Monday night, Bobby Dalbec made his collegiate debut as the starting pitcher for the first time since high school. He was about to pitch against the No. 8 ranked rival ASU Sun Devils in the Wildcats final shot to put one win under their belt to avoid a sweep.
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The Arizona Wildcats baseball team (23-11,8-7 Pac-12) rallied by scoring 6 runs in the 9th inning sparked by Bobby Dalbec’s home run to beat the No. 8 ranked ASU Sun Devils (23-10, 11-4 Pac-12) in game three of a three game series played up in Pheonix.
The difference in this game was that Coach Andy Lopez started Bobby Dalbec as pitcher instead of holding onto him to close the game; this proved to be a smart move on the coaches part. Arizona Pitcher Tyger Talley was credited with the win.
Pac-12 Networks’ Roxy Bernstein and Jerry Kindall interviewed Arizona Wildcats baseball winning pitcher Bobby Dalbec after the game against their rivals ASU taking one out of three games in the series avoiding the sweep. Dalbec now leads the Pac-12 conference in home runs with the scoring of his 10th home run which was also his second home run of the night
“I think we are going to have a good series against Oregon state…we are going to get hot again!” Bobby Dalbec
Dalbec commented on what it was like to go up against Ryan Burr, ASU’s ‘lights out’ closer, “Going up against a guy like that you know that has firm velocity good breaking pitch, kind of just have to sit on one pitch…I was sitting on a slider and he left one up and I got a good piece of it.”
My shot at a translation: “You just have to pick a pitch and make it the pitch you are going to hit, I chose a slider, and it worked” Only Bobby can tell me if I got that right
Not only did Bobby pitch a great game, he scored the home run that put the Wildcats ahead and eventually to beat the Sun Devils in their home. ASU had a 2-1 lead against the Wildcats as they headed into the ninth inning with Arizona reliever Tyger Talley closing out the game. It was all Wildcats bats swinging from that point on and they eventually went on to win 7-2.
When you just homered to beat your rivals, Part II #daps #daps #dapsondaps http://t.co/rk4Zy4jKUK pic.twitter.com/j7o7D7v02O
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) April 14, 2015
That was not a dream. Bobby Dalbec from @ArizonaBaseball really did hit 2 HRs and pitch 4 1/3 innings last night! pic.twitter.com/qJxsi5iSkG
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) April 14, 2015
About Bobby’s relationship with fellow Coloradan Sun Devil Ryan Burr, “ Faced him in high school a few times…last year he got me, popped up pretty high, so we have a good relationship talking about our at bats and everything, it’s fun facing him.” It’s admirable when a college athlete is still having fun facing a ‘lights out’ closer, you just respect them more.
When asked about if this win would start a spark for the team because they had previously lost five straight Bobby replied, “I think it’s going to jump-start us, I think we are going to have a good series against Oregon state…we are going to get hot again!”
A very happy Dalbec finished the interview with a great humble team prop, “It’s always good to come through for your guys and I know anyone else could have stepped up too.” Here is the full interview for your viewing pleasure:
Wildcat fans were very happy for Bobby and his Wildcats baseball team! BEARDOWN ARIZONA!
Next Games:
Arizona is on the road next weekend for a three game series at Oregon State in Oregon at Goss Stadium.
Game One: Begins Friday night at 5:35 p.m. (PDT). You can hear the live broadcast on The IMG Sports Network on 1290 AM.