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 — 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 couldn’t be quantified — Arizona’s mental fortitude.
Although the final scores — 20-13, 12-1, 15-8 and 8-4 — suggest otherwise, the Wildcats didn’t 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 — a matchup between the only two teams that hadn’t lost in the tournament — 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.
“I think it’s just tough-mindedness,” said Johnson, whose team returns to action Thursday vs. Wichita State at Hi Corbett Field. “Really, all mental toughness is is staying focused on the task at hand, regardless of the circumstances.
Blake Paugh has helped UA lead the nation in runs (116) and hits (143) through 12 games. After losing two of its first three games, Arizona has won nine games in a row and is now ranked No. 16.
“We 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.
“You don’t always know when they’re coming. So if you’re just focused on the one that’s in front of you, it gives you a chance to be at your best when those pitches come along.
“I thought we did that. It wasn’t like a ‘no panic’ or any of that – no drama. We just played, regardless (of) if we were up, we were tied, we were down.”
Arizona’s pitch-to-pitch focus wasn’t only evident in specific game situations. Johnson said the performance he was “most proud of” was Sunday’s against Missouri. The Tigers hadn’t won a game in the tournament, and that was the point – 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.
“Everything’s a game at a time,” Johnson said. “We 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 don’t really matter.
“All the good play the last three days had nothing to do with the play (Sunday).
“(It was) the fourth game in four days. We’ve 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 I’m probably most pleased with, because I know they have ability and they have talent. When they’re in the right headspace, they can do some really good things and beat anybody in the country.”
Offensive onslaught
Arizona’s offense was relentless in Frisco.
The Wildcats scored in 18 of 34 innings and scored two or more runs in an inning 13 times.
“I can’t tell you how many guys we saw that were over 93 miles an hour,” Johnson said. “We were literally unfazed. It was almost surprising when we didn’t score, to be honest with you, with how locked in these guys were.”
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
• 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.
• Senior reliever Vince Vannelle had to leave Saturday’s game against Dallas Baptist because of an apparent injury. Johnson termed the move to lift Vannelle as “precautionary” 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.
• Senior reliever Preston Price didn’t 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.
