Despite another solid outing from starter Jackson Kent, Arizona dropped the first game of the Frisco College Baseball Classic on Friday, losing 4-3 to No. 25 Dallas Baptist at Riders Field in Frisco, Texas.
Kent allowed two runs and struck out seven batters in 5⅓ innings. But the bullpen couldn't hold a 3-2 lead, and the Wildcats struck out 17 times in suffering their second straight defeat and falling to 4-5 on the season.
"I thought our guys battled hard," UA coach Chip Hale told reporters after the game. "We've got nothing to hang our heads about. It's just ... we're not really playing winning baseball right now."
Arizona scored all three of its runs in the third inning on an RBI single by Garen Caulfield and a two-run homer by Mason White, his team-leading fourth of the season.
The Wildcats led 3-2 entering the eighth inning. The Patriots then plated two runs, both of which were charged to reliever Eric Orloff, who allowed a single and a one-out double before exiting. The tying run scored on a wild pitch thrown by Casey Hintz, and the winning run came in on a groundout to second base.
Caulfield, Brendan Summerhill and Easton Breyfogle each had two hits for Arizona. The lineup's 17 strikeouts marked the fourth time in five games — all losses in road or neutral-site contests — in which the Wildcats struck out at least that many times.
Arizona plays the second of three games in the Frisco Classic against No. 16 Alabama at 3 p.m. MT Saturday.
UA coach Chip Hale discusses the Wildcats' 4-3 loss to No. 25 Dallas Baptist in the opening game of the Frisco College Baseball Classic on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Frisco, Texas (video courtesy of the Frisco Classic)
