Editorβs note: For more than six decades, the UA has been college baseball royalty, making 17 College World Series appearances and winning four national championships. The Star is re-living each of the teamβs trips to Omaha.
1979: Three years after winning title, Cats return to OMaha
What went down: Jerry Kindallβs Wildcats won their opening game in their first trip back to Omaha since winning the 1976 College World Series title. Then things went south: Arkansas and Cal State Fullerton combined to outscore the Wildcats 26-6, and the UA was eliminated after three games. Fullerton and Arkansas would go on to play each other in the championship game, with the Titans prevailing 13-10. Big-leaguers dotted the rosters of teams in tournament play: Fullertonβs Tim Wallach, Arkansasβ Kevin McReynolds and Arizonaβs Terry Francona would all go on to have lengthy pro careers.
From the archives: The Starβs Dave Adam wrote that Arizona missed a key opportunity late in its 16-3 loss to Fullerton in the elimination game. He added:
Trailing 6-3, Arizona loaded the bases with one out on a single by Ron Quick, a walk by Fullerton starter Jim Sutton to Dwight Taylor and another walk to John Moses, the first batter to face Titan reliever Tony Hudson. After giving up the walk, Hudson then stunned the Cats by striking out Terry Francona and then induced Brad Mills to ground out weakly to second. It was Arizonaβs last serious threat as Hudson blanked the βCats on a long single over the final three innings.
βThat was a good shot,β Kindall said of the sixth-inning threat. βWe kept trying to get runners on after that. We had done it before and we thought we could do it again. But Hudson saw to it that we didnβt.β
He said it: Arizona finished its season 43-25. The trip to the College World Series served as invaluable experience for Francona and others.
The UA would return to Omaha in 1980 and win it all.
βEvery one of those guys out there on the field gave us enough to get to Omaha,β Kindall said. βIβm very proud of every one of them. Iβll be forever grateful to them for that.β
After Omaha: Left-hander Jeff Morris took the loss for the Wildcats against Fullerton, but would factor in to many happier moments in the future. Morris was part of the Wildcatsβ 1980 national championship team. Following a professional career, Morris re-joined Kindall as a volunteer pitching coach while he worked on a degree in exercise science.
With Morris on staff, the Wildcats won another national title in 1986. Morris went on serve as a scout and minor-league coach before joining Andy Lopezβs UA staff in 2002. He stayed for two seasons.
The big number: .331. Arizona hit .331 as a team, the best of out of anyone in Omaha, but managed just six hits against the Titans. Arizona failed to take advantage of nine Fullerton walks.
