Arizona Baseball gets back on track with much needed sweep

TUCSON, AZ- After a rough, few weeks, the Arizona Baseball team (16-14, 5-7) gets back on track with a much-needed sweep of Washington!

It was a rough couple of weeks for the Arizona Baseball team, as the Wildcats had lost seven-straight. During that stretch, the Wildcats were outscored 64-41, playing unlike the Arizona Baseball team that we know!

After losing to rival ASU 17-16, and being swept by the Sun Devils, the Wildcats fell to 13-14, with seemingly no end to the disappointment of the 2019 season. However, perhaps with a potentially big weekend, the Wildcats could turn things around a little bit.

Arizona Wildcats

Needing a big win, the Cats got down to business versus the visiting, Washington Huskies.

In game one of the three-game series, junior pitcher Randy Labaut took to the mound, looking to return to his once, dominant form. The lefty hurler would deliver a gutsy performance in this one, and at a much-needed time.

Labaut would pitch six fantastic innings, surrendering 11 hits to just three runs, meanwhile striking out six. He would pick up his third win of the season, as junior Vince Vannelle came on in relief to finish the last three innings, picking up his first save on the year.

The Arizona offense exploded in this one, and didn’t look back. The Wildcats scored three runs, all coming way of the long ball!

First it was Austin Wells who went deep for a two-run shot, then it was junior sensation Nick Quintana as he blasted a solo shot to left field, all in the first inning.

Not stopping there, Quintana would hit his second home run of the game in the third, followed by a Dayton Dooney home run to make it 5-0 Cats! A Washington home run would make it 5-2 in the top of the fifth.

Luckily, the offense didn’t stop for Arizona, as the Cats would add two more in the fifth off a Cameron Cannon double to make it 7-2. The Wildcats would then pace themselves to the 9-3 win, stealing game one!

Hoping to continue the momentum in game two, Arizona came out swinging early in this one too! For the second-straight game, the Cats scored first and scored often. Wells was the one to get things going for the Cats, singling to right field to make it 1-0.

Two batters later, it was Dooney who went deep again, driving a two-run home run to right, to make it 3-0 Arizona. Then a big third inning by the Cats would put Arizona up 7-1 over Washington.

Arizona would add two more in the fourth, followed by three more runs in the fifth inning to make it 12-2 Cats.

The Wildcats would eventually pace themselves to the 14-2 victory, taking the series win, and securing the first winning streak in over two weeks.

Freshman Quinn Flanagan would toss a gem in this one, pitching seven, strong innings, surrendering two runs on eight hits. Flanagan would pick-up the win, improving to 4-1 on the year, as Randy Abshier and Nate Brown would come on in relief for the Cats to close the game.

That would set us up for the third and final game on Sunday afternoon!

Looking for their first sweep since UMass-Lowell to begin the season, Arizona would take to Hi-Corbett with junior Andrew Nardy on the mound!

Despite the Huskies striking first, Arizona would respond quickly scoring two runs in the second inning off a double from senior left fielder, Justin Wylie to make it 2-1, Arizona. Then in the third inning, Wells and Quintana would hit back-to-back RBI’s to make it 4-1, Cats!

Two more runs by Arizona in the fifth inning would make it 6-1 Cats, virtually putting this one away for good!

Arizona would run away with this one, winning the game 7-4, picking up their first Pac-12 sweep of 2019!

Nardi would throw five and two-thirds innings in this one, surrendering three runs on three hits, while striking out 10! Nardi would also pick up the win, improving to 2-3 on the year!

Senior left-hander Avery Weems would come on in relief to finish this one out, surrendering one run on three hits, while striking out out two Husky batters to pick up his first save of the season!

With the wins, Arizona improves to 16-14 (5-7) on the season, with a Tuesday game against Grand Canyon (17-14, 5-4), followed by a three-game series next weekend against Cal (17-11, 5-4).

Hopefully the Cats have it turned around! They surely seemed to play better against Washington with better pitching and fewer errors, now let’s hope the Cats can do it again this week! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!