TUCSON, AZ – Another year, another heartbreak for the Arizona Baseball team, as once again the Wildcats barely miss the NCAA Tournament.
It’s another rough selection day in the ‘Old Pueblo’, as the Arizona Baseball will once again be staying home this NCAA Postseason.
After starting the year 13-7, a seven-game losing streak would then be shortly followed by the Cats losing nine of 11 games when they fell 15-13 to New Mexico State and dropping to 19-23 on the year.
Arizona Wildcats
Looking dead in the water at that point, the unthinkable would happen! Arizona would then win 13 of their next 14 games to finish the year strong, with a 32-24 record overall and a 15-14 record in the Pac-12 Conference.
What a great way to finish the year, the only question is, would it be good enough to make the NCAA Tournament?
In short, the answer is no. The news broke on Monday morning, as the NCAA made their selections for the NCAA Tournament.
So how bad does this one hurt? Well, this one will definitely leave a sour taste in the Wildcats’ mouth!
This of course coming on the heels of the Wildcats missing the tournament last year. This is now two years in a row, that the Wildcats will be watching the NCAA Tournament from home, and being out of the Tournament… ouch!
As tough as this one is to swallow, Arizona has no one to blame but themselves. The team finished with a collective ERA of 6.21, which ranks 248th in country… out of 297 teams.
Additionally, their fielding wasn’t much better, accounting for 78 errors on the season, with a .962 fielding percentage that ranked 235th in the country.
Even worse, is that the Wildcats had some pretty bad losses, losing to Michigan State (20-34) and New Mexico (23-28-1), while also blowing late inning leads twice to ASU and to San Diego State.
As it stands, it looks like a good portion of the team should be coming back, with the likely exception of Nick Quintana and Cameron Cannon.
It’ll be interesting to see how this team responds this off-season, and whether they can regroup and improve their pitching and defense for next year!
At Zona Zealots, we’re proud of our Cats and are sad to see them not make the Tournament, better luck next year. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!