SCOTTSDALE — Arizona won the final regular-season Pac-12 championship.
The Wildcats now have a chance to win the last Pac-12 sporting event of any kind.
Behind Clark Candiotti’s pitching and the Cats’ slugging sophomores, No. 1 seed Arizona defeated No. 8 seed Stanford 6-3 in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on Friday night at Scottsdale Stadium.
Arizona will face No. 4 seed USC in Saturday night’s championship game — a matchup of programs that have combined to win 16 College World Series titles. The Trojans defeated No. 6 seed Cal 7-4 earlier Friday.
“An old 6-Pac battle for the ages,” UA coach Chip Hale said, referencing the Pac-10 South Division in which he played.
“Being in the last PAC 12 championship as of right now — who knows what's gonna happen in four, five, six years — it's important,” Hale added. “We want to win it.”
The Wildcats reached the tournament championship game for the second year in a row. They lost last year’s title tilt to Oregon 5-4.
Arizona’s Brendan Summerhill gets doused in the dugout as the Wildcats celebrate his three-run homer in the third inning against Stanford in a semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on May 24 in Scottsdale.
“We've put on the Pac-12 Champs gear. We won the regular season. That's something we wanted. That's ours. We gotta go be the undisputed champs,” said sophomore center fielder Brendan Summerhill, whose three-run homer in the third inning gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. “There’s no ‘let off the gas’ tomorrow. I don't care if we’re in the (NCAA) tournament, not in the tournament, we want to win.”
Arizona took two of three from USC to open conference play. The Wildcats will close against a Trojans team that has won nine in a row and, like Stanford, needs to win the Pac-12 Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament.
“They're scrappy,” Summerhill said. “They're gonna hang around every game. They're not gonna go away. You feel like you're pulling away, then they'll score two and you're like, ‘Dang.’ So we're gonna have to bring our A-game tomorrow. We're gonna have to play our best.”
Because of a variety of factors, Arizona entered Friday’s game without having used its two most effective pitchers — Candiotti and Cam Walty. Candiotti stymied Stanford for the second time this season, limiting the Cardinal to one run in seven innings. He allowed four hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts, one off his season high.
Three weeks earlier, Candiotti threw a complete-game shutout against Stanford. This time, he shined in his hometown.
“It means a lot,” said Candiotti, who improved to 7-3. “Hometown Scottsdale, putting on a good show. But most importantly, playing for my team behind me and moving on to the championship. That’s what really matters.”
Candiotti had stressful innings in the first and seventh. In between, he retired 16 consecutive Cardinal batters.
After a pair of strikeouts to open the game, Stanford loaded the bases via a single, a double and a hit-by-pitch. Candiotti stifled the potential rally by getting Ethan Hott to fly out to left.
The Cardinal didn’t manage another baserunner until Candiotti hit Malcom Moore with a pitch leading of the seventh.
“Sometimes that's the way it is with your big star pitchers, good pitchers in the big leagues even,” Hale said. “If you don't get them early, watch out. They get hot. They get going. He got rolling.”
Arizona starter Clark Candiotti yells after getting a strikeout to end the Stanford half of the seventh inning and strand two during their semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 24, 2024, in Scottsdale.
Moore came around to score in the seventh, making the score 6-1, and Stanford had runners on first and third with one out. Candiotti ended the threat by striking out Brandon Larson and Jake Sapien.
“It seems like every time he goes out we're gonna have zero runs into the sixth,” Summerhill said. “That's a recipe to win every time.”
Just in case, Arizona scored a run in the fourth inning and two in the sixth. Summerhill’s classmate, Maddox Mihalakis, was involved in all three.
Mihalakis led off the fourth with a triple and scored on Blake McDonald’s groundout. In the sixth, Mihalakis doubled in Mason White (also a sophomore) and scored on McDonald’s safety squeeze.
Sophomore Casey Hintz relieved Candiotti in the eighth inning and allowed a run to make it 6-2. Stanford scored another in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs.
Cort MacDonald hit a routine grounder to shortstop White, who was supposed to throw to first because second baseman Garen Caulfield was playing the left-handed-hitting MacDonald to pull. But White decided to shovel the ball to Caulfield, who barely beat Owen Cobb to the bag. The call went to replay and was confirmed.
Arizona second baseman Garen Caulfield, right gets in a race to the bag with Stanford runner Owen Cobb on a fielder's choice in the ninth inning of their semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 24, 2024, in Scottsdale. The play was reviewed, Cobb was ruled as the third Cardinal out, icing the Wildcats' 6-3 win.
“I'm living my 60th year. I'm 59 years old,” Hale said. “It's not good for the heart.”
Welcome to postseason college baseball.
“I told them today: We’re in the playoffs now,” Hale said. “You can't take any days off, you can’t take any pitches off, you can't take any outs off.”
Inside pitch
• Candiotti and Hintz combined for 13 strikeouts and one walk. The staff has 33 strikeouts and five walks in the tournament.
• Friday’s game was the last live broadcast on Pac-12 Networks. Play-by-play announcer Roxy Bernstein, a Pac-12 Networks original, delivered the network sign-off after the game. He will call the championship game on ESPNU.
Arizona RHP Clark Candiotti slaps the Arizona sticker on the bracket board after the Wildcats defeated Stanford to advance to the Pac-12 Tournament championship game at Scottsdale Stadium (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)
Photos: Arizona cruises into the final Pac-12 tournament final with a 6-3 win over Stanford
Arizona’s Brendan Summerhill gets doused in the dugout as the Wildcats celebrate his three-run homer in the third inning against Stanford in a semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on May 24 in Scottsdale.
Arizona starter Clark Candiotti yells after getting a strikeout to end the Stanford half of the seventh inning and strand two during their semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 24, 2024, in Scottsdale.
Arizona right fielder Easton Breyfogle (12) runs down a shot up the line by Stanford’s Temo Becerra (2) in the second inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona runner Tommy Splaine, right, dives in for a triple as the ball skips by Stanford third baseman Temo Becerra during Friday’s Pac-12 Baseball Tournament semifinal in Scottsdale.
Arizona’s Maddox Mihalakis (33) slides in just before the throw reaches Stanford third baseman Jimmy Nati (6) for a leadoff triple in the fourth inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona second baseman Garen Caulfield (1) lines up a hopper from Stanford first batter Brandon Larson (16) in the fifth inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona batter Mason White (24) watches his single shoot into left center against Stanford in the sixth inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona third baseman Maddox Mihalakis (33) charges a short chopper by Stanford’s Brandon Larson (16) that ended up an RBI fielder’s choice in the seventh inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona second baseman Garen Caulfield (1) turns the pivot over Stanford’s Charlie Saum (21) but can’t get the second out, as the Cardinal score their first run of the night in the seventh inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona third baseman Maddox Mihalakis (33) comes in to scoop up a bouncing ball in the grass by Stanford’s Jimmy Nati (6) that plated a run in the eighth inning of their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Stanford shortstop Temo Becerra, left, completes the inning-ending double play over Arizona’s Emilio Corona in the Wildcat half of the eighth in their semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament Friday in Scottsdale.
Arizona second baseman Garen Caulfield, right gets in a race to the bag with Stanford runner Owen Cobb on a fielder's choice in the ninth inning of their semifinal game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 24, 2024, in Scottsdale. The play was reviewed, Cobb was ruled as the third Cardinal out, icing the Wildcats' 6-3 win.
Arizona left fielder Brandon Rogers (8) settles under lazy fly ball from Stanford batter Champ Hampton (15) to get the Wildcats out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first inning in their semifinal game in the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Wildcats yell at starter Clark Candiotti as he does a postgame interview after Arizona's 6-3 win over Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 24, 2024, in Scottsdale.
Arizona’s Easton Breyfogle (12) loosens up in the home dugout as the Wildcats get ready to face Stanford in the semifinal’s of the Pac 12 baseball tournament, May 24, 2024, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arizona starting pitcher Clark Candiotti does his pregame workout against the centerfield fence just before the Wildcats took on Stanford in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on Friday at Scottsdale Stadium.
