Arizona Baseball earns series win versus No. 2 Oregon State

TUCSON, AZ – Despite dropping their first two games, Arizona Baseball (35-18, 16-11) picked up two huge wins over No. 2 Oregon State to take the series. 

It was a huge weekend for Arizona Baseball as the Wildcats entered the series against No. 2 Oregon State fresh off of a disappointing series loss to last-placed USC.

The Wildcats have been plagued by inconsistencies all year, but from the start, the Wildcats looked a bit more focused and prepared in this series, despite being a bit overmatched.

Turning to TJ Nichols in game one, the Wildcats’ hurler would pitch just five innings before being replaced by a bevy of pitchers. Together, the Wildcats’ hurlers would be roughed up a bit on the night, surrendering 12 earned runs on 14 hits.

Trevor Long would pick up the loss in this one, falling to 5-2 on the year as he was shellacked for five runs on four hits by the Beavers.

Even with the Wildcats surrendering 12 runs, the offense was white hot, plating nine runs as they were led by the offensive play from Mac Bingham and Noah Turley among others. Together, the Wildcat duo would finish 3-6 from the plate with four RBIs and a home run.

Unfortunately, even with the nine runs, it wouldn’t be enough as Arizona fell by a 12-9 final. Oregon State would be propelled by a seven-run eighth inning.

Arizona was doomed by its inconsistent pitching in game one, but luckily, the Wildcats responded in a big way, winning game two by a 5-2 final.

Hoping to turn things around in game two, Arizona would turn to their ace Garrett Irvin in game two, and from the start, Gary brought his A-game.

Tossing seven stellar innings, Gary would finish his evening surrendering just one run on three hits as he struck out nine batters. He would be replaced by Eric Orloff, who was also equally as impressive, holding the Beavers to just one run on three hits to help secure the win.

Offensively, things would be slow for Arizona to start, plating just one run in the second inning when Chase Davis was able to score on a rare throwing error committed by Oregon State.

Luckily, the Wildcats would stay aggressive in this one, exploding for four runs in the seventh thanks to some timely hitting.

The Wildcats were able to shellack Jacob Kmatz (which is a rarity), plating four runs to take the 5-1 lead, before picking up the eventual 5-2 win. Gary earned the win in game two, improving to 5-3 on the season, meanwhile, Oregon State’s Kmatz picked up his first loss of the season.

With the series tied, Arizona Baseball hoped to replicate their game two performance as they went for the series victory against Oregon State.

Turning to Anthony Susac to close out the series, things would look a little rough for Arizona Baseball at first, especially as the Beavers were able to use some timely hits to make it 2-0 after the first inning.

Maintaining their offensive barrage, Oregon State would plate two more in the second inning when the Beavers’ second baseman would blast a two-run shot to center field, making it 4-0 in favor of OSU.

Susac would last just one more inning before being replaced by Javyn Pimental in the fourth, followed by a slew of pitchers that would complete the games for the Cats.

Luckily, despite being down four, Arizona did not give up! Getting a run back in the second, the Wildcats would get on the board when a few timely hits set up Daniel Susac to single to left field, scoring Tommy Splaine.

Oregon State would tack on another in the fourth, making it 5-1, but that is the only offense we would see from the Beavers in this one.

Trailing 5-1 entering the fifth, the Wildcats would explode for three runs, thanks in large part to Mac Bingham’s three-run home run that made it 5-4.

Arizona would follow that up with another three-run inning in the sixth to take the lead. Chase Davis would propel the Wildcats’ offense in the inning when he took a 1-0 pitch that sailed over the right field wall, scoring Susac to make it 6-5 Cats.

Just a few batters later, Splaine would single up the middle, scoring Garen Caufield to make it 7-5 Arizona.

Still not done, the Wildcats would add three more in the seventh thanks to more timely hitting, giving the Wildcats a comfortable, 10-5 lead with just a few innings to play.

Luckily, the pitching would come up big for Arizona over the final two innings, holding the Beavers to just two hits and zero runs to secure the 10-5 win and overall series victory.

Where does Arizona Baseball go from here?

With the series win, the Wildcats improve to 35-18 (16-11) on the year and will close out the regular season on the road when they take on the Oregon Ducks (31-21, 15-12).