The Arizona baseball team took on California Baptist University on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. for a mid-week game. The Wildcats emerged with a 16-7 victory over the Lancers.
Starting on the mound for Arizona was right-handed sophomore Aiden May, who had no trouble getting through the first unscathed.
The Arizona offense jumped on California Baptist pitcher Brandon Downer, starting the game off with three straight hits to score the first run. The RBI was driven in by Chase Davis. Downer was able to get two outs with two runners on and thought he was about to end the inning until the Cal Baptist infielder, Shayne Simpson, lost his footing and slipped under the fly ball. This allowed Davis and Nik McClaughry to score, making the score 3-0 Arizona.
May continued to handle the opposing offense with another one-two-three inning for the top of the second.
The Wildcats scored again in the bottom of the second, starting with an RBI single from McClaughry that drove in Garen Caulfield, making it 4-0 Wildcats. Following this, Mason White scored after a throwing error that occurred while McClaughry stole second base. A Davis single would drive in McClaughry, making it 6-0 Arizona.
Downer was pulled from the game and relieved by Nathan Hemmerling with one out and a man on first. Arizona scored 1 more run before the inning ended after a Cameron LaLiberte single drove in Davis. The score was now 7-0 Arizona at the bottom of the second.
May struck out all three Cal Baptist batters in the top of the third.
Arizona made it an 8-0 game after an RBI fielders’ choice ground ball from Tyler Casagrande brought outfielder Brendan Summerhill home. Cal Baptist responded with a 2-run homer from Mitchel Simon in the top of the fourth, making it an 8-2 game.
Cal Baptist switched pitchers again with one out in the fourth, bringing Carson Olsen to the mound with runners on first and second. Olsen walked Romero to load the bases. A short fly from LaLiberte landing in front of the outfield drove Davis in, making it 9-2. This was followed by a two-out single from Caulfield that brought Romero and Bingham home, making it 11-2 heading into the fifth.
Cal Baptist responded with a two-RBI double from Michael Carpentier that drove in Julian Alvarez and CJ Masciel that made the score 11-4 Arizona. Olsen threw a scoreless bottom of the fifth to get Cal Baptist back to the plate, who wasn’t able to score on May in the top of the sixth.
Arizona loaded the bases with one out, which caused Cal Baptist to bring in Drew Necochea to pitch. Arizona capitalized on this with a two-RBI double from Casagrande to make it 13-4 heading into the seventh. Right-handed pitcher Trevor Long came in to pitch the top of the seventh to relieve May. Long stranded two runners on base to keep it 13-4.
McClaughry tripled to start the bottom of the seventh, followed by a Davis home run to make the score 15-4. Jacob Wilson was brought in to relieve for Cal Baptist. Bingham scored the 16th run for the Wildcats after a ground out from Emilio Corona.
Cal Baptist got a late rally going in the top of the ninth, getting runners on first and second followed by a two-out moonshot to right field from Dustin Garcia to make it 16-7 Arizona. Pitcher Derek Drees would get the next out to seal the 16-7 Wildcat victory, improving their record to 5-3 on the season.
The Arizona baseball team will take on North Dakota State University in a three-game series starting Friday, March 3, at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson at 6 p.m.
Follow Cole Johnson on Twitter
