No. 20 Arizona Baseball outlasts Utah in opening series win

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – It was a close battle, but luckily No. 20 Arizona Baseball (24-10, 11-5) outlasted Utah (18-14-1) by a 7-6 final. 

No. 20 Arizona Baseball fell behind 5-2 early in the game, but luckily, the Wildcats were able to persevere, rallying from three runs down to escape with the 7-6 victory over Utah in game one of a three-game series.

Chase Davis was the hero of the day, going 2-3 from the dish, even blasting a grand slam in the fifth inning to give the Cats a 6-5 lead.

Arizona’s pitching got a little roughed up early on, but luckily, the Wildcats were able to hang tough late in the game, holding Utah to just one run over the last six innings after falling behind 5-2.

However, the bigger story here was the late rally from the Cats. Despite falling behind early on, Arizona was able to secure the win, and hopefully, they carry that momentum in the rest of the series.

Despite trailing by three runs, the Wildcats were able to capitalize on some late, timely hits, as Arizona Baseball escaped with the win.

Fresh off of a mid-week tilt win over New Mexico State just days ago, Arizona went back on the road to take on Utah in a three-game conference series in Salt Lake City.

Arizona would jump out to an early lead in the first inning when some timely hits by the Wildcats made it 2-0. However, Arizona’s pitching ran into early struggles when they surrendered three runs to the Utes in the bottom half of the first inning.

Trailing 3-2 entering the third, Utah would plate two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-2. But luckily, the Wildcats wouldn’t go quietly in this one.

Still trailing 5-2 as they entered the fifth, Arizona would load the bases for Chase Davis where the Wildcats’ star outfielder would blast a grand slam to right field to make it 6-5, Cats.

Arizona would add an insurance run in the sixth inning when Daniel Susac would double to left field, scoring Mac Bingham to make it 7-5 in favor of the Cats.

Utah would get a run back in the seventh, but luckily, the Wildcats would shut the door on the Utes, surrendering just one hit over the final two frames to secure the 7-6 win!

T.J. Nichols would earn the win, improving to 5-2 after pitching six-and-third innings. Nichols would surrender six runs on 12 hits with four strikeouts. Arizona’s Trevor Long would earn his third save of the season.

Where does Arizona Baseball go from here?

With the win, Arizona improves to 24-10 (11-5) on the year and will return to action on Friday morning when they take on Utah for game two of the three-game series.