The Arizona baseball team won game one of their Super Regional series against Ole Miss Friday night in exciting fashion. Let’s take a deeper look at three stats that were critical to their win.
Hits:
Arizona:13
Ole Miss:6
Arizona had more than double the amount of hits Ole Miss had including four home runs. Arizona is an offensive juggernaut that can score in a variety of ways, whether that be from the long ball or just hitting singles. Arizona scored at least one run in every inning except the third, seventh and ninth frames. Head Coach Jay Johnson is known for his aggressiveness on the base paths and this team is perfectly built for that style. Their ability to put the bat on the ball is a huge part of why they have had this great of a season.
Zero Runs allowed after the first inning:
The game started off a little rocky for Arizona ace Chase Silseth. Ole Miss scored three runs off three hits in their opening frame. Luckily, those were the only runs Ole Miss would score for the rest of the game, to go along with allowing just three hits the rest of the night. A bullpen combination of Riley Cooper, Dawson Netz and Vince Vannelle was dominant and completely shut down a potent Ole Miss offense. There currently are some questions in the Arizona bullpen due to Gil Luna and Randy Abshier being suspended due to an off field incident. With that said, if Arizona can get nights out of their bullpen like they did in game one they might be able to do without.
RELATED: Arizona baseball team comes from behind to dominate Ole Miss in game one of the Super Regional
Zero Errors:
If you had to find any faults in this Arizona team it would be errors. At times they have gotten a little sloppy defensively and given their opponents extra opportunities. The games where they go error free, they almost always win, and that was again the case last night. Second baseman Kobe Kato had a couple great plays last night and center fielder Donta’ Williams not only can swing the bat but is also one of the better defensive center fielders in the country. This team is a lot of fun when they combine their explosive offensive, dominant pitching and stifling defense.
Arizona is set to play Ole Miss in game two of the Tucson Super Regional Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. MST on ESPN2.
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