After a rough week and a half, the Arizona Baseball team finally gets back on track, beating San Diego State, snapping their three game losing streak.
It has been a tough start for the Arizona Baseball team, as the Wildcats entered Tuesday evening, looking to snap a three-game losing streak.
After starting 3-0 on the season, the Wildcats have dropped six of their last eight games, facing some tough competition, and losing by a total of seven runs in those six losses.
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So far the pitching has been solid this season. Through the first 11 games (prior to Tuesday), Arizona had a team ERA of 2.24, striking out 82 batters to just 43 walks, while holding opponents to a .232 batting average. All very respectable numbers.
Adversely, it has been the hitting that has been lacking, despite the anticipation that these results would be the complete opposite.
Under head coach Jay Johnson, the Wildcats have been blessed with good hitting, and with Nick Quintana, Mitchell Morimoto, Ryan Haug and Cal Stevenson all returning from last season, we couldn’t help but think it would be another strong year at the plate.
So far, this hasn’t been true. Through those same 11 games, Arizona has collectively hit just .208 from the plate, averaging just over four runs per game, with 40 RBI’s and just one homerun.
While the competition has been tough, it is still early for the Cats to hopefully turn things around. On Tuesday evening, Arizona finally got the bats going in a big way.
Trailing 3-0 early on, something would finally click as the bats came to life.
Arizona would finally break the shutout in the second inning, when Alfonso Rivas would score off of a double play, but unfortunately that would be all the scoring for that inning.
In the very next inning, Rivas would come up to bat again, this time with bases loaded, he would drive a liner back up the middle to score two, and tie the game at 3-3!
After a Morimoto HBP, Cal Stevenson doubled to left center. Haug then walked to load the bases for Alfonso Rivas. Not hard to guess what he did next. Liner up the middle. We have a brand new game tied at 3!#MLBTrainingGround pic.twitter.com/FWtfxDcLh1
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) March 7, 2018
Quintana would come up next driving a single up the left side, scoring Haug from third, giving the Wildcats the lead for good.
Leading 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth, Rivas again would come up big again, this time driving a two-run homer over the center field wall, making it 8-3 in favor of the Cats.
DINGER! Alfonso Rivas just making sure the elephants at the Reid Park Zoo are still awake. They are now after he clears the batters eye in dead center! 8-3 Cats!#BearDown pic.twitter.com/wz7hcr1ApJ
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) March 7, 2018
Arizona would add two more in the bottom of the fifth inning, extending their lead to seven runs. The Wildcats would tack on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the visiting Aztecs would get one run back in the top of the ninth.
Arizona would cruise to the 13-4 victory, improving to 6-6 on the season, including a perfect 5-0 record at home.
#WinnerWinner at Hi Corbett!
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) March 7, 2018
The bats come alive with five Wildcats registering multi-hit games! We move to 5-0 at Hi C!#BearDown pic.twitter.com/H2JVLMsWlb
Listen to head coach Jay Johnson following the teams’ victory, and their tough weekend in Minnesota last week.
Arizona Coach Jay Johnson, on his team’s 13-4 win over San Diego State, and the team’s wake-up call in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/84JpcfJXWK
— Christopher Boan (@cgboan) March 7, 2018
The Wildcats will return to action on Friday evening against North Dakota State in a three-game series versus the visiting Bison.
Arizona should have a favorable match-up in this one, facing a rather inconsistent North Dakota State team.
Must Read: More on Arizona Baseball
At Zona Zealots, we are just glad the Wildcats could get back in the win column, and hope this is a start for more consistent bats! Bear Down, Arizona!