Arizona Baseball season ends with lopsided loss to Ole Miss

CORAL GABLES, FL – Despite coming away with wins over Canisius and Miami to stay alive, Arizona Baseball (39-25, 16-14) ran out of gas against Ole Miss. 

Arizona Baseball played well to get into the Regional Finals; however, the Wildcats’ luck ran short on Monday afternoon as they took on Ole Miss in a “do or die” situation.

Turning to Chandler Murphy who would get the start in this one, he, like many other Wildcat pitchers today, would have a day I’m sure they would all like to forget.

The Wildcats would use seven different arms, all of which surrendered runs to a red hot Rebels team. Overall, Arizona’s pitchers would give up 18 hits to Ole Miss, resulting in 22 runs… yes, you read that correctly, 22 runs (20 earned).

Offensively, the Wildcats would plate six runs, thanks in large part to timely hitting from Blake Paugh and Tanner O’Tremba who went a combined 4-8 from the dish with five RBIs, but it was not nearly enough for the Cats to remain competitive.

Despite it being a competitive game early on, Ole Miss would explode for 22 runs, en route to the lopsided win over Arizona Baseball.

Arizona looked good against Canisius and host Miami, but on Monday, battling inclement weather, fatigue, etc. the Wildcats looked gassed, especially as they got later into the game.

However, from the start, the Wildcats were competitive! Despite trailing 2-0, Arizona would plate two runs in the first inning to tie the game at 2-2 when Tanner O’Tremba homered to left center, scoring Daniel Susac.

Still battling, Ole Miss would plate a few more runs to lead 5-3 as the Wildcats entered the bottom of the fourth. Still chasing two runs, Arizona would respond in a big way when Blake would homer to left field, tying the game at 5-5.

Unfortunately, the optimism would quickly dissipate when the Rebels would plate five runs in the fifth, and eight more in the sixth to take a commanding, 18-5 lead.

Arizona would get one run back in the seventh inning, but unfortunately, that would be it for their offense as Ole Miss cruised to the eventual, 22-6 win.

The Wildcats would be shelled early and often in this one as Eric Orloff picked up the loss to fall to 2-3 on the year.

Where does Arizona Baseball go from here?

With the loss, Arizona falls to 39-25 (16-14) on the year, and their season officially comes to an end. Despite making the Regionals, the Wildcats have a lot to build on and will have to overcome some of the struggles they faced this year!