Great early start for Arizona buries Cal Poly winning Eugene Regional

Aaron Walton hit three home runs in the second and Smith Bailey pitched six scoreless innings as Arizona cruised to a 14-0 win over Cal Poly to win the Eugene Regional on Sunday night. Arizona advances to the Super Regional against the winner of the Chapel Hill Regional next week.

Arizona got started early. After a Brendan Summerhill leadoff walk, Walton homered over the center field fence to provide the Wildcats a 2-0 lead. A wild pitch and a groundout scored runs before a Tommy Splaine infield single gave Arizona a 5-0 lead after one inning.

Bailey allowed four hits, a walk and hit a batter with five strikeouts as the Arizona pitching continued its elite run. Hunter Alberini, Julian Tonghini and Matthew Martinez each pitched one inning for Arizona to close the game. Walton finished with four hits in five at-bats, three runs scored and six runs batted in.

Walton hit another HR in the second that scored Summerhill. Three batters later, Maddox Mihalakis hit a solo HR to extend the lead to 8-0. Walton hit his third two-run HR in the sixth inning and Tommy Splaine added another two-run HR in the seventh to make it 12-0. Mihalakis hit his second HR in the eighth to put Arizona ahead 14-0.

Arizona hit 15 HRs in their three games in the Eugene Regional. Easton Breyfogle hit a decisive two-run HR for Arizona in the 3-2 win over Cal Poly on Friday, a program record eight versus Utah Valley on Saturday and six more on Sunday night in the regional clinching win over the Mustangs.

Arizona also received dominant pitching in the regional, allowing six runs in the three games. The Wildcats scored 14 runs in each of the last two games and have won eight straight games in winning the Big XII Tournament and the Eugene Regional.