Arizona clinched its first series win of the season Saturday afternoon at Hi Corbett Field with a walk-off 7-6 victory in 12 innings over North Dakota State.
The Wildcats (7-3) have won four in a row since dropping their first two home games vs. West Virginia.
The winning run came home on a sacrifice fly hit by Garen Caulfield. Kiko Romero opened the frame with a bloop double that was followed by a sac bunt-turned-infield single hit by Cameron LaLiberte, who had four hits on the day. Caulfield drove Romero home.
Caulfield had been struggling at the plate entering Saturday, hitting .211. But he came through for Arizona in extra innings, making a diving play at second base in the 10th to save a potential run and driving in the winning run in the 12th.
“It has been tough for me, but I have also hit some balls really hard in good situations that haven’t fallen,” Caulfield said. “It is just baseball. You just got to stick with it, show up the next day and give it your all.”
Arizona made a number of other key plays in the field throughout the afternoon, highlighted by a couple of big stops made by Tony Bullard at third base.
“(Tony) is not getting any hits. He is battling. He is hitting some high fly balls. (But) he keeps his head in the game,” Arizona coach Chip Hale said. “He has a tough ball to his left, makes an unbelievable throw to home to save the game. Another bullet at him, and he starts a double play. Those are major-league plays.”
Arizona fell behind 6-2 in the middle innings after Jackson Kent and Tony Pluta each allowed two runs in relief of Anthony Susac.
The Wildcats used a big seventh inning to tie the game. It started with three straight walks to load the bases. Chase Davis reached on an infield single that was followed by a sacrifice fly hit by Romero and a two-run double by LaLiberte to tie the game.
“We just keep fighting,” Caulfield said. “We struggle to put together good at-bats here in big situations this season when we’re down, and I think Chip preached that this morning: No matter what the score is and no matter who the opponent is, just keep putting together good at-bats and good things will happen.”
Arizona star infielder Garen Caulfield and consensus All-American outfielder Chase Davis talked about the Wildcats' offseason, noticeable newcomers and being inspired by the "Last Dance" documentary.
George Arias Jr., Chris Barraza, Trevor Long and Derek Drees combined to hold NDSU (1-10) off the scoreboard over the final 5⅓ innings.
Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI triple by Emilio Corona. He collected his first two-hit game of the season.
Romero hit his first home run of the season for Arizona, a 439-foot shot to dead center field in the fourth inning, to make it 2-1.
Susac, who struggled with his command last time out against West Virginia, pitched better over the first few innings. He allowed runs in the fourth and fifth innings and was removed with two outs in the fifth.
After suffering losses in his first two starts, Susac took the no-decision this time. He allowed two runs on five hits across 4⅔ innings to go along with a season-high five strikeouts as well as two walks while throwing 77 pitches.
“I was very happy with how he pitched. He gave up two earned runs, he only walked two guys, and that is definitely progress for him,” Hale said. “That’s what we’re looking for. We see a lot in the fall, we see a lot in early preseason. Until you get out here against another team, you really don’t know what you’re going to get. I think that was a real step up for him.”
Inside pitch
• With Arizona having used seven pitchers on Saturday, they’ll need a lengthy outing from Bradon Zastrow on Sunday. Hale said Zastrow can throw 100 pitches.
• Hale said that everyone who threw on Saturday except for Drees likely will be unavailable on Sunday. But three Wildcats who pitched on Friday in relief (Casey Hintz, Dawson Netz and Eric Orloff) will be available. They could also use midweek starter Aiden May out of the bullpen.
