Kevin Rodland’s confidence got a big boost last night.
The freshman infielder, who saw his average dip to .190, took a ninth-inning pitch to left field to score first baseman Brad Glenn from second and give the Arizona baseball team a 7-6 win over Morehead State.
“”I knew that I didn’t have to go gap for the win and just needed a base-hit,”” Rodland said.
Added UA head coach Andy Lopez: “”It was good to see Rodland get a big hit. He’s a guy that we need to have.””
But until Rodland’s heroics, there wasn’t much to be excited about at Sancet Stadium.
Twice the Wildcats (18-6) blew leads to a Morehead State team (4-15) that heading into last night sported an ERA of 8.70 and had three starters hitting below .200.
“”Our intensity really slipped,”” said UA head coach Andy Lopez. “”I feel like we’re still in Hawaii (where Arizona had a road trip to last week). We’ll figure it out. We’ll get back to the mainland (today).
“”We’ll have a good day of practice. … I think we’ll get some things cleared up, and we’ll be ready for the weekend and go from there.””
A day after the team scored five runs on nine hits, the Arizona bats struggled again. But this time, they didn’t really even need to swing as Wildcat batters walked a season-high 12 times.
“”That was our offense for a long time,”” Lopez said of the walks. “”It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we’re not swinging the bat like we should. We have to address that and get that cleared up.””
Center fielder T.J. Steele’s offensive skid continued. After striking out in the second, he came up in the fourth with two out and runners on second and third, but flied out to right field. The sophomore is now 1-for-his-last-20.
“”We’ve got to get him squared away,”” Lopez said. “”I mean he’s a big cog of our offense, and we’ve got a few guys – there’s a few guys that are struggling offensively right now, and we’re hanging in there right now because we’re pitching OK, but offensively we really have not hit the way I thought we would.””
The Wildcats had just three hits through five innings, but used four straight walks in the fifth to take the lead.
Trailing 4-3, Arizona loaded the bases for third baseman Eric Castro, who walked to push the tying run across. The Wildcats then took the lead a batter later when Eagle pitcher Chase Huffman balked in outfielder Bill Rhinehart from third.
After second baseman Colt Sedbrook walked to re-load the bases, Morehead State changed pitchers. It didn’t do much as pinch-hitter Jon Gaston became the fourth-straight Arizona batter to walk, pushing another across for a 6-4 lead.
Arizona lefty Paul Bargas took over for starter Jason Stoffel in the fifth, working his way out of a two-on, two-out jam and pitched the next two innings without incident. But he was lifted in favor of righty Cory Burns in the eighth after things got dicey.
That’s when Morehead State used pinch-hitter Drew Lee’s RBI single off Bargas and third baseman Ryan Kinder’s sacrifice fly to left off Burns to knot the score at 6.
It was Bargas’ first action since his first career start in a 22-8 loss to ASU Feb. 27, when he gave up eight runs, all earned, on seven hits in just 2/3 of an inning.
“”I’m not worried. That’s way behind me,”” Bargas said of the ASU loss. “”It caught me off guard, and it’s not going to happen again.””
The freshman, who was charged with both runs in the eighth, pitched 2 2/3 innings, striking out two. He said he thinks about the ASU loss every day.
“”I can’t wait until I get to face those guys again,”” he said. “”Every opponent is just as big as the next, but those guys, I can’t wait for them.””
Burns (3-1) picked up the win for the second straight day. The Eagles’ Quentin Morgan (0-3) gave up the game-winning hit and was charged with the loss.
Extra bases
Kinder finished 4-for-4 with two RBIs. … Morehead State used eight pitchers and 15 position players. … Arizona’s 6-0 in one-run games on the season.
