Three feet. That was how close left fielder Brad Glenn came to making history.
The sophomore planted a one-out shot just beneath the 375-foot mark in left-center field, barely missing his fourth home run of the game. He settled for a double, but his three home runs paced Arizona to a 13-2 win over Utah Valley State last night at Sancet Stadium.
“”I hit it off the end of the bat a little bit, but I thought it had a chance,”” Glenn said of his last at-bat in the eighth inning. “”It just didn’t make it out.””
Arizona (5-0) hit six home runs in the series-sweeping win over the Wolverines (0-2), including two shots from first baseman Bill Rhinehart, who now has three on the season, and a deep homer to right off the bat of right fielder Jon Gaston.
But the story of the night was Glenn, who finished 4-for-4.
His three bombs tied a school record done four times before, most recently by Shelley Duncan in 2001. It also marked the first multi-home run game of Glenn’s career, and his five RBIs were a career-high.
“”That’s ridiculous,”” Gaston said of Glenn’s performance. “”We thought he had the fourth one. … That’s a career night, a memorable night for that kid.””
Glenn’s first shot came just two batters after Rhinehart went yard in the bottom of the first, and he added another in the fourth deep to centerfield, giving Arizona a 10-1 lead.
The third came two innings later in the sixth, when he took Turreal Moore’s 2-2 pitch out to left-center.
“”He’s supposed to do that,”” said UA head coach Andy Lopez. “”I don’t know if he’s supposed to hit three in a game, but he’s supposed to hit some home runs. … I mean he was brought here for that reason.””
Added Glenn, who hit 10 home runs last season: “”I was just sitting back, waiting for my pitching to come (all night). I even let some fastballs go by that I really didn’t like that were easily hittable.””
Freshman lefty Paul Bargas (1-0) picked up the win in his first career start, surrendering just one run on three hits while striking out five. He didn’t walk a single Wolverine.
“”I thought (Bargas) did a good job of handling the situation,”” Lopez said. “”I mean yeah, your first start is your first start, but boy, he had great command.
“”He threw the outer half (of the plate) exceptionally well, and mixed his changeup and his slider in real good. I thought he did a super job.””
Arizona has now hit double-digits in runs and hits in four of its five games.
Rhinehart, meanwhile, continued to rake the ball. After his first-inning homer, he doubled in the bottom of the fourth for his second RBI of the game, scoring catcher Daniel Butler for a 6-1 lead.
Then in the bottom of the eighth, he capped the scoring with his second homer to deep right, just to the left of the College World Series billboard. He finished 3-for-5, with three RBIs.
Rhinehart now has eight hits in his last 12 at bats with six RBIs and three home runs.
“”He’s doing a good job in all aspects, but the things that I’m really pleased with is he’s doing the things that we would really want in terms of senior leadership right now,”” Lopez said.
Gaston made two spectacular plays in the field — a diving catch in the fifth and a laser of a throw to cut Utah Valley State’s Austin Heaps down at the plate in the ninth — in addition to his seventh-inning shot.
“”I’d like to do that all the time,”” he quipped afterward. “”Any good play kind of gives your team an extra boost, and if you make a diving play, it kind of gives yourself an extra boost, too.””
Extra bases
Steele extended his hitting streak to 13 games dating back to last season with his infield single in the sixth. … Infielder Colt Sedbrook still has yet to play this season due to personal issues, but Lopez said he thought he’d “”hear some information (today) by practice time.””
