Arizona Baseball has tough Weekend, Swept by Utah at Home

It was not a great weekend for Arizona Baseball fans, as the Wildcats’ struggles continued against a Pac-12 foe, the Utah Utes, getting swept in three games.

Baseball is a tough game, and even the some of the best teams lose sometimes. For the Arizona Baseball team, it was just a tough weekend they will have to put behind them, losing all three games to Utah.

If we had learned anything from this weekend, it is that Utah continues to have our number in baseball (we got swept last year, and lost two of three in 2015). I still stand behind this team in saying we are a good team, but ultimately we have our deficiencies too, every baseball team has them.

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On Thursday, it was Randy Labaut that took the mound first for the Cats, but his night would be done early as he only pitched one and two-thirds innings. He would then be relieved by Seve Romo who would pick up the loss, making his record now 2-1 on the season.

Arizona would use six pitchers on Thursday night, as the Utes’ offense seemingly couldn’t be contained. Despite Arizona taking the 1-0 advantage early, Utah would explode for 12 runs, ultimately pacing themselves to the 12-5 victory in game one.

The Wildcats would have a solid offensive effort, but the pitching just couldn’t get it done for Arizona.

Game two would start off quite slow for both teams, and it wasn’t until the sixth inning when Utah would break the scoreless tie. Arizona would take the lead briefly in the seventh inning after Louis Boyd doubled to left center that would score Cesar Salazar.

However, the Utes would come right back, exploding for six runs in the final two innings to the steal the game 7-3.

Junior Cameron Ming would pitch a solid game for the Cats, hurling six, strong innings, surrendering just one run on four hits, while striking out four batters. It was Arizona’s bullpen. However, that would falter down the stretch.

Hoping to avoid the rare sweep at home, Arizona started game three with Rio Gomez on the mound. The hungry Utes would take advantage early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in just the first inning.

Gomez would be taken out early, as sophomore Michael Flynn would come on in relief, pitching four and two-thirds solid innings, quieting Utah’s bats. Senior pitcher Robby Medel would finish the final four innings of play, not allowing a run, but it was the Cats’ bats that were quiet on Saturday.

Arizona would string together just six hits, leaving five men on base, and scoring just two runs. The Wildcats were unable to avoid the sweep, dropping game three by a 4-2 final.

The Wildcats look to bounce back this Tuesday when they take on New Mexico State at Hi-Corbett. Arizona will then travel to Northern California next weekend to face Stanford.

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Even with the tough weekend, we still support the Cats. This is baseball, wins aren’t easy, and teams sometimes go through cold streaks. We will bounce back this week! Bear Down, Arizona!