. Pitchers and catchers streamed in from the bullpen. Romero’s teammates doused him with water and ripped off his jersey.
It wasn’t the first time a scene like that had unfolded for Arizona this season — or for whomever the Wildcats were facing. Arizona has five walk-off-wins. The Wildcats have four walk-off losses.
I joked earlier this season that the determining factor in UA baseball games is whoever has the last at-bat. It’s funny because it’s true.
“That was our mantra the whole time: ‘Hey, we’re gonna hit last, we’ll get a chance,’ ” said Hale, whose club happened to be the designated home team Wednesday. “Whether we’re down one, two or tied, we felt good about being able to come back.”
Romero had the perfect word to sum up Arizona’s season, which will continue, improbably, in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals Friday: “Rollercoaster.”
So very many ups and downs. Often in the same series. Frequently in the same game. Sometimes in the same inning.
The benefit of all that?
The “hard season,” Romero said, “prepared us for that game.”
Teammate surround Arizona first baseman Kiko Romero (no hat) following Romero’s walk-off RBI single against Oregon State in the Pac-12 Tournament at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday.
Two of the walk-off losses happened against OSU in Corvallis. They were excruciating. Arizona took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth of the series opener and lost 2-1. In the series finale, the Wildcats squandered 7-2 and 10-8 leads — and wasted Emilio Corona’s three-homer, eight-RBI performance — in an 11-10 setback.
“That’s who we’ve been all year,” Hale said. “We’ve had some absolutely gut-wrenching losses, especially to this team. And they just kept battling.”
Reliever Chris Barraza took the loss in both of those games at OSU. He redeemed himself — and then some — on Wednesday.
Barraza, the Sahuarita High School grad who transferred to Arizona from New Mexico State, entered in the eighth inning with runners on first and second and all the mojo on the Beavers’ side. They had scored two runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to erase the 12-8 lead the Wildcats had built with a six-run sixth, highlighted by Romero’s go-ahead three-run homer.
Barraza retired Tanner Smith on a groundout to third. Tony Bullard didn’t field it cleanly, preventing the hard-hit ball from becoming a double play and advancing the runners to second and third. Barraza then struck out Kyle Dernedde.
Travis Bazzana, OSU’s terrific leadoff hitter, came up first in the top of the ninth. He drilled a ball to deep right that Corona nearly snagged. But it popped out of his glove as he slammed into the wall. Leadoff double.
Bazzana then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Garret Forrester, who had the winning hit in the second OSU walk-off win in Corvallis, walked.
So, to review: Runners on first and third, nobody out. What were the odds that the Wildcats wouldn’t allow a run in that situation?
Narrator: They did not.
Micah McDowell lined out to third. Barraza struck out Mason Guerra. Barraza then fanned Mikey Kane, blowing his best fastball by him.
“That was incredible,” Hale said. “He’s the one who took the brunt of it up in Corvallis. And to come back and get those strikeouts, just unbelievable. I’m very proud.”
UA center fielder Mac Bingham — who slipped while pursuing a line drive in the first inning, opening the door for OSU to score four runs — singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Bingham advanced to third on a single by McClaughry, who went 4 for 5 with a walk. Not bad for the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, eh?
Bingham got thrown out at the plate on a tremendous play by second baseman Bazzana, who speared a one-hop line drive by Chase Davis and fired home to nab Bingham by several feet. That brought Romero to the plate with McClaughry on second and Davis on first.
OSU closer Ryan Brown fell behind in the count 3-0. Romero then took a strike. We’ll let Romero take it from here.
“Just get something up the middle,” Romero said. “I know he has a very good changeup. So I was just staying middle-away, trying not to pull anything. And so it just kind of worked out.”
Oh, it worked out all right. Romero punched a line drive past Brown’s glove and past diving shortstop Dernedde into center field. McClaughry scored easily. The celebration was on.
“Just keeping the season alive right there, it was definitely big,” said Romero, the former Canyon del Oro standout who came to the UA via Central Arizona College. “It just feels incredible.”
One could describe Wednesday’s events that way. But for this UA team, it was all completely plausible.
Arizona's Kiko Romero lines a single up the middle to give the Wildcats a 13-12 win over Oregon State at the Pac-12 Tournament in Scottsdale (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)
