The way Arizona has won some of its games this year has been, well, bananas.
The team that has turned the nutritious fruit into a symbol of togetherness and buy-in has mounted all kinds of ridiculous rallies. “Cardiac Cats” isn’t just a nickname; it’s how these Wildcats have lived all season long.
Arizona doesn’t want to get into that position against Grand Canyon in their Friday-night matchup in the NCAA Tournament’s Tucson Regional. But if it should happen again, the Wildcats won’t panic. They know they can conjure up a comeback.
Arizona has produced eight walk-off victories in 2024, tied for the most in the nation, according to ESPN Stats & Info. All three wins in a sweep of UCLA were walk-offs. The Wildcats’ Pac-12 regular-season clincher and tournament triumph were walk-offs.
It’s been Arizona’s trademark — scratching and clawing until the last pitch has been thrown. Chip Hale set his team on that course before the first pitch of the season.
The Wildcats swarm Tommy Splaine (20) after his single drove home pinch runner Emilio Corona for the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth in a 4-3 win over USC in the championship game in the 2024 Pac-12 Baseball tournament Saturday in Scottsdale.
Per a video posted by UA baseball on social media, this is what Hale told his players before the Feb. 16 opener vs. Northeastern:
“What we do here is we play all nine innings. Up 10, down 10, it doesn’t matter. It’s not always gonna be easy. Guys who’ve been here know it. There’s gonna be hard times. But we gotta stick together, right? Just play nine innings, best you can.”
Arizona pinch runner Emilio Corona just beats the throw to USC catcher Jacob Galloway to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the 2024 Pac-12 Baseball Tournament championship game on May 25 in Scottsdale.
Multiple heroes
Hale couldn’t have known how his club would respond to that speech or all the situations they’d face. But he and the UA veterans tried to create a culture that would be conducive to comebacks.
The Wildcats’ trainer, Ben Kmetz, came up with a mantra that the squad eagerly co-opted: GTW — Greatest Team Wins.
Fissures had formed the previous two seasons between the prolific hitters and the scuffling pitchers. Without as much top-end talent on the roster, Hale knew that couldn’t happen again.
“You gotta buy into the team,” said senior right-hander Clark Candiotti, who will start against the Antelopes at 6 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field. “You just have to give everything you got and buy into the program because we’re all playing for each other at the end of the day.”
An ensemble cast has participated in the late-inning drama. Six Wildcats have accounted for the game-winning RBIs in the eight walk-offs. Seven players have scored the winning runs.
“Whether it be the first hitter in the order or the ninth hitter, we have the trust in each one of us that anyone could be the hero that night,” said second baseman Garen Caulfield, who had the game-winning RBI against Louisiana Tech on April 13, when Arizona rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth. “It could be a new hero any day.”
USC runner Carson Wells, left, can’t twist away from the tag by Arizona second baseman Garen Caulfield after trying to get to second on a deep fly ball to left in the seventh inning of their Pac-12 Tournament championship game on May 25, 2024, in Scottsdale.
Although bullpen blowups have created some of the Wildcats’ walk-off scenarios, Hale gives as much credit to the pitchers as the hitters. Arizona wouldn’t have been able to walk off Oregon State in the regular-season finale or USC in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game if starter Cam Walty and reliever Anthony “Tonko” Susac hadn’t held the Beavers and Trojans to three runs apiece.
“Perfect example is the other day in the final game in Scottsdale,” Caulfield said. “We didn’t have a hit through, I don’t know, six, seven innings.
“We never felt like we were out of the game. Walty, he did a great job keeping us in the game, like our pitching staff has done all year. That’s definitely a huge part of it.”
‘Never in doubt’
It wasn’t always like this. The Wildcats struggled to win close games early in the season.
You have to learn to crawl before you can walk somebody off.
Arizona won only one of its first seven games decided by one run. That included late-inning losses to Dallas Baptist (which faces West Virginia in the Tucson Regional opener) and Alabama (which is playing in the Tallahassee Regional) in the Frisco College Baseball Classic.
Arizona first baseman Tommy Splaine snags a pickoff throw during the Wildcats' 4-3 loss to Dallas Baptist at the Frisco College Baseball Classic on March 6. Arizona started 1-6 in one-run games but is now 10-9.
Those experiences prepared the Wildcats for what was to come. After that tournament, batting instructor Toby DeMello told the hitters: “You guys are battle-tested, man. You guys are ready for the Pac-12. You guys have faced all these good teams.”
“We might not have won,” Caulfield said, “but we kept them close in all these games. We’re one pitch, one play, one big hit away from tying those games up or potentially winning them. I think we’re much more mature as a team now.”
Arizona enters the NCAA Tournament with a 10-9 record in one-run games, having won seven of their past 10 — including the twin titles in the Pac-12, both decided by scores of 4-3.
“We played Dallas Baptist, Alabama, Indiana — a bunch of really good squads,” senior outfielder Emilio Corona said. “That was fantastic for us to get out there and play ... a different brand of baseball and just expose everyone to big environments, big games, big crowds. I think you’ve really seen that pay off in these big games down the stretch.”
Arizona coach Chip Hale celebrates with his Wildcats after their 4-3 walk-off victory to clinch the Pac-12 regular-season championship against Oregon State at Hi Corbett Field on May 18.
The close calls and near-misses revealed what it would take to reverse those outcomes. Once it started happening in the UCLA series, the Wildcats developed the confidence to break through and win.
Hale has experienced runs like this before. He was a coach with the 2019 Washington Nationals, who had seven walk-off wins en route to winning the World Series. They scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to win their Wild Card game against the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3.
“That’s when you start to go, ‘Wait a minute, things might be special with this group,’ ” Hale said.
Hale’s favorite musical artist, according to a survey by Baseball America, is Journey. “Don’t Stop Believin’” might as well be the theme song for the 2024 Wildcats.
“I think the belief is at an all-time high,” Caulfield said. “Just going through our experiences, the ups and downs throughout the whole year — it’s a long year, and we’ve had a lot of struggles and a lot of good times together. I think that goes into the belief that we have in one another.”
It began in that first pregame huddle. It continued through the final postgame gathering.
“You guys had it all the way,” Hale told his players after the USC game.
“Never in doubt,” Susac replied.
