Aaron Walton had four hits and Easton Breyfogle and Garen Caulfield drove in three runs and Arizona earned a needed 14-6 win over Houston on Friday night. The win kept Arizona a game behind Arizona State and TCU in their quest for a bye in the Big XII Tournament next week, with the regular season ending on Saturday.
A loss by either Arizona State or TCU on Saturday and a win by Arizona will give the Wildcats a bye to the quarterfinals in the Big XII Tournament next week at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Arizona avenged a 13-4 loss to Houston on Thursday.
Arizona took command early with a nine-run second inning. Caulfield drove in Maddox Mihalakis with a double and Andrew Cain followed with a home run to give Arizona a 3-0 lead. Walton hit a two-run double with the bases loaded to make it 5-0 Wildcats. A wild pitch scored Brendan Summerhill and a groundout plated Walton.
A Mihalakis triple scored Adonys Guzman. A Caulfield groundout scored Mihalikis for the second time in the second inning to give Arizona what turned out to be an insurmountable 9-0 lead. Breyfogle and Kenneth Jimenez traded HRs in the third and Caulfield had one in the fourth inning to put Arizona ahead 11-1.
A Guzman RBI single scored Walton in the sixth, which was answered by Tre Broussard with a HR for Houston in the seventh as Arizona led 12-2 after seven. Breyfogle had a two-run triple in the eighth to stretch the Arizona lead to 14-2. Bryce McKnight pitched 11.1 innings for Arizona on Friday and allowed the last five Houston runs.
Raul Garayzar pitched the first 4.1 innings for Arizona, allowing one earned run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Garrett Hicks pitched the ninth inning for Arizona, allowing one hit with two strikeouts to preserve the win. Arizona and Houston will conclude the regular season at 11 AM Mountain Standard Time on Saturday.