Arizona Baseball drops another game to Ball State

Coming off a late-inning collapse on Saturday night, Arizona baseball squared off with Ball State in game three of a four-game set. The Wildcats turned to lefty Garrett Irvin for game three.

Looking to bounce back following a four-run collapse on Saturday evening, Arizona Baseball was back in action against Ball State on Sunday afternoon. Garrett Irvin took the mound for Jay Johnson’s squad, squaring off against Ball State’s Monday scheduled starter in Luke Jaksich.

Things were quite a bit calmer in the first inning for both teams, as for the first time in the series, neither team plated a run in the first inning.

Arizona Wildcats

However, things would come to life in the second on a single and a walk that got Irvin into early trouble before working two Cardinal outs. He would walk another batter later in the inning to load the bases, but with a 1-2 count, Irvin was forced from the game giving way for Quinn Flanagan to take over mid-at-bat.

Flanagan was able to get Noah Navarro to ground out, ending the Cardinals’ threat, and keeping things scoreless.

The Wildcats would capitalize on an error in the bottom of the second, after a double from Daniel Susac, and a Donta’ Williams single made things 1-0 Arizona early on in the game.

Tony Bullard followed that up with a Sac Fly that scored Susac, adding on to give Arizona a 2-0 lead through two innings of play.

Though both teams threatened over the next few innings, it was not until the top of the fifth when we saw Ball State get on the scoreboard on a Trenton Quartermain single that closed the Wildcats lead to just one run.

The Cardinals were then able to put runners on the corners to force Flanagan out of the game after three and two-thirds strong innings.

With Riley Cooper taking over for Arizona, he gave up a Nick Powell single that tied the game at 2-2. He would earn a strikeout in the inning but would be pulled quickly, giving way to German Fajardo.

Fajardo gave up a first-pitch single that gave Ball State their first lead of the game in the sixth at 3-2, and a 1-0 single by Ross Messina drove in a pair to put Ball State ahead 5-2 just before things flipped to the bottom half of the sixth.

Unfortunately, Arizona Baseball was unable to muster much scoring offense as they found themselves falling 1-2 on the young season after the 5-2 setback.

On Sunday afternoon, Arizona was just 1-10 with runners in scoring position, which ultimately lead to their downfall. The Wildcats are back in action tomorrow afternoon to wrap up the four-game set as they look to salvage a series split.