OMAHA, NE – Arizona Baseball started hot, but couldn’t hold on as the Wildcats ultimately fell to Vanderbilt in extra innings to start game one.
Arizona Baseball finished with nine hits and six runs, they even got to Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker early, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats struck out a combined 19 times as they fell 7-6 in extra innings to Vanderbilt.
Coming in, a lot was built upon the Commodores’ Rocker, an elite pitcher with a knack for delivering on some of College Baseball’s biggest stages.
Arizona Wildcats
Appearing in their first College World Series since 2016, Arizona was ready, seemingly unfazed by the national spotlight as they jumped on Rocker early.
Plating threw runs in the first, Arizona got his pitch count up early and struck quickly before he got into a groove, retiring 14-straight.
Tied 3-3, Rocker would finally run into some trouble again in the sixth. With no one on and two outs, Rocker would hit Kobe Kato, putting him on first, allowing for Ryan Holgate to do some damage as he would blast a home run to right field to make it 5-3 Arizona.
Despite rocking Kumar and knocking him out of the game, Arizona Baseball faltered down the stretch as Vanderbilt would rally.
Sporting a two-run lead, the Wildcats and starting pitcher Chase Silseth were looking comfortable, that is until the seventh inning.
With no one on and only one out, Vanderbilt would draw a walk on a controversial call, setting up a series of unfortunate events for the Wildcats.
Replacing Silseth for Preston Price, immediately the Wildcats would give up a passed ball putting Jayson Gonzalez on second, then a hit by Enrique Bradfield, Jr. would score Gonzalez from second, making it 5-4. With the next batter, the Commodores’ Carter Young would homer, making it 6-5.
Trailing 6-5 in the top of the ninth, Arizona would have one last opportunity to tie things up. Daniel Susac would start the inning off with a single, then two batters later, Nik McClaughry would hit a hard ball to second, putting runners on the corner with one out.
With the tying runner just 90-feet away, Arizona’s Donta Williams would come up clutch, hitting a ball well into the outfield, sacrificing the batter, and bringing the tying run home to make it 6-6.
Then came extras…
Running into their same offensive struggles as before, the Wildcats couldn’t seem to muster any offense despite getting runners on in the 11th and 12th innings.
Adversely, the Wildcats would play with fire a couple of times, allowing the Commodores to get several runners on base. Then in the 12th inning, it would come back to bite Arizona as Vanderbilt finally was able to capitalize and end the game in walk-off fashion.
With the loss, Arizona moves into the losers bracket, one game away from elimination. The Wildcats will face off against Stanford to see who survives. *Note, Arizona lost two of three to Stanford earlier in the season.
How to watch Arizona vs Stanford
Date: Monday, June 21, 2021
Time: 11 AM MST (Arizona time)
TV: TBD
Radio: 1290 AM