Three straight walk-off wins? How does something like that happen?
Mason White — whose two-run homer in the 12th inning gave Arizona a sweep-clinching, 10-9 win over UCLA on Sunday at Hi Corbett Field — has a theory.
“This year is full of games like that, going back to our Frisco tournament,” White said. “We're not uncomfortable in a game that's very high volatility.
“We don't lose focus. We don't rise to the occasion; we're just playing baseball. We've been here all year.”
Before this series, most of those close games hadn’t gone Arizona’s way. The Wildcats were 1-6 in one-run games before defeating the Bruins 3-2 on Friday. Now Arizona has won back-to-back one-run contests.
Is that a product of good fortune? Improved execution?
“I feel like it's a little bit of both,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “You need a little bit of luck on your side. Obviously, we made plays. We hit home runs; that helps you. But we're still making some key errors in places that we shouldn’t. Like I told the team: It gives you hope that we can even be better.”
Arizona's Mason White, shown earlier this year vs. Northeastern, clubbed a two-run homer in the 12th inning to give the Wildcats a 10-9 win over UCLA on Sunday and a series sweep.
Arizona improved to 13-13, 7-5 in the Pac-12. The Wildcats had been under .500 since March 11.
The losses since then included three one-run setbacks.
“Those games, they definitely woke us up a little bit on how you how you secure wins,” White said. “We've taken what we've learned, and now we're using it.”
The lessons learned include “not going to sleep in the last few at-bats,” White said. “Staying focused. Staying focused in the field every single pitch. When you go up to hit, you’re focused because you know every run is crucial. It's not a three-run lead. You gotta get four, gotta get five.”
Arizona had a six-run lead, 8-2, entering the eighth inning Saturday, and it wasn’t enough. UCLA scored five runs off three UA relievers. The third one, sophomore right-hander Casey Hintz, entered with the bases loaded, no outs and four runs already on the board. The next two batters: double play, strikeout.
Hintz got the first out in the ninth before being victimized by back luck. Mulivai Levu reached on a slowly hit infield single against the shift. A groundout advanced pinch runner Phoenix Call to second. Call then scored on an infield single up the middle to tie the score at 8-8.
UCLA nearly took the lead one batter later when Malakhi Knight doubled to left-center. But a perfect relay from left fielder TJ Adams to shortstop White to catcher Blake McDonald nabbed pinch runner Quintt Landis at the plate.
The Bruins grabbed the lead in the top of the 12th inning. JonJon Vaughns hit a leadoff triple off Eric Orloff and scored on a single by Landis. Dawson Netz relieved Orloff and got the final two outs of the inning.
McDonald led off the bottom of the 12th with a walk. Brandon Rogers sacrificed him to second. UCLA reliever Rashad Ruff, a right-hander, had struck out the left-handed-hitting White earlier in the game. But with a 2-0 count and first base open, it seemed likely that Ruff wouldn’t give Arizona’s leading home run hitter anything close to the plate.
Ruff’s changeup was slightly below the zone. White golfed it out of the park. It was Arizona’s second walk-off homer of the series. Brendan Summerhill ended Thursday’s game the same way.
Inside pitch
• White’s 10 home runs are the most in a single season by a UA shortstop (since 1998).
• The top four hitters in Arizona’s lineup — White, Richie Morales, Garen Caulfield and Summerhill — combined to go 11 for 23 with five runs scored and seven RBIs.
• Saturday’s game ended a streak of nine conference games in a row in which Arizona had allowed four or fewer runs — the Wildcats’ longest such streak since 1982.
• Adams made his first career start and notched his first career hit, a single to left in the seventh inning.
• Arizona swept UCLA for the first time since 2018. The Bruins (10-15, 4-8) fell to 0-10 on the road.
• The final few innings of the Pac-12 Networks broadcast had no announcer as play-by-play man Brian Webber had to leave to catch a flight.
• Arizona ends its five-game homestand against New Mexico at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
