Arizona Baseball’s Season comes to a Disheartening Close

After another solid season, the Arizona Baseball team’s run in 2017 comes to a disheartening close at the Regionals in Lubbock, TX.

Well, it certainly ended quicker than us fans would have wanted, but the Arizona Baseball team wrapped up 2017 with two losses to Sam Houston State in Lubbock, TX, officially eliminating them from the postseason.

It was a tough weekend for Arizona fans. Hoping for a little more postseason magic in head coach Jay Johnson’s second year as skipper, the Wildcats will not duplicate the marvelous run they had last year. When Arizona was awarded the No. 2 seed, some contemplated that it was a bad omen since No. 2 ranked Arizona Softball lost in the Supers.

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It was a great season! Now before you get all huffy and vehemently disagree with me, please let me convince you otherwise!

Now before you get all huffy and vehemently disagree with me, please give me a chance to convince you otherwise!

This is Johnson’s second year with the program. The guys he wants and is bringing in, most are not yet here.

By and large, these are still a lot of Andy Lopez’s guys. Not that that’s a bad thing, as Lopez is surely a hall of fame coach, but the point being, is that Johnson hasn’t had his full impact felt yet.

In two seasons, Johnson has posted a remarkable 87-45 record, with back-to-back postseason appearances, and a finals runner-up.

The turnaround has been nothing short of amazing, and it appears Johnson has a great handle on this program, with perhaps even better baseball still to come.

While this season certainly had its ups and down, and the roster surely had its deficiencies, that’s baseball, especially at the collegiate level. It’s tough to bring in some of the top talent consistently, as it is common for the best recruits to go pro out of high school.

The development of players is especially crucial for any competitive program, and it makes it tough for a lot of teams to even make it as far as Arizona did in back-to-back years nonetheless. After all, the Wildcats were the only Pac-12 team to make it to the postseason this year, who also played in the postseason the year prior.

As the Wildcats headed to the dugout out one final time, drawing a close to 2017, let’s be thankful for the team and program we have.

In 2017, we got to see some good baseball among other things! JJ Matijevic dazzled us every time he stepped up to the plate, JC Cloney’s dad threw Tootsie Rolls while his son hurled fire from the pitching rubber, freshman Nick Quintana showed us all about the mantra, ‘Flow Knows’, and so much more great memories.

2018 is so far away, and we can’t wait to see what next year has in store. Listen to Jay Johnson and his team, as they address the media following their heartbreaking loss to Sam Houston State on Sunday.

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At Zona Zealots, we’re thankful to the team for their effort. Ultimately it was a great run, it just wasn’t our year. We know we’ll be back and we are looking forward to maybe, just maybe a more animated dugout that propelled the 2016 team to greatness! Bear Down, Arizona