Arizona Baseball strengthens resume with Weekend Sweep

Arizona Baseball (35-13, 19-8) continued their solid run in the 2021 season as the Wildcats  earned the weekend sweep over the Washington Huskies (17-27, 3-18). 

While the 2021 season is officially winding down, the work continues for Arizona Baseball as the Wildcats look to continue to strengthen their resume.

Following a tough series loss against Stanford the weekend prior, Arizona finally returned to action against last-place conference foe, the Washington Huskies.

Arizona Wildcats

Game One:

Turning to the usually dominant Chase Silseth in Friday night’s matchup, Chase would have a bit of a rougher day as he surrendered seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits through four and a third innings pitched.

Overall, it wouldn’t be the Wildcats’ day pitching as Arizona would use six different pitchers (including Chase). Playing in 10 innings, Arizona would surrender 16 runs (11 earned) and 19 hits.

Luckily for us, the story of the game would be the Wildcats’ offense. As good as Washington’s offense was, Arizona kept up the pace, plating two runs in the first, three in the third, three in the fourth, two in the sixth, and three in the eighth.

However, the real story would be the late-game heroics from the Cats. Entering the bottom of the tenth down 16-13, Arizona’s offense would respond, plating four runs to steal the win.

Overall, it would be a collective effort from the Cats, but it was Daniel Susac that seemingly stole the show as the Wildcat catcher finished the day going 3-7 from the plate with four RBI’s, two doubles, and two runs.

Game Two:

Antithetical to Friday’s game, it would be a completely different game for the Cats in this one as they turned to pitcher Garrett Irvin. Throwing nine, fantastic innings, Irvin was dealing as he pitched the complete-game victory.

Earning the win, Garrett would improve to 5-1 on the season after surrendering just one run on eight hits, while striking out six Husky batters.

Offensively, Arizona would see a bit of a repeat of their success from Friday’s game as they exploded for 11 runs.

Plating a run in the first inning, Arizona would gain the early lead when Branden Boissiere would ground out, scoring Donta Williams.

After Washington would get a run back in the second inning, Arizona would respond in the fourth inning when Tony Bullard would single to left-center to score two runs.

Just a few innings later, Mac Bingham would fly out in the seventh inning, scoring Donta Williams to make it 4-1 and help deliver the eventual win.

Game Three:

Looking for the weekend sweep, Arizona would turn to Austin Smith in Sunday’s matchup, however, Smith would only last for two innings before Jay Johnson would pull him. Smith would finish his day surrendering one run on three hits.

Replaced by Gil Luna, the savvy veteran would come in and have a dominant performance, pitching four shutout innings, while surrendering just two hits and striking out three batters.

Dawson Netz and Quinn Flanagan would also come on in relief for Arizona, locking it down for the Wildcats.

Offensively, Arizona would see a bit of a repeat from their success from Friday’s game as they exploded for 11 runs.

Led by the efforts of Jacob Berry, Bullard, and Boissiere, together, the trio would finish their day 4-11 from the plate with eight RBI’s, three homeruns, and four runs scored, helping to secure the 11-2 win for the Cats.

With the weekend sweep, Arizona improves to 35-13 on the year and certainly did wonders to help strengthen their resume as the season winds down.

With only seven games to play, there is still a bit of baseball action left, and Arizona still has some room for improvement. They will return to action on Tuesday evening to take on New Mexico State, followed by a weekend series at Oregon State.